Back in 2010, Despicable Me became a hit, though perhaps not the kind of success that one assumed would continue to spawn new adventures 14 years later. Yet 2024 finds us with Despicable Me 4, and given its box office profits, I doubt the franchise ends here.

Once an evil genius, Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) now works for the Anti-Villain League (AVL). Outside of his job, he lives with wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig), adopted kids Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Madison Polan), and baby Gru Jr.

Into this life of domesticity steps Gru’s old high school classmate Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell). A super-baddie in his own right, Maxime nurses a grudge against Gru and comes for revenge against his old peer.

Though Me 4 offers the fourth title in the Despicable franchise proper, it really acts as the sixth film in the series. 2015 brought the spinoff Minions and 2022 gave us a sequel to that flick.

While successful, I don’t think ticket sales for the original 2010 Me hinted at what a juggernaut the franchise would become. That one took in a hearty $543 million worldwide, but then 2013’s Despicable Me 2 grossed a massive $971 million.

That’s about where the series remains. Me 4 actually delivers the lowest take of the six movies, but $940 million still seems more than solid.

And it plops within the general range seen by the others. After the 2010 movie, each Me or Minions movie made between $940 million and $1.1 billion, so we don’t see a massive difference among those totals.

In other words: expect more Despicable Me movies as long as Steve Carell’s vocal cords continue to function. Or even beyond that, as the studio could milk Minions for decades without Gru!

Which I would prefer, as I find the two Minions movies to function substantially better than the four Me flicks. The original Me seemed watchable but lackluster and none of its three follow-ups improves on that performance.

Me 4 likely ends up as the worst of the bunch, partially due to “franchise bloat”. In general, as a movie series progresses, it inevitably adds new characters.

Also inevitably, this leaves each new entry with more mouths to feed, a factor that ensures the stories become scattered and disjointed. This reaches its zenith with the messy Me 4.

As the cliché goes, when a TV or movie series introduces a new child, that means it either enters or nears “Jump the Shark” territory. I suppose we can find exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, this form of character expansion indicates a lack of creativity.

If Gru Jr. offered the only sign of desperation in Me 4, I could forgive it. Indeed, I could see a perfectly decent version of the film that used the baby as a focal point.

However, Me 4 comes with no actual “focal point”. Although my plot synopsis presents a neat ‘n’ tidy overview, the actual film delivers a disjointed mish-mash of story beats that fly all over the place without coherence.

Man, does Me 4 throw a lot at the wall! Rather than come together to create a fun narrative, we basically fine a collection of semi-random scenes without much of a plot to unite these threads.

As noted, the introduction of Gru Jr. didn’t need to become a fatal flaw, and it doesn’t. If done right, the baby’s presence could give the movie some interesting new themes.

Really, Me 4 simply should have been about Maxime’s stabs at revenge against Gru and how these involve the child. Instead, the filmmakers threw out 87 different plot points that become unnecessary.

Even worse: these many, many “story beats” just turn Me 4 into a disjointed romp. The main “plot” goes AWOL for large swaths of time and everything else feels like comedic filler.

Because I never loved the franchise, I can’t say Me 4 really disappoints me. Nonetheless, the nearly complete lack of coherence makes the movie seem desperate and incoherent.

Footnote: does anyone else think it feels odd that Gru’s three adopted kids haven’t aged a day since the first movie even though at least three or four years “real time” have passed since then? Apparently the filmmakers want to follow “Simpsons Rules” but this doesn’t make much sense in the Despicable Me universe.

Bonus footnote: expect the usual Minions shenanigans to proceed through the end credits.

Despicable Me 4 appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. No issues materialized here.

Sharpness satisfied. As expected from an animated flick, the image showed nice clarity.

I noticed no issues with jagged edges or shimmering, and edge enhancement appeared to be absent. No source flaws came with the transfer, as the movie lacked any form of defects.

Colors went with a somewhat subdued pastel feel, though matters broadened to more dynamic hues when appropriate. Within those parameters, the colors looked positive, so the various tones came across as clear and well-developed.

Blacks also seemed dark and firm, while low-light shots offered good delineation. Across the board, this became a satisfying image.

