All 7 Despicable Me & Minions Movies Ranked

If there's one objective truth about Illumination, it's that the Universal-based animation company would be naked without the "Despicable Me" series. The original 2010 comedy about a supervillain trying to open his heart both stylistically and tonally set the template for the company's projects moving forward, with every one of them opening with a gag courtesy of the little yellow menaces known as the minions. The "Despicable Me" movies have made over $5 billion worldwide and there's no sign of that slowing down anytime soon with the release of this summer's "Minions & Monsters."

Their success has less to do with the quality of the films themselves so much as the minions possessing the ability to lean into the kind of nonsensical cartoon absurdism that appeals to kids. It makes comparing the "Despicable Me" movies pretty difficult as they largely share the same strengths and weaknesses with minor tidbits setting them apart from one another. Just ask any parent who's had to endure these movies on a constant rotation to the point of minionese becoming a second language.

Sticking to a pattern makes sense. For Illumination, there's no point in switching things up when they've already concocted a tried-and-tested formula that always works in their favor. But even certain installments within this series can occasionally find ways to break free from their constrictions and stand out. With that said, let's rank all seven "Despicable Me" films and separate the bananas from the ba-na-nas.

On paper, having two characters voiced by Steve Carell is better than one. In practice, this didn't help "Despicable Me 3," which is somehow an even lazier film than a traditional Illumination picture usually is. The threequel picks up with supervillain turned crime fighting agent Gru (Carell) licking his wounds after failing to apprehend Balthazar Bratt (voiced by a Randy Marsh-coded Trey Parker), a former '80s child star who turned to a life of villainy, mullets, and shoulder pads after his television show got cancelled.

A silver lining emerges from Gru's firing from the Anti-Villain League (AVL) upon receiving news that he has a wealthy long-lost twin brother named Dru (also Carell) who wants to meet him. It turns out Dru takes after the family business of supervillainy and is aching to get his big brother to indulge in his, well, despicable tendencies again. They bond and set off to pull a heist on Bratt, while Lucy (Kristen Wiig) tries to spend quality mother time with the girls. It's basically a worse version of the iconic "The Simpsons" episode "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou."

The potential for a fun bonding comedy is marked dead on arrival with Dru, a deeply grating screw-up who firmly exists among the worst characters in the "Despicable Me" franchise (or any movie for that matter). Even the minions subplot where they get sent to prison after hijacking a singing competition feels like it's just an uninspired time filler that doesn't even lead to any great jokes. There's a moment where they chastise Gru because they're tired of being lackeys to a lame dad type working for the good side, and they're right to express how boring it is.

The opening to "Despicable Me 4" provides one of the best hooks to any of the films with Gru attending his supervillain high school reunion. It turns out to be a sting operation by the AVL to capture Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell), a former classmate with a petty personal grievance over a talent show mishap back in the day. When the cockroach-bodied Frenchman breaks out of prison and vows revenge, the AVL decides to put Gru and his family in a relocation program to keep them safe.

What should be an exciting action-comedy with the series' main character having to deal with the consequences of switching to the good side largely falls into the same old tired routine. The fish-out-of-water plot with Gru trying to be a normal suburban dad leads to the heist of his alma mater's school mascot orchestrated by his next-door neighbor/teenage influence villain Poppy (Joey King), who threatens to reveal his true identity. You can tell they've exhausted ideas of things for Gru to do because he's not much of an interesting character, a trait that spreads to his generic baby boy.

Maxime, meanwhile, is off in the margins wasting time until the inevitable final confrontation, which devolves into a worse version of the climax from "The Incredibles." The minions plot is largely detached from what Gru's doing, but at least it provides some good laughs as the AVL essentially turns a select group into the Fantastic Four. There's enough material here to make a really silly superhero parody with the minions (who do a lot of this film's heavy lifting) that likely would have been more interesting without having to service Gru.

One of the main drawbacks of the first "Minions" movie is that it taking place before the events of "Despicable Me" means that they have to come into contact with Gru, and they played that card in the film's final moments. Unfortunately, that concept bleeds over into "Minions: The Rise of Gru," which mostly becomes a "Despicable Me" prequel with the star attraction relegated to subplot fodder. It's the mid '70s and young Gru (Carell) dreams of becoming a world famous baddie. An opportunity presents itself when the Vicious 6, a group of supervillains fronted by disco-themed leader Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), invite him to an audition that goes awry. Gru decides to make a second chance impression by stealing the Zodiac Stone, a green and gold medallion that possesses mysterious powers that transform those who use it.

As per "Despicable Me" tradition, the story splits in half. On one end, you have Gru bonding with Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin), the aged former leader of the Vicious 6 who was tossed aside after getting his cohorts the Stone to begin with. On the other side are minions Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and Otto (Pierre Coffin) getting into a bunch of escapades across the country on their journey to save Gru, including learning Kung Fu from an acupuncturist named Master Chow (Michelle Yeoh). The film's highlight is a very funny extended sequence where they essentially hijack a plane.

