Illumination’s Despicable Me 4 (animation; dubbed from the Hollywood film of the same name) is the fourth main instalment, and the sixth overall instalment in the Despicable Me franchise.
Undercover Anti-Villain League (AVL) agent Gru has former classmate Maxime Le Mal arrested by the AVL when the two meet at a class reunion. Maxime’s girlfriend, Valentina, helps him escape from the prison. Maxime now vows to use his new invention, a gun, on Gru’s infant son. The gun transforms people into cockroach hybrids. Hence Gru and his family are relocated to a safe house in another town. Gru’s new neighbour’s daughter, Poppy, forces him to help her to pull a heist to steal his former high school’s honey badger mascot, Lenny.
Although the badger is stolen, its collar contains a tracker because of which school principal Übelschlecht identifies Gru and informs Maxime about Gru’s whereabouts. The AVL calls the Megaminions out of retirement to stop Maxime who, however, succeeds in kidnapping Gru’s infant son. What happens thereafter?
Mike White and Ken Daurio have written a story that’s fairly interesting but their screenplay is so fast-moving that it keeps the audience engaged. The animated characters and their expressions are absolutely stunning. The dubbing of the various characters are good but not as good as it is in the original English version.
Chris Renaud’s direction is extraordinary. He has made a moving human drama which strikes a chord with the audience. Pharrell Williams’ music is entertaining. Heitor Pereira’s background score is exceptional. Tiffany Hillkurtz’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Despicable Me 4 is a very entertaining fare but its prospects in Hindi are, of course, limited because of the Hindi cinema-going audience’s general reluctance to watch animation films. It will, of course, score in English.
Released on 5-7-’24 at Gemini (daily 3 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Warner Bros. Pictures (India) Pvt. Ltd. Publicity: good. Opening: poor (opening of English version was better). …….Also released all over. The opening of the English version was better than that of the Hindi dubbed version.