‘Despicable Me 4’ review: Painfully unfunny sequel offers nothing new

Movie review

In which Gru meets … Franz Kafka?!

Say what?

It happens at the start of “Despicable Me 4” when the main character finds himself doing battle with a man turned into a giant cockroach seemingly straight out of Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis.”

Yep, one of the most famous images in literature is press-ganged into service in this long-running franchise.

Why? Dunno. Somebody in the “Despicable” brain trust clearly thought it might have been good for a giggle (“I’ll bet nobody will see this coming”). But then once it’s out there, they do nothing special or original with it. Nothing existential going on here at all.

Rather, roach man — actually his name is Maxime Le Mal (voiced by Will Ferrell with an atrocious French-approximate accent) — is an oh-so typical villain complete with maniacal cackle, frenzied misbehaviors and hysteria-tinged line deliveries. Oh, and bug limbs of course.

He has it in for Gru (voiced as always by Steve Carell) as a result of having been pranked by the Gru-guy back when they were both kids in their high school alma mater.

A supervillain with a competitive streak, Maxime aims to show Gru, a one-time dedicated baddie himself, that he won’t let bygones be bygones and so will attempt to kidnap Gru’s infant son. Not nice.

Yes, as followers of the franchise know, Gru has put badness aside and settled into the life of a devoted suburban husband and father to three adopted daughters and his pint-size offspring Gru Jr.  

The tyke is not a fan of Dad, though his wife (voiced by Kristen Wiig) tries to reassure him that the mite does harbor fond feelings despite the fact that “he doesn’t show it on his face … or with his body language.”

None of this is especially promising or, frankly, funny. In fact, for much of its length, “Despicable Me” is painfully unfunny.

Jokes and situations are recycled from earlier “Despicables.” At one point, a snarling honey badger rampages in a manner reminiscent of the befanged whatzis that ran amok in Gru’s house in the original “Despicable Me” back in 2010. Also, Maxime is attended by a swarm of miniroaches, obviously patterned after the Minions.

As for the Minions, those Twinkie-shaped, gibbering cutups (voiced once again by Pierre Coffin, who has also co-directed several of these pictures, including the 2010 original) are, as usual, the movie’s saving grace. Chittering away, bopping one another around, they are the personification of frantic. Good stuff, as far as it goes. But after a while it wears thin. We’ve seen and heard it all before.

Writers Ken Daurio and Mike White and directors Chris Renaud and Patrick Delage have sought to change things up by converting five of the little rascals into super-Minions, with laser eyes, super strength, the ability to fly, etc., etc. If superpowers are good enough for Marvel heroes, then maybe try some of that here. Yet it all seems kind of desperate somehow.

You see, once upon a time, back in the first “Despicable,” the various plot elements were well-balanced. Minion capers coexisted comfortably with the story of Gru losing his villainous edge when he reluctantly takes responsibility for the upbringing of three orphan girls. There was a tenderness in the storytelling that is absent in the succeeding movies. Screeching and running around became the order of the day.

At the end of this one, Gru and Maxime bellow their way through a competitive sing-off in front of an audience sprinkled with characters from the earlier movies. There’s banker Mr. Perkins, and there’s the annoying Vector. It’s all very self-congratulatory. It’s all very weak sauce.