One of the saving graces of "The Rise of Gru" is that Illumination's incessant need to populate their films with needle drops of contemporary pop songs is softened by switching over to a collection of groovy '70s tunes. Otherwise, this second prequel commits a lot of the same sins that plagued the other "Despicable Me" sequels.

It's very amusing that Universal released two sequels in the summer of 2013 about a bald international criminal whose skills are recruited by a secret spy organization for the greater good, with the better movie being "Fast & Furious 6." You can't really say the same for "Despicable Me 2," which sees Gru being recruited by AVL leader Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan) to help track down the mysterious villain who stole a deadly mutagen named PX-41 before it can be used for nefarious purposes. He initially refuses by citing his newfound responsibilities as a father towards Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher), that is, until he's partnered with Agent Lucy. The two slowly become smitten with one another while in the midst of their investigation, which involves whether restaurant owner Eduardo Pérez (Benjamin Bratt) is actually the long deceased super villain El Macho.

"Despicable Me 2," on paper, sounds like a natural way to continue Gru's story following his self-exile from villainy. Kristen Wiig plays Lucy with an exuberant dorkiness that makes her feel like the perfect match for Gru, even if it takes a while for him to overcome telling her how he feels. But therein lies the overarching problem with the "Despicable Me" franchise: Gru isn't a very compelling nor funny character. It's difficult to expand upon his relationship with the girls (or gooorls) because they fall into three variations of the generic movie kid archetypes (responsible older sibling, chaotic middle child, and overly cutesy youngling). The villain isn't interesting, either, in spite of having a genius way to make the minions threatening by turning them into indestructible purple monsters that eat everything in their path.

The movie that started it all, 2010's "Despicable Me" is the story of Gru, who, along with his yellow pill-shaped minions, devises the ultimate evil scheme of stealing the moon. He acquires a stolen shrink ray but his dweeby archrival Vector (Jason Segel) swoops in and steals it from him, embarrassing him in the process. A lightbulb goes off in Gru's head, however, when he sees three girl scouts named Margo, Edith, and Agnes selling cookies to Vector. He adopts the orphaned trio in the hopes that their ability to make a delivery inside his nemesis' fortress will allow him to retrieve the shrink ray while he's distracted and get his operation back on track.

As far as the mainline "Despicable Me" movies go, the first is undoubtedly the best. The animation looking rough, especially in comparison to the stunning clarity of future films, gives it a kind of charm. It's fun to see Gru use all of his creative gadgetry to cause mayhem without a care for anyone but himself. His relationship with the kids plays out like you would expect, yet it manages to make Gru an interesting comparison point to the other villains of this world. The visual gag with the evil bank's previous owners is still one of the franchise's best jokes. And as for the minions, it's apparent that the creatives are still figuring out their identities, yet are well aware that their hyperactive personalities will make them the generational icons they've since become.

A common criticism about the "Minions" movie is that these characters are better suited in supporting roles where their frantic gibberish can be absorbed in small doses, but their 2015 solo film shows that there's more comedic potential with the little yellow menaces doing their own thing. Their origin is shockingly hilarious as they've been searching for the world's most evil figures to serve since the dawn of time, yet they keep managing to accidentally kill them. After being trapped in a cave for over a century, minions Kevin, Stuart, and Bob (Pierre Coffin) decide to break out and search for a new master. In the outside world, it's 1968 and the world's greatest supervillain is the stylish Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock). The spirited trio capture her attention and it seems like they've found their new ruler, only to be reminded of why she's viewed as a bad guy.

"Minions" gives the little yellow troublemakers (who could have looked much different) a vehicle for one joke after the other without having to push them aside for Gru, and that's great, because they possess infinitely more comedic and emotional flexibility than him. The film leans into the idea of a world where supervillains are their own kind of rock stars, with a convention celebrating the worst of the worst. Bullock is fantastic as a baddie who's always putting on a fake smile to mask her raging insecurities, which she's compelled to take out on the minion trio. Even the idea of the minions gaining control of Buckingham Palace because of Bob pulling the sword from the stone is ripe with laughs.

"Minions & Monsters" is the best entry in the "Despicable Me" franchise and the best Illumination movie, period. It wisely decides to scrap adhering to canonical events (although there's enough threads for longtime fans) by following an entirely different set of the little guys. Their odyssey to find the world's greatest baddies leads the minions to crash the Hollywood party around the silent era of the 1920s where they become overnight sensations. A creative minion named James (Pierre Coffin), along with his buddies Henry and Ed (also Coffin), dream of thinking bigger with the arrival of sound, leading them to conjure monsters from another dimension for the creature feature they intend to make.

"Minions & Monsters" feels like the movie Coffin and co. have been wanting to make ever since the characters' creation as, ironically enough, the DNA of slapstick comedy suits them so well. It's a film that takes great pride in introducing kids to screen clowns like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, in addition to demonstrating a genuine affection for the early history of film as a whole. Even Eadweard Muybridge, George Méliès, and the Lumiere brothers couldn't resist capturing the little yellow menaces. John Powell's sweeping score harkens back to the great adventure movies of yesteryear. There's no needle drops, the film's cinephile references are accompanied by actual jokes, and it also manages to pay tribute to '50s sci-fi movies in a way that will make you smile.