Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past 14 years, you know who the Minions are and who Gru the reformed supervillain is.
The Despicable Me movies have turned into one of the biggest film franchises for families across the globe, as the story of Gru, his adopted kids and the Minions has spawned five films in the series.
The sixth overall film (and fourth in the Despicable Me namesake), Despicable Me 4, opens this week in theaters, with Will Ferrell, Joey King and Sofia Vergara joining the voice cast.
Ahead of that new Minion-filled affair, let’s rank the five films in the series so far and how they stack up against each other.
6. Despicable Me 3
South Park co-creator Trey Parker’s Balthazar Bratt gave the franchise its best-ever villain, and he absolutely nailed the vocal performance. However, the rest of the film is bogged down a bit with an uninspired “oh, hey, Gru has a brother!” main plot that just can’t match what Parker is doing with Bratt. To amend a line from Homer Simpson, when Bratt isn’t on the screen, you’re left asking, where did Bratt go?
5. Despicable Me 4
A step above its predecessor in terms of story but the first film in the series to show a little rust, Despicable Me 4 is perfectly fine for what it is but feels a bit too chaotic in terms of its execution. The Minions movies have done a better job of harnessing what works about these movies than either of the Despicable Me sequels to follow them, but there’s more than enough here to justify keeping these characters round (besides the gobs of money from the box office). This easily has the most cockroaches in a movie since Joe’s Apartment. Whether or not that’s a good thing is up to you.
4. Minions: The Rise of Gru
While it’s a step down from the previous Minions standalone film, this still has sequences where the Minions have to try and land a plane and fight with kung-fu powers. It’s not going to blow your mind, but the little yellow Tic Tacs fill up the air with plenty of mindless laughter. There is a Chicken Minion, too. Don’t even ask me how that happened; just enjoy it.
3. Minions
A film that has aged surprisingly well for how slapstick stupid it is, the first Minions film gives the goofy henchmen their time in the sun with some truly hysterical gags and a plot that is suitably weightless. Bob the Minion briefly becomes the King of England, and that should be all you need to know whether or not you’d be into a movie filled with the Minions. It’s not bad!
2. Despicable Me 2
The second Despicable Me movie is bigger, louder and funnier than the first film, but it just can’t quite capture the full charm of how original and delightful that first installment was. However, this one comes as close as any of the films in the series have at reaching for that barometer. The purple anti-Minions are a hoot, and Benjamin Bratt does good work voicing the villain.
1. Despicable Me
Back in 2010, Despicable Me came out in the same summer as Toy Story 3, so it was hard for it to really assert itself as the animated event of the season. However, it was the movie that up Illumination Entertainment on the map and set this up as one of the biggest family franchises on the planet. And for good reason! It’s a truly special animated film, one that’s certainly more sweet like confection than deep as an ocean. However, it is still pretty irresistible to this day, making it the clear list-topper in this scenario.
