The “Despicable Me 4” poster says it all.

The image is a fish-eye lens view of a Minion with mouth open and a smaller Minion laying sideways between its teeth.

That’s the thing about “Despicable Me 4”: The most entertaining scenes in the movie are those featuring the Minions.

The title of the animated feature film franchise, “Despicable Me,” refers to Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), the former supervillain Felonious Gru, who has reformed, heads the Anti-Villain League and now fights for the right to thwart supervillains.

In “Despicable Me 4,” Gru and his family are relocated in a Witness Protection Program to hide from supervillain Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) and his girlfriend, the femme fatale, Valentina (Sofia Vergara).

Plot-wise, this gets Gru out of the way, allowing more screen time for, you guessed it: Minions.

You might say, and I will say, “Despicable Me 4” is not very Gru-vy.

A subplot involving Super Minions goes nowhere, nor does a subplot about Gru’s neighbor, Poppy Prescott (Joey King), nor does the main plot about Maxime Le Mal and Valentina and Gru Jr.

Among the voice talents, Carell is doing a slightly racist faux Russian accent, Ferrell is doing a slightly racist faux French accent and Kristen Wiig (Lucy Wilde, Gru’s wife) is doing a slightly racist Karen accent.

The animation is fun, with bright backgrounds and plasticine-style characters ready-made for Made-In-China merchandise to fly off the toy shelves.

“Despicable Me 4” director is Parkland High School, Class of 1985, graduate Chris Renaud (director, “The Secret Life of Pets,” 2016; “The Secret Life of Pets 2,” 2019; “Despicable Me,” 2010; “Despicable Me 2,” 2013; “Dr. Seuss The Lorax,” 2012). Renaud is co-creator of the Minions characters. Co-director is Patrick Delage in his feature film directorial debut.

The screenwriters are Mike White (screenwriter, “Migration,” 2023; “Pitch Perfect 3,” 2017; Primetime Emmy nominee, winner, creator, TV’s “The White Lotus,” 2021-2022) and Ken Daurio (screenwriter, “Despicable Me 3,” 2017; “The Secret Life of Pets,” “The Lorax”; creator, TV’s “Schmigadoon!,” 2021-2023).

The screenplay is episodic. It’s a series of sketch-comedy scenes.

The screenwriters of “Despicable Me 4” might need a refresher course in Screenwriting 101. Or they need to watch a film by writer-director John Waters. “Hairspray” (1988) would be a good start.

The Illumination animation studio probably doesn’t want to get too deep into the plot because the “Despicable Me” franchise and its spinoffs make a despicable amount of money.

The “Despicable Me and Minions Universe is said to be the highest-grossing animation franchise ever, with $5 billion worldwide.

The franchise is a Cash Cow (now there’s an animation character) and Illumination is milking it for all its worth.

“Despicable Me 4” is vapid fare. The franchise needs some edge.

Here’s a plot twist:

GRU is an acronym for Gated Recurrent Unit, a type of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) architecture similar to Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), which models sequential data by allowing information to be selectively remembered. Can you say Artificial Intelligence (AI)? How about a science-fiction plot centered on AI taking over? Or would that be more of a documentary film?

Better yet:

GRU is an acronym for Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravlenie, Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate, headed since 2018 by Admiral Igor Kostyukov. Six Russian GRU officers were charged with a worldwide deployment of destructive malware, GRU is alleged to be behind arson attacks in European nations to undermine support for Ukraine’s war effort, and GRU is said to use a fictitious private military company as a front to recruit and deploy soldiers for Russia’s War in Ukraine.

Forget Will Ferrell and Sofia Vergara as adversaries for Steve Carell (GRU). Bring on Igor Kostyukov.

The “Despicable Me“ franchise has an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit problem. What’s that, you ask?

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Oswald was left behind. Why? Copyright problems. Walt Disney Animation Studios launched “Steamboat Willie,” the first synchronous sound animation cartoon and the first to star Mickey Mouse in 1928.

Mickey soon made us forget about Oswald, just as the Minions make us forget about Gru.

Meanwhile, I can’t wait for the next Minions’ movie, even if it is called ”Despicable Me 5.”

“Despicable Me 4” will entertain elementary school and pre-school children. Older folks like myself? Not so much.

“Despicable Me 4,” MPAA Rated PG (Parental guidance suggested: Some material may not be suitable for children.) for action and rude humor; Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Science-Fiction, Animation; Run time: 1 hour, 35 minutes. Distributed by Universal Pictures.

Credit Readers Anonymous: As if to reinforce the importance of their role in “Despicable Me 4,” Minions cavort during the end credits.

At the Movies: “Despicable Me 4” was seen in the standard format at AMC Center Valley 16. It doesn’t require viewing in the Dolby, 3-D or Imax formats.

Theatrical Movie Domestic Weekend Box Office, July 19-21: “Twisters,” starring Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones in the eye of the storm, swept to No. 1, opening with $80.5 million in 4,151 theaters, demolishing the two-week No. 1 run of “Despicable Me 4,” dropping one place to No. 2 with $23.8 million in 4,112 theaters, $259.4 million, three weeks.

3. “Inside Out 2” stayed in place, $12.8 million in 3,623 theaters, $596.3 million, six weeks. 4. “Longlegs” dropped two places, $11.6 million in 2,850 theaters. 5. “A Quiet Place: Day One” dropped one place, $6.1 million in 2,913 theaters, $127.6 million, four weeks. 6. “Fly Me to the Moon” dropped one place, $3.3 million in 3,356 theaters, $16.3 million, two weeks. 7. “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” dropped one place, $2.6 million in 1,716 theaters, $189.3 million, seven weeks. 8. “Bad Newz,” a sequel to the India comedy, “Good Newz,” opening, $1 million in 477 theaters. 10. “The Bikeriders” moved up five places, $701,000 in 308 theaters, $21.2 million, five weeks.

Movie box office information from Box Office Mojo as of July 21 is subject to change.

Unreel, July 26:

“Deadpool & Wolverine,” MPAA Rated R: Shawn Levy directs Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Garner, Patrick Stewart in the Action, Comedy Science-Fiction film. Wade Wilson suits up again as Deadpool and teams up with Wolverine.

“The Fabulous Four,” R: Jocelyn Moorhouse directs Susan Sarandon, Bette Midler, Megan Mullally, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Michael Bolton in the Comedy. Two friends are bridesmaids at a college friend’s wedding.

Movie opening dates from Internet Movie Database as of July 21 are subject to change.

Two Popcorn Boxes out of Five Popcorn Boxes