Welcome everyone to a new ranking, and this will be the start of many posts I wanna get out this week, since I will be traveling for two, weeks, and thus won’t be able to work on the blog, so I will try my best to get them finished up before I leave. The first one we will start with is look at the works of one of the most successful animation studios today, Illumination. They have made a name for themselves since they first started releasing animated features in 2010, with some of their films joining the billion dollar club. But the studio has been a controversial subject amongst the animation community, thanks to them pretty much prioritizing safe, and fluffy, entertainment instead of giving their films much depth. As for myself I have some weird feelings toward them, since my opinions on their films vary from being mediocre, disappointing, mixed, pretty good, and great, so they definitely have an interesting filmography in my opinion. So to get ready for their next film, the Secret Life of Pets 2, lets take a look at all 9 Illumination films from Despicable Me in 2010, to the Grinch in 2018.
9. Hop
And, here we have the best Easter themed movie ever made, that is because it is the only Easter themed movie ever made. Yep, there really aren’t any movies aside maybe for some old cartoons, that have ever celebrated the holiday, and this movie is all people got if they want to watch something for the holiday, and well I prefer if Easter was better represented by a much better movie, than this generic CGI hybrid. This movie is sadly just your typical iconic character gets transported to our world, and has to get used to it with the help of a human, in the vein of films like the Smurfs movies, and the Alvin & the Chipmunks trilogy except with the (soon to become anyway) Easter Bunny, and it does not do anything special, and just follows the same predictable beats in these types of movies with nothing new added to the table, and the humor being a mixed bag thanks to some lazy bathroom jokes. Also am I the only one who finds the designs of the Bunnies, and chicks kinda creepy, and it makes me question if this film really needed to be a hybrid, since it could have been easily animated in the Illumination style. Add in some forgettable character, and even an unlikable protagonist, and this is by far the worst Illumination flick. Its a shame too considering there are some promising elements like the way it presents Easter Island and how the candy is made is creative, and provides some nice visuals, there are a couple of funny jokes here, and there, and Hank Azaria as the villain, Carlos, and his right hand chick, Phil, were pretty entertaining. But even with those elements with those bright spot, this film shows that maybe Illumination should stick to fully animated work instead.
8. Despicable Me 3
To be honest I was actually debating with myself over which of the two bottom films should go last. In the end I went with Hop, because Despicable Me 3 does have much better visuals, and comedy, but unfortunately it is a much more disappointing film than Hop. Maybe my expectations were too high for the flick, but then again when the first two are so good, and the trailers for this film being hilarious, its hard not to have more than a little faith for this threequel. But, the film sadly ends up having some of the same problems of Shrek the Third, in that it just feels so uneventful compared to the last one, and it lacks much of the heart, and heartwarming moments present in the other films. The film also brings up certain interesting topics nut never confronts them seriously (how Gru, and Dru were separated and how the parent they got never appreciated them), and the story is all over the place with so many different subplots going on that could have easily been taken out. I also was not a fan of Dru as a character and found him pretty annoying at times, and his relationship with Gru felt rushed in my opinion, and out of all the films this was probably the one where I laughed the least as the humor is not as consistently funny as the others. But the film ain’t all bad though as there some redeeming factors like again the animation is very well done, and its probably the best looking in the series, the action, and gadgetry is creative as always, the voice-work is solid, there are some good laughs (the minions are really funny once again), there are a couple of heartwarming moments, and I really enjoyed Trey Parker as Balthazar Bratt as he had an interesting backstory, and provided some of the films best humor. So while not bad, I just found Despicable Me 3 to be very disappointing, and I don’t really think it deserved to make a billion dollars (especially when it out-grossed Captain Underpants, and Cars 3 by a lot in the same month, even if those films are vastly superior).
