Every Despicable Me Movie, Ranked Worst To Best

The Despicable Me movies follow supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) and his faithful Minions navigating a world of crime and, eventually, crime fighting. The franchise has brought in a combined box office total of over $5.5 billion since 2010 and counting since the release of Minions & Monsters. Each movie received mixed reviews from critics and the audience alike. Regardless, in 2017, the franchise surpassed the Shrek movies as the most successful animated series at the box office.

Though Gru once prided himself on being a supervillain, he becomes an adoptive father to three young girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes. After this, Gru and his family (including his future wife Lucy Wilde) become crime fighters instead of supervillains, as he realizes that being a supportive father is most important to him in future movies. Although the villains change with every entry, the large cast of Minion characters persists throughout.

The newest franchise movie arrived in 2026 with Minions & Monsters, and while it ended up with the highest critical reviews of the entire franchise, its box office performance struggled. That said, the franchise movies have long legs, so the film has a chance to rebound as the summer rolls on. None of the Despicable Me movies flopped, but some fared better than others in their box-office totals and the various critical and audience reviews. As a result, it’s easy to create a hierarchy of all the Despicable Me movies, ranked from worst to best.

7

Despicable Me 4 (2024)

Release Date

July 3, 2024

Runtime

94 minutes

Writers

Ken Daurio

Producers

Chris Meledandri

After two financially successful but critically middling Minions prequel movies, hopes were high among the fanbase for Despicable Me 4. Not only does the film feature a return to the adult Gru storyline (and, therefore, a continuation of the story teased in Despicable Me 3), but it also boasts a talented cast – including Will Ferrell alongside franchise stalwart Steve Carell.

However, despite these factors, Despicable Me 4 ranks at the bottom of all Despicable Me movies to date. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 56% at the time of writing, Despicable Me 4 has the dubious reputation of being the second-worst-reviewed film in the franchise so far by one point.

Critics highlighted a formulaic plot and tired character tropes, with the movie bringing little new to the table. While it will likely prove to be a financial success, like every Despicable Me movie before it, Despicable Me 4 failed to restore the franchise to previous critical heights.

6

Minions (2015)

Release Date

July 10, 2015

Runtime

91 minutes

Writers

Brian Lynch

Producers

Chris Meledandri

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  Sandra Bullock

  Scarlet Overkill (voice)

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The cute yellow Minions got their own movie because they stole audiences’ hearts in the first two Despicable Me movies. However, before Despicable Me 4, Minions boasted the lowest Rotten Tomatoes rating of the franchise. Over time, it dropped to last place again on RT. Many critics argued the Minions might function better as morsels of comic relief, not the main characters of a full-length film.

To its credit, Minions was on Netflix’s top 25 movies in 2021, but the slapstick humor only went so far, and the film ran out of steam. However, the movie brought in over $1.1 billion worldwide, so it is clear that Minions resonated with audiences.

There’s no doubt that Despicable Me would not be what it is today without the Minions, but the movie fell short critically and doesn’t match up as well with the films where the Minions play second fiddle to Gru and his family. The creators tried to give the people what they wanted: more Minions, but Minions ended up being too much of a good thing.

5

Despicable Me 3 (2017)

Release Date

June 30, 2017

Runtime

90 Minutes

Writers

Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio

Producers

Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy

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  Kristen Wiig

  Lucy Wilde (voice)

Despicable Me 3 continued Gru’s storyline while introducing some interesting new characters, like his twin Dru, and the new villain, Trey Parker’s Balthazar Bratt. Returning to a similar formula that the two prior Despicable Me movies followed, Gru and Lucy start by getting fired by the Anti-Villain League when Balthazar gets away.

Gru’s whole family gets torn apart as his twin brother Dru (whom he never knew existed) walks into his life. The movie jumps all over the place with some pretty wild ideas. It’s a lot to keep up with and digest, but this is where the Minions do their part well: they provide little snippets of comic relief to break up the otherwise complicated storyline.

While the opening weekend at the box office was not as successful as the previous two movies in the franchise, Despicable Me 3 still made over $1 billion worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). It was also slightly better reviewed, with a two percent higher Rotten Tomatoes score than the previous movie, Minions. In a lot of ways, Despicable Me 3 was a return to form after the disappointing 2015 spin-off film.

