Despicable Me 4

Continuing a trend with its sprawling franchise, Despicable Me 4 is targeted more at small children than accompanying adults.

The latest sequel to the inventive 2010 animated comedy continues to offer diminishing creative returns. Without any meaningful way to advance the series from a narrative standpoint, it falls back on a common strategy, catering to kids with short attention spans by filling every frame with as much mayhem as possible with minimal regard for coherence.

This installment opens with aspiring supervillain Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) attending a class reunion, where he starts a feud with old classmate Maxime (Will Ferrell), whose nefarious deeds include an affinity for cockroaches.

With Maxime out for revenge, the neurotic Gru and his family — including wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig), three daughters, and an infant son — are forced to relocate to a safe house in an affluent suburb, where each of them struggles to fit in with their snobby neighbors.

They also must assume fake identities, which doesn’t sit well with Gru’s innocently honest girls. “Don’t think of it as lying,” he rationalizes. “It’s more like high-stakes pretending.”

Meanwhile, Gru’s bosses with the Anti-Villain League inevitably enlist some rambunctious minion sidekicks to hunt down Maxime before the family’s confidentiality is compromised.

After four films, Gru still connects with some solid chuckles, and Carell remains in top form. However, Maxime isn’t as compelling as his adversary, and neither are the ubiquitous minions whose diversionary slapstick antics are given gratuitous amounts of screen time.

Helmed by returning series director Chris Renaud, the film is highlighted by crisp and colorful animation with exaggerated character features and creatively designed action sequences.

Meanwhile, the screenplay provides some scattered big laughs from its often low-brow array of sight gags and one-liners. The most charming moments stem from the Gru’s awkwardness and his family’s continued struggles to bond given the fish-out-of-water scenario — plus a wide-eyed, scene-stealing baby.

Still, this innocuous follow-up feels like a mishmash of discarded and undeveloped ideas or subplots from prior entries in the franchise, including its more grating Minions spinoffs.

What’s left is familiar rather than fresh. Despite its spirited voice cast, Despicable Me 4 is overall more obnoxious than endearing.

Rated PG, 94 minutes.