Is Despicable Me 4 OK for kids? Is Despicable Me 4 safe for kids? Read the Despicable Me 4 Movie Review | Safe for Kids? Review | Safe for Kids?, an honest parents guide and mom review of the all-new Universal/Illumination animated film sequel Despicable Me 4 2024, starring Steve Carrell as Gru, Kristen Wiig as Lucy, Pierre Coffin as the minions, along with Will Ferrell and Sofia Vergara. No spoilers! #DespicableMe4 May contain commissioned links.
2024 Parents Guide Despicable Me 4 Movie Review | Safe for Kids?
New land, new ride, new movie sequel?
With Illumination’s Minions: The Rise of Gru earning almost $1 billion in box offices worldwide in 2022 – making for the biggest global animated franchise history – the Universal Minions have been very busy this summer 2024. From the opening of Minion Land to Villain-Con Minions Blast to adorable minion eats at Minion Cafe and Bake My Day and now a Despicable Me 4 film sequel 7-years after Despicable Me 3 – it’s clear that Universal is fully committed to this banana-loving franchise’s success.
But the question is – is the audience all in on more Despicable Me? Or are we tired of the overly capitalized gibberish?
In this Despicable Me 4 Movie Review | Safe for Kids?, I’m breaking down the visuals, the story, a full PG age rating explanation for violence, adult themes and language, and what kids’ age recommendation is suggested to watch in this new 2024 Despicable Me 4 parents guide to the new Disney+ original show. A no-spoiler parent review of Despicable Me 4 2024, does this female driven historical fiction show making history or being history?
The Visuals
Visually Despicable Me 4 offers bright, colorful, crisp, and engaging visual animation that just keeps getting better with age. Complex camera movements and angles give a fresh eye to familiar faces. And new unique characters offer flair and style.
Photosensitivity Warning. For viewers prone to epilepsy and photosensitivity, Despicable Me 4 has no multiple scenes with dizzying and fast spinning camera movements that could be nausea inducing for some – including some speeding car scenes. There are also scenes of bright flashing and/or strobing lights of note – including multiple scenes with electric/electrocution/lightning effects.
The Story
Written by Mike White (“The White Lotus“) and Despicable Me veteran Ken Daurio (“Horton Hears a Who!“) and directed by Chris Renaud (“Secret Life of Pets“) and Patrick Delage (“Sing 2“), comes an all-new 2024 animated comedy of the summer 7-years in the making – Despicable Me 4. The returning cast stars Steve Carrell (“IF“) as Gru Kristen Wiig (“Bridesmaids”) as Lucy, Miranda Cosgrove (“iCarly“) as Margo, Dana Gaier (“Despicable Me 3“) as Edith, Madison Polan as Agnes, Pierre Coffin returns as the iconic voice of the Minions, and Steve Coogan (“Night at the Museum“) returns as Silas Ramsbottom. New iconic voiceover cast includes Will Ferrell (“Elf“) as Maxime Le Mal and Sofia Vergara (“Modern Family“) as Valentina.
The story follows familiar characters Gru, Lucy, and the girls as they welcome a new addition to the family – baby Gru Jr. who proves to be challenging as the newest member. But when new nemesis Maxime Le Mal and his fatale girlfriend Valentina arrive to the scene – the family is forced on the run.
Thin substance makes for a thin plot. Unlike other Despicable Me films, the amount of subplots really adds up in this sequel. Tangent after tangent head scratching after plot holes – I found myself confused as to what the actual life lessons this beloved franchise was leaving for kids families and fans. That babies should play with sharp objects? That blackmailing people to do bad things can get you exactly what you want? That being labeled as a liar is a good thing? How to survive attacks by dangerous animals? That useless legs can be used as whips? Sadly – this may be the plethora of lessons that your children walk away with Despicable Me 4.
The real question is – is Despicable Me 4 for kids?
Despicable Me 4 PG Rating Explained
Is Despicable Me 4 safe for kids? Another Despicable Me film sequel rated PG? Should parents be concerned of the signature but subversive crude humor? It’s no secret that I am highly skeptical of all MPAA ratings (um hello, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker not disclosing any language??). And as we know, not all movie and TV age ratings are the same. As a parent, it’s been rather heartbreaking to witness how ratings have shifted over the years with a G-rating no longer an option to help guide parents.
PG ratings now oscillating between Turning Red intense to Christopher Robin calm, and even PG-13/TV-14 age ratings teetering on the edge of R or MA ratings (Moon Knight and Werewolf by Night, I see you!), there’s a wide range between the age of 0-14 years old for parents to consider. Having fully disclosed parent guidelines can help determine if a movie or show is kid friendly – and safe for the whole family to watch together.
Why is Despicable Me 4 rated PG? In this Despicable Me 4 Movie Review | Safe for Kids?, this 2024 Illumination/Universal Pictures Despicable Me 4 animated film sequel is rated PG for “action and rude humor.” With film and TV ratings also unpredictable these days, having fully disclosed parent guidelines can help determine if a movie or television show like Despicable Me 4 is kid friendly. Is Despicable Me 4 too crude for kids? Is Despicable Me 4 for kids? Let’s breakdown that PG age rating in this Despicable Me 4 parents guide.
Violence/Suspense. Despicable Me 4 is an animated comedy that relies heavily on overexaggerated fighting funny macabre and cartoon-like violence. Expect lots of fist fighting and hand-to-hand combat, and a variety weapons including non-lethal guns, lasers, tasers bug spray to the face and a safety pin held by a baby (a reminder for kids, do NOT try this at home).
