There are two sides to every coin. No, literally, there are two sides to every coin. On the one hand, audiences love the Minions, a group of lovable, mumbling, yellow blots with big eyes, and a part of Gru’s crew in Universal’s ongoing franchise, Despicable Me. On the other hand, audiences love the Minions. Gru and his extended, and ever-growing family are as lovable as the Addams’ family, the Munsters, the Cleavers . . . you get the point.  They keep giving us more entries in the now fourteen-year-running franchise, with the latest, Despicable Me 4, hitting North America over the extended Fourth of July weekend. The film recently opened in other territories.

The fourth entry, technically the sixth entry in the extended franchise if you include the two prequels, is harmless. It doesn’t break any major ground as far as the characters are concerned. Director Chris Renaud and writers, Mike White and Ken Daurio try to imbue Gru (Steve Carell) with a balance between being a father and being an agent for the Anti-Villain League (AVL) along with his wife, Lucy (Kristen Wiig).

Despicable Me 4 becomes more frustrating than funny as White, Daurio, and Renaud stage a series of happenstance events in Gru’s life to bring him and his family to harm, forcing them into hiding from Will Farrell’s Maxime Le Mal who seeks revenge on Gru. While in hiding, courtesy of Steve Coogan’s Silas Ramsbottom, the young next-door neighbor, Poppy (Joey King) presents herself in a way as to cause trouble for Gru, not that he needs help in that department. Carell still feels like the Gru of the first film with his nefarious nature, though as the character has evolved, Gru feels like a pantomime of his former life.

Renaud stages the antics with references to other films, and in doing so, robs Gru of that cool, classy vibe. Gru’s arc in Despicable Me 4 is wholesome, yet it feels hollow; even Le Mal feels hollow. Everyone loves the Minions and Renaud leans on them too much, as if the balance between Gru and his yellow henchmen (why do I feel like I just described the relationship between Jacques Clouseau’s with his bodyguard, Cato??) is inching further and further toward the Minions.

In an age where content is king and franchises drive studios forward, especially if they are cash machines like the Despicable Me series has been, Renaud is going to continue to focus on what the audience wants. Illumination seems intent of developing rotating stories between Gru-centric stories like Despicable Me 4 and Minion-centric stories like the two prequels. New audiences might appreciate the film’s cleverly intended homages to keep Gru and his family moving forward. That the story focused more on the homages than telling a solid, character-driven story is disappointing. The homages become obvious, they become distracting, even if some of them are amusing.

The beautiful animation isn’t enough to salvage an otherwise serviceable entry in Despicable Me 4. Audiences will embrace it because, even as lackluster as Gru’s story is, he’s still a lovable, nefarious family man. And that’s alright.

Not all was lost on me.

There was one nugget of redemption in the film’s arsenal. If you know anything about this critic, you’ll probably be able to spot it. If you can guess what it was that had me grinning from ear to ear, then this review was worth it.

Despicable Me 4 is ultimately harmless. Its hollowness doesn’t add much to the franchise’s lore, but that’s not stopping them from making more.

Despicable Me 4

Directed by Chris Renaud

Written by Mike White and Ken Daurio

Featuring Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin, Joey King, Miranda Cosgrove, Stephen Colbert, Sofia Vegara, Steve Coogan, Will Ferrell

94 mins., PG, Universal/Illumination