WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

When super-villain-turned-secret-agent Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) goes to a reunion for villain school, his childhood nemesis, Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell), reveals that he’s planning to take over the world, using his new ability to turn himself into a giant cockroach – but Gru and his fellow agents manage to catch him and bring him into custody.

When Maxime escapes and vows to avenge his arrest, Gru and his family are put into hiding with new identities. But his new neighbour’s daughter Poppy (Joey King) recognises Gru from his villain days and threatens to expose his identity unless he helps her break into his old school to steal its mascot.

They’re caught on closed circuit TV camera and the school’s principal manages to trace him to his new home and tells her favourite former pupil, Maxime, exactly where to find him.

WHAT’S IT LIKE?

As the title suggests, this is the fourth outing of the Despicable Me franchise, but there’ve been other films in between, centred on Gru’s tiny yellow accomplices, the Minions, but this still manages to feel fresh, despite ploughing many familiar plot-lines.

Ferrell and Carell bounce off each other as they’ve done in several times before – including the Anchorman films and in the American Office TV series – and the narrative zips along at a brisk pace.

It’s bursting with knowing nostalgic gags, throwing back to 1980s and 90s hits – including the Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon, Tears For Fears’ Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Cameos’ Word Up and EMF’s Unbelievable – largely to appeal to the parents – and possibly even the grandparents – of the target audience.

There’s a bit of fish-out-of-water comedy, some ghosts-of-the past drama, even some family dynamics – as Gru finds it almost as much of a challenge to deal with his baby son as he does to hold Maxime at bay.

It’s a lot of fun, even for people who might be new to the franchise, but it’s not breaking any new ground or trying to be as bold as some of the central talent might suggest that it could, making it feel oddly safe for a battle of good against evil.