Blood and gore in the new Despicable Me 4 sequel include one mild facial cut, acid-like burning to a person’s scalp, one syringe needle to the butt, electrocution, one broken bone (for humor effect), and bandaged characters. There are some new characters with superpowers – for superhero effect. But there are also some possibly creepy characters as well – human and non-human.
Adult Themes. There is a moderate amount of alcohol consumption in Despicable Me 4 – including martinis and tropical alcoholic beverages. One scene includes a character “shooting” 2 martinis down in record time. A bottle of champagne is held in a character’s hands. There is scene of a minion gambling at a slot machine. No smoking or drugs are present or consumed.
Despicable Me 4 toilet humor includes changing baby diapers (including a partial naked baby bottom) and a scene of a baby peeing through his outfit with puddle forming underneath him (with the words “pee pee” verbalized). There are two scenes of animals pooping in Despicable Me 4 including one vivid scene of animal dropping pellets in the middle of a room.
Does Despicable Me 4 have crude sexual innuendo? I think the more disturbing item is that I knew there was going to be crude innuendo – it was a matter of how many minion “butts” I was going to have to endure. We have one partially naked baby butt and one definitive scene of a minion rubbing his entire naked butt (the whole enchilada) across a bus window. There is also a scene of a minion tearing off his clothing down to his very visible underwear – to the laughing approval of the young audience members.
Other sensual innuendo includes a scene of minions slapping each other on the bottom (clothing on). Kissing on the cheek and hugging occurs between characters. There is also a verbal reference to a character describing a “pants-ing” incident which may raise some questions.
Language. Does Despicable Me 4 have language? While not disclosed, there are some choice words parents should be aware of. There are no foul language phrases nor swear words in Despicable Me 4. However, milder bad language phrases and insults in Despicable Me 4 include: “hate,” “idiot,” “loser,” “jerk,” “stupid,” “pee pee” and “oh my g-d.”
Despicable Me 4 Age Rating for Kids
With a runtime of 1 hour 35 minutes, this Despicable Me 4 film sequel hits the sweet spot for summer flicks. With bright colorful animation humor and familiar characters – this feel-good family film sequel feels like visiting with an old friend.
But with crude humor, violence, and some innuendo, this Despicable Me 2024 film sequel is an animated comedy a level above more mild and kid friendly franchises from Disney.
Using the 3 Despicable Me movies (2010, 2013, and 2017 releases), Minions 2015, and Minions: Rise of Gru 2022 movies as a baseline, I encourage parents to use the same age level guide when comparing to the new Despicable Me 4 film sequel. If your child is a hardcore Minions and Despicable Me fan, this movie will definitely be a must-see for them this summer 2024.
This 2024 Illumination original animated film sequel distributed by Universal Pictures is rated PG for “action and rude humor” by the MPAA.
Yes, the new 2024 Despicable Me 4 film has multiple end credit scenes. So much so that the whole credits is just one big end credits scene – with multiple short scenes presented from the time the credits start rolling until the very last credit plays. I would definitely stay until the end.
Based on my Despicable Me 4 parents guide and mom review above, I would not recommend the 2024 Despicable Me 4 film sequel to kids younger than the age of 4-5 years old.
With crude humor, violence, and innuendo, Despicable Me 4 is an Illumination animated comedy film sequel that is more crude when compared to animated film franchises like Disney. I advise parents to prescreen the new Despicable Me 4 2024 for adult themes, toilet humor, and innuendo.
Considering the full PG age rating breakdown above, this parent movie reviewer would not recommend the new 2024 Despicable Me 4 to kids younger than the age of 4-5 years old. This Despicable Me 4 PG rating is light and easily comparable to the Despicable Me and Minions movie franchise ratings. 
The Overall
Leaving with more questions than answers and more confusion than life lessons, this slapdash effort feels more like a Minions sequel than a Despicable Me foundation with it’s chaotic subplot tangents, thin substance, and no growth. The villains were ordinary and completely miscast – Will Ferrell is underwhelming at best with a poor villain character and even worse accent. And Sofia Vergara feels like she’s holding back with very little substance in her lines.
But with short yet entertaining subplots (though not all were entirely successful or successfully executed) for kids’ even shorter attention spans, minion laugh out loud humor, and a Gru family focus with a baby Jack-Jack twist – this Despicable Me 4 sequel has enough rooted aspects of the original film to keep the momentum going – but isn’t memorable enough to surpass the success of 1 or 2.
Overall, better than 3 but not as good as 1 or 2. Gru and his Minions have enough laughs to keep the franchise alive – but just barely. The cameos saved this Despicable “Meh” 4 from another disastrous Despicable Me 3 repeat. But you shouldn’t rely on the old franchise magic to keep the new sequel afloat. 6/10.
Follow Despicable Me 4 on social media:
- Website: https://www.despicable.me/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/minions
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/minions
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/minions/
- #DespicableMe4 #DM4
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Despicable Me 4, the 2024 all-new Despicable Me 4 animated film sequel from the beloved Illumination franchise is heisting itself into theaters starting Wednesday July 3, 2024. Will your family be watching?
I was invited to screen Illumination’s animated film sequel Despicable Me 4 2024 in exchange for this Despicable Me 4 Movie Review | Safe for Kids? Parents Guide. All photos courtesy of Universal/Illumination. Be sure to follow Raising Whasians for more movie reviews, television updates, celebrity interviews, entertainment, and behind-the-scenes info!
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