Despicable Me 4 - Turbine Collector Series 3D Blu-ray

As I’ve said now a few times over in past reviews, I just don’t go to the theater to see kids' movies anymore, at least not without my boy. Part of that is appeal, I’ve certainly aged out of the interest in a lot of them, but also as a man in his early forties, it just feels weird to go to a theater for a kid flick alone if my boy doesn’t want to see it. So I miss a lot of good movies in the theater. I thankfully also miss a few bad ones. In between are the middling efforts like Illumination's Despicable Me 4, a film that's content with aiming for the little fans in the room and calling it good enough.

Now, I was never a huge fan of the Despicable Me franchise, I thought they were fun for the first couple of films that I absorbed through the osmosis process of hanging out with my nieces. I never really made an effort to watch them on my own because the appeal just wasn’t there. I think they’re fine, they’re entertaining, I appreciate kids like them and that’s enough. I’m passively indifferent to the first three films and the two Minions cinematic efforts. That amused indifference carries on for Despicable Me 4. 

At this rate, I don’t really feel the need to recap the plot because the plot is already relatively nonsensical at this point. There’s a structure for things to happen with Gru and the family on the run from his rival villain Maxime Le Mal. There’s a good bit of humor driven by this oddball fish-out-of-water family having to relocate and go into hiding, but that’s all surface fluff stuff. The motivation of the film's existance is to throw as many slapstick sight gags at the screen as possible and as fast as possible to keep the kiddos entertained.

To that end, the film succeeds. Watching this with my son, he was entertained for the swift 94 minutes it was on in 2D. Watching it again for the 3D experience of this disc on my own, a number of the visual jokes landed better because there was a sense of depth to some of the gags. In terms of plot, I was again indifferent to this latest entry. It’s the same way I’ve felt about most of the franchise. Some bits were amusing, others I just felt like I’d aged out and didn’t stick. But that’s a-okay. I can't deny I wasn't amused by it. I can't deny I laughed more than I expected. That's enough for me if my boy wants to see this one again sometime soon.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 3D
The latest film in the ongoing adventures of Gru and the Minions, Despicable Me 4 joins the ranks as the 15th entry of the growing Turbine Collector Series run of Blu-ray 3D releases. As with past entries in this line, the film is pressed on a Region Free BD50 disc and housed in a clear case with reversible slipcover artwork offering the English title and poster art. If you’re 3D ready, as soon as you punch the disc in the player, the 3D kicks in for an animated main menu. German is the default language option, but it’s real easy to switch over to your preferred language.

With a 1.85:1 aspect ratio Despicable Me 4 makes full use of the screen for some pretty damned impressive 3D! The thing I noticed early and lasted through the run of the film, this 3D experience seems to really enjoy the characters’ noses. There are a lot of closeups and the animators appeared to have a lot of fun letting those sharp pointy schnozes pop out of the screen. Throughout the run, the sense of scale and dimension is very strong, especially for action sequences or when we get our look at the various Mega Minions stomping around with their new super powers. Along the z-axis, there’s a fantastic sense of near, middle, and deep background object placement. With some clever parallax or “pop-out” effects, that sense of depth is a lot of fun. And as I said in the main review, I thought a number of the sight gags just worked better in 3D. That extra sense of scale and dimension just helped the humor of these moments land in a way that 2D just didn’t muster.

On the audio side, we have a very engaging full-throated Atmos mix to enjoy. Given the zaniness and slapstick gags and all of the whizbang visuals, the sound design does a marvelous job keeping pace with the silliness. Dialog is well-appointed, mostly kicking through the Front/Center channels, but the side, rear, and height channels are almost always firing. Even in the films’ rare “quiet” moments, there’s something happening with one of the Minions or one of Gru’s kids or just something falling off of something or shooting across the screen. That’s all a long way of saying imaging is excellent throughout the feature. As I mentioned, there’s plenty of activity out of the height channels so they’re not simply relegated to extending the atmosphere of any given location. Levels are spot on without any problem there. LFE gets to thump a way nicely with plenty of heavy impact and rumble to support the show. All-around good sonic fun. And in keeping with their last few releases now in this line, Turbine has also included French, Spanish, and Italian Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 tracks with subtitles if German or English aren’t your preferred languages.

In keeping with past Turbine Collector Series releases, there are no bonus features. Having the film in 3D is the reward there. 

Like a number of kid-focused films these days, Despicable Me 4 wasn’t made with my sense of humor in mind. It was made for my 5-year-old son and his peers. While he had fun, I have to admit to having a good time with a few good laughs. It might not be made for me but I can’t deny I enjoyed it. And with that, I have to say I liked it better in 3D, some of those sight gags just need that extra depth to stick. And Turbine once again gives three-dimensional glasses-wearing film fans what they crave. This is a terrific transfer offering amazing depth while thundering away with a fully effective Atmos audio track. Keep the 3D movies on Blu-ray coming. Recommended

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