In the first “Despicable Me” movie in seven years, Gru, the world’s favorite supervillain-turned-Anti-Villain League-agent, returns for a new era of Minions mayhem in Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4.”
Following the 2022 summer blockbuster of Illumination’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” which earned almost $1 billion worldwide, the latest installment sees Gru (Oscar nominee Steve Carrell) and Lucy (Oscar nominee Kristen Wiig) and their girls — Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Madison Polan) — welcome a new member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad.
Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal (Emmy winner Will Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Emmy nominee Sofia Vergara), and the family is forced to go on the run.
The Minions are relishing in cultural confusion by making it their selling point.
The film features new characters voiced by Joey King (“Bullet Train”), Emmy winner Stephen Colbert (“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”) and Chloe Fineman (“Saturday Night Live”). Pierre Coffin returns as the voice of the Minions and Oscar nominee Steve Coogan returns as Silas Ramsbottom.
The Minions have been a cultural touchstone for well over a decade now, especially during the 2010s which saw political populism and an opposition to globalization on the rise, with one Buzzfeed News commenter writing:
“Within this heated context, Minions serve as clumsy cultural mediators, unearthing differences and similarities from a playful standpoint. Their inscrutability makes Minions the ideal globalist product — they manage to be likable, relevant and most importantly, enigmatic wherever they go … the Minions are relishing in cultural confusion by making it their selling point.”
“Despicable Me 4” premiers in theaters on July 3. Check out the trailer below.