As for the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack, it opened up the film in a satisfying manner. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the mix didn’t give us wall-to-wall theatrics, but it managed to use the spectrum well.

As expected, the film’s action sequences boasted nice breadth and activity, and crowd elements created a fine sense of involvement. While the soundscape didn’t stun us on a consistent basis, it provided more than enough to succeed.

Audio quality seemed consistently solid. Speech appeared natural and distinctive, and no edginess or other issues marred the dialogue.

Music sounded warm and full, while effects showed good clarity and accuracy. When necessary, bass response came across as deep and tight. All of this lifted the track to “B+” status.

All prior home video releases in this franchise included Mini-Movies, and that trend continues here. We find Game Over and Over (four minutes, 19 seconds) and Benny’s Birthday (4:01).

In the first, a Minion finds and uses a special videogame controller that allows him to play in real life, while in Birthday, his fellow Minions force Benny to celebrate whether he wants to do so or not. Both seem entertaining enough, especially since Birthday pursues an unusual Groundhog Day-style concept.

Nine Deleted/Extended/Alternate Scenes occupy a total of 14 minutes, 25 seconds. We find more from Gru’s school reunion as well as additional Minions antics and Gru and his infant son.

None of these snippets further narrative or character development, as they mostly play like random bits of comedy without much real connection to the story. Still, fans will enjoy them.

A few featurettes follow, and Despicable Dialogue goes for three minutes, 37 seconds as it shows the actors at work in the recording studio. I enjoy this sort of material so this turns into a fun little reel.

Meet the Cast breaks into seven clips with a total of 22 minutes, 16 seconds. Across these, we hear from producer/Illumination founder Chris Meledandri, director Chris Renaud, editor Tiffany Hillkurtz, co-writer Ken Daurio, co-director Patrick Delage, layout cinematography supervisor Maxime Devanlay, CG supervisors Boris Jacq and Richard Adenot, animation directors Aymeric Palermo and Pierre-Francois Duhamel, character animator Charlotte Kristof, and actors Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Joey King, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Madison Polan, Stephen Colbert, Chloe Fineman, Sofia Vergara and Will Ferrell.

As expected, they talk about characters and performances. I like the shots from the actors’ sessions but otherwise the “Cast” segments lean toward praise for the actors.

Next comes a Making of program. It runs 10 minutes, 57 seconds and delivers info from Carell, Wiig, Daurio, Meledandri, Hillkurtz, Ferrell, Renaud, King, Delage, Kristof,, Jacq, Adenot, Duhamel, Devanlay, Palermo, art director Charlotte Hutchinson, surfacing character supervisor Benjamin Fournet, set dressing supervisor Laura Giardini and compositing supervisor Romain Blanchet.

The featurette looks at story/characters and the evolution of the series, cast and performances, the creative team, storyboarding and art direction, and animation. “Making” tears through production elements in a manner that emphasizes happy talk over insights.

Mega Minion Mayhem goes for four minutes, 22 seconds. It features Carell, Cosgrove, Wiig, Vergara, Ferrell, Daurio, Renaud, Palermo, Duhamel, King, Devanlay, Jacq, Hutchinson, character rigging supervisor Hassan Bensmaine, production supervisor Alexandra Skinazi-Francart, head of story Habib Louati and hair and fur supervisor Emmanuelle de Amezaga.

This one discusses the development of the movie’s “Mega Minions”. Once again, fluff overwhelms facts.

With Rogues Gallery, we find a three-minute, 38-second segment that provides a basic overview of some movie characters. It seems unnecessary but it also feels harmless.

Finally, How to Draw breaks into five components with a total running time of 12 minutes, 11 seconds. These instruct viewers how to sketch each of the five “Mega Minion” characters.

Head of Story Habib Louati leads us through the demonstration. This turns into a fun look at design choices.

In an interesting touch, “Draw” can be followed either via Louati’s original French dialogue or looped English speech from someone else.

14 years into the franchise and Despicable Me 4 finds a film series without direction. This one tosses out roughly 283 different story beats that barely connect and fail to generate much entertainment. The Blu-ray boasts strong picture and audio as well as a mediocre set of supplements. Maybe Despicable Me 5 will bounce back but I doubt it.