Despicable Me 4

Story

As part of an Anti-Villain League sting operation, Gru (voice of Steve Carell) attends his high school reunion to capture his old rival Maxime Le Mal (voice of Will Ferrell), as well as Maxime’s evil wife Valentina (voice of Sophia Vergara).

Although the sting is a success, Maxime threatens Gru in the moments before he’s hauled away. Gru is unnerved because Maxime has become vicious, vengeful and physically altered. But, content that Maxime is locked up in a maximum security prison, Gru returns to his family, which now includes his baby son, Gru Junior.

Within days of his return, Gru is alerted that Maxime has escaped and is coming for him and his family. Wasting no time, Gru and Lucy (voice of Kristen Wigg) take their children into hiding in a place they hope they’ll never to be found, assuming fake names and new identities. As the family struggles to get used to their new home, their new neighbour’s daughter, Poppy (voice of Joey King), discovers Gru’s identity. She wants to go to the same villainous high school that Gru once attended and decides to blackmail him.

Hatching a plan to steal the school mascot from the principal’s office, Poppy uses Gru’s expertise to achieve her objective, but things don’t go quite according to plan. The ill-fated adventure soon leads Maxime to Gru’s doorstep with disastrous consequences for everyone.

Themes

Revenge; bullying; blackmail; good versus evil; dishonesty; genetic mutations

Violence

Despicable Me 4 has some violence. For example:

Gru shoots a goo-gun at Maxime. He’s trying to freeze Maxime’s cockroach pincers in immobilising goo ray.
A character is punched in the face.
The Anti-Villain League helps Gru capture Maxime with net guns and tasers, which they simultaneously shoot at him.
Maxime tells Gru that he’ll exterminate him.
Maxime briefly escapes and tries to attack Gru before he’s subdued.
Minions shoot spitballs at a bus driver’s neck. They later throw a cream pie in his face.
Two minions repeatedly slap another minion on the bottom.
A dog attacks a minion.
A wall comes down and crashes onto 4 minions.
Edith karate-chops a character, breaking his toe and knocking him backwards into a gong, which crashes down on top of him.
Acid begins to burn through the scalp of a character, who soon has a huge bald patch.
A huge robotic cockroach blasts through the sidewalk and up the side of a building, damaging everything it encounters.
Gru accidentally drives his car onto the footpath and into construction workers.
Some minions drop soda cans on another minion’s head while he sits inside a vending machine. They then shake up a can and drop it into the machine, where it explodes and knocks the minion into the glass.
A minion is slapped into a wall.
A minion uses his laser eye to blast through a cup of coffee, through a building, through the Earth, and through an igloo on the other side of the world.
A ninja star hits Gru in the head.
Maxime grabs a petrol station attendant and throws him into a row of shelves before shooting him with a cockroach gun.
A character chases Lucy through a supermarket. Lucy tries to get away and ensure that the girls aren’t worried. Items and displays are knocked over and groceries and utensils are thrown around.
A man’s bag is stolen, and another character is hit in the face by a piece of metal pipe.
A minion lasers a woman’s hair, chopping it off. He then accidentally lasers part of a cat’s tail and an umbrella stand at an outdoor cafe.
A train ricochets backwards off the tracks and into a building.
A mega minion eats a bomb that explodes in his mouth.
Characters throw vegetables, coffee and signs at mega minions.
A honey badger attacks Gru.
Gru accidentally stabs himself in the bottom with a tranquiliser dart.
A character chases Gru in a motorised wheelchair that has monster wheels that tear up the floor. She plummets off a second-floor landing and smashes into a portrait on the opposite wall. Her henchmen plummet off the landing to the floor below.
A red card is slammed over a character’s head.
A man is hit with tons of tennis balls.
A character smacks Gru with a ruler and then tries to hit him with a giant hand.
A character grabs Gru and tries to punch, stab and hit him.
Gru Junior bites Maxime.
A character is crushed by a falling bookcase and furniture.
Maxime and Valentina attack Gru and Poppy. Gru makes his way onto Maxime’s cockroach aircraft and Maxime tries hard to make Gru fall off.
Maxime’s cockroach aircraft crashes into a construction site at the top of a building.
A robot machine tries to stab and crush Gru as he scurries closer to the edge of the building.
Gru and Maxime fight. Maxime kicks Gru in the face and steps on Gru’s hands as Gru holds onto a bar dangling over the edge of the building.
Gru Junior bites Maxime’s ear.
Gru punches Maxime in the face. Maxime falls off the building and hits a lot of things on his way to the ground, knocking out some teeth in the process.
A character is trampled in a buffalo stampede.
A character is covered in cheese and crushed by a mega minion.
Maxime and Gru slap each other.
One of the mega minions lasers another one.
A minion crashes out of a vending machine, only to be nearly crushed by it and locked in a house, which disappears underground in a lockdown.
A minion is punched through a cake.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Despicable Me 4.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Despicable Me 4 shows some use of substances. For example:

A character consumes what looks like an alcoholic drink.
Two characters sip martinis at a table. One quickly drinks both glasses before leaving.

Nudity and sexual activity

Despicable Me 4 has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

A baby’s bare bottom is shown.
A minion strips down to nothing but his underwear.
A character’s large stomach keeps popping out from underneath his shirt, exposing his lower abdomen.
A character repeatedly slaps his bottom as he dances in a gyrating way.

Product placement

Despicable Me 4 has some product placement. For example, the BTS logo is displayed on the back of a character’s phone.

Coarse language

Despicable Me 4 has some coarse language, including ‘stupid’, ‘loser’, ‘jerk’, coward’ and ‘Gruser’ (Gru’s name combined with loser). Also, the word ‘strudel’ is used as an expletive, and an agent goes by the name Ramsbottom, which the minions find amusing and love to make fun of.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Despicable Me 4 is an animated adventure and the fourth movie about the exploits of Gru and his adorable family. Like its predecessors, the movie has a fast-paced plot with vibrant graphics, a lot of slapstick violence and humorous moments. It’s best suited to slightly older children and their families.

These are the main messages from Despicable Me 4:

Never underestimate the bonds of family.
You can find friendship in everyone if you take the time to understand them.
In the end, good will prevail, even if it’s not perfect.

Values in Despicable Me 4 that you could reinforce with your children include teamwork, love, ingenuity, courage and honesty.

Despicable Me 4 could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

bullying or blackmailing others to get what you want
holding a grudge and taking revenge instead of talking to the other person about what’s bothering you
encouraging dishonesty
using violence to solve problems.