4

Minions: The Rise Of Gru (2022)

Release Date

June 29, 2022

Runtime

87 minutes

Director

Kyle Balda

Writers

Matthew Fogel, Brian Lynch

After Minions failed to impress critics, the studio changed gears and returned to Gru with Despicable Me 3. Illumination also returned to the Minions, and this time, The Rise of Gru was a huge improvement. This allowed the studio to use the best of both worlds while making Gru the side character in this movie.

The prequel takes the story to 1975 when an 11-year-old Gru starts his ascent with the help/hindrance of his new Minions. Gru is eventually targeted by a supervillain group known as the Vicious 6 after he steals the Zodiac Stone. The Minions help Gru along the way while protecting him from the Six.

Minions: The Rise of Gru succeeded where Minions failed because Gru was part of the plot. It’s a little more forgettable and immaterial than the first two Despicable Me movies, but it remains a fun, occasionally inspired installment. The Rise of Gru made $107 million at the box office for its opening weekend, totaling $940.7 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), keeping the success of the franchise strong.

3

Minions & Monsters (2026)

Release Date

June 24, 2026

Runtime

90 minutes

Producers

Chris Meledandri, Bill Ryan

Cast

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  Trey Parker

  Goomi (voice)

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  Henry / James / Ed / Dick / The Minions (voice)

Minions & Monsters shocked the world when it broke the record for the best Rotten Tomatoes score of the entire franchise with a 91% score as of this writing. However, while the critics loved the movie, praising it for being a love letter to classic Hollywood, the audience score was lower, although still sitting at a respectable 75%. This was only the second movie without Gru in the main story, and it surpassed Minions by a great deal.

The movie takes a risk by bringing in new Minions, a different tribe from the ones that will later serve Gru. They are still similar, as they accidentally kill their villain masters every time, but the story settles on James, an artistic Minion who wants to make movies. He works with his friends, Henry and Ed, and when a real monster is released, they have to fight it while trying to make James’s movie a reality.

While reviews were overwhelmingly positive, the box office was low because of stiff competition at theaters. The movie finished with a very low $36.4 million domestically, which was way below previous movies. However, it was in competition with Toy Story 5, which continues to break box office records. Regardless, this is the best Minions movie, by far, and ranks just below the two original Despicable Me movies in quality.

2

Despicable Me (2010)

Release Date

July 8, 2010

Runtime

95 minutes

Writers

Cinco Paul, Sergio Pablos, Ken Daurio

Producers

Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy, Sergio Pablos

The original Despicable Me movie introduced a whole bizarre world to animated movies. If it weren’t for the success of this first movie, the animated franchise might not have gone on to become the highest-grossing of its kind, like it did when it surpassed Shrek in 2017. Gru goes through enormous character growth during the movie, turning from a supervillain into a super-dad for his adopted daughters, Margo, Edith, and Agnes.

The movie is able to seamlessly introduce the fascinating Minions in such a way that audiences don’t question them; they just accept them and laugh with and at them. Often, the first movie in a series gets bogged down in explaining the complex world that has been created, but that is not the case with Despicable Me.

The film explains the world through showing, not telling, and it’s all the stronger for it. Combined with the likable characters, this was an easy hit, especially with children. The movie picked up a Golden Globes nomination and sits at 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.

1

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

Release Date

June 26, 2013

Runtime

98 minutes

Writers

Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio

Producers

Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy

While both of the first two installments are classics, Despicable Me 2 eclipses Despicable Me. The 2013 movie was among many sequels that year that outdid their originals at the box office. Kristen Wiig joins the franchise as Lucy, and the story allows the audience to get to know the girls better, and the movie works on every level.

The Minions are at their absolute best here: they are more prominent than in the original Despicable Me, but not so much that it’s overbearing. With the Minions at the center of El Macho’s plot to use them to achieve world domination, Despicable Me 2 shows that Minions can be the focal point, but still in bite-sized pieces.

Since the original Despicable Me movie, Gru has always been a family man at heart, and this movie really lets him shine as such. Despicable Me 2 is also the first Despicable Me movie in the franchise to earn an Oscar nomination, picking up one for Best Animated Feature and one for Best Original Song (“Happy”).