7. The Lorax
Ah, Dr. Suess films, they sure do have a spotty track record don’t they. That’s usually because the films fail to really do their iconic source materials justice, and this film is one of those. It just does not work very well as an adaptation of Suess’s book for many reasons, the humor is a mixed bag with some jokes being pretty funny and others not, the designs of the humans are weird, and awkward (not really looking like their from a Dr. Suess adaptation), the ending not really understanding the message of the book at all, the musical numbers while pretty catchy are completely useless to the story, and the decision to have the story take place in a modern like city and having the Lorax story itself be told as a flashback was pretty unnecessary as these sequences in the city are not really that great. But while it falters as an adaptation, on its own terms its actually not so bad, as the sequences telling the story of the Onceler, and the Lorax are surprisingly pretty good and convey the message of the book very well while also presenting both characters as interesting, and likable, aside from the human designs the animation is pleasant to look at with a lot of colorful imagery, and the emotional moments do resonate better here than in Despicable Me 3, so its not all bad. So while not an abomination to mankind, I would prefer if other studios get the chance to adapt Suess’s work better in the future (although Illumination did somewhat improve on this later, as we will see later on).
6. Minions
Minions is an interesting film to me because while I don’t necessarily think its that good, I still have a lot of fun watching it. In fact it kind of works as a nice breezy cartoon, with some great animation, voice acting, and humor (out of all the Despicable Me films I probably laughed at this one the most). But the film is however very flawed in that it just can’t sustain enough material throughout its run time for a feature length Minions movie, and the story feels messy, and does not know where it wants to go. While the Minions are great comic relief having them be the leads of a 90 minute film is a bit too much, and the film lacks the heart of the first two Despicable Me films, with nothing of real substance present throughout the proceedings which is really disappointing. The human character are also missed opportunities with the main villain, Scarlet Overkill, her husband Herb and the Nelson family all presented with some great promise, but are really there to move the thin plot along (although they are entertaining to watch thanks to the A-list cast giving it their all). So yeah Minions is one of those fun in the moment films that you can just, sit down, turn your brain off, and shove popcorn in your face, but when you really think about it, the many problems become extremely apparent. On the plus side unlike the other films that preceded it on this list, this one’s problems are not nearly as frustrating.
5. The Grinch
This won’t take long since I already explained pretty well why I enjoyed this film in my 2018 movies ranked post, but i’ll happily summarize it here. In short this film is a far better Suess adaptation than the Lorax, and is different enough from the other Grinch interpretations to stand out from them. The animation is beautiful, some of the comedy works, Cindy Lou was well done, the ending was perfect and conveys the message really well, Benedict Cumberbatch was good, and it does a good job of getting you in the Christmas spirit. But the film is not perfect as the Grinch here is not really that big of a Grinch, some of the jokes don’t work, Fred the Reindeer is cute, but wasted, the relationship between Grinch and Bricklebaum could have been developed more, and the film does not really have much of a reason to exist beyond IP purposes. So, definitely one of the good Dr. Suess movies even if its not quite on the levels of the inexplicably great Horton Hears a Who!
4. The Secret Life of Pets
I remember back in 2016, seeing a trailer for this film almost every time I went to go see a major family film (even in Captain America Civil War), and the audience would always give a rapturous reception to it, and I was like, yep this movie is gonna be huge. So that’s why its $104 million opening, $368 million domestic total, and $875 million worldwide cume, was not that surprising when you thought about, and the that the film is pretty good, also helped. While, yes its not the most original movie with a fairly derivative premise, some of the characters are underdeveloped, and a couple of the jokes are obnoxious, I find it to be a nice breezy ride with some cute pet related antics. It more than makes up for its shortcomings with some nice animation, and score that captures the feeling New York very well, likable, and memorable characters, a very good voice cast, some funny pet related jokes, a very well done character in Duke, and while I do not have a pet, the movie just does a good job of reminding everyone how important a pet can mean to someone, and how strong that relationship could be, especially in the ending scene which was really heartwarming. Its also the only recent Illumination film that I think warrants a sequel (which looks surprisingly really good by the way), as I would like to see more of these characters again.
3. Despicable Me 2
In 2013 when, I was very young, being so excited for this film as not only did I (spoiler alert for this list) love the first Despicable Me and watched it many times, but the marketing was really funny, and mysterious as I did not know exactly what the movie was going to be like (the first teaser had me thinking aliens were going to be involved this time). Looking back on the marketing it really mostly showed stuff from early on in the movie, and not all of the funny parts were in the trailer which was just so satisfying, and I hope more movies are marketed like this. But back to the movie itself, I found it to be a really good follow up to Despicable Me, and it had everything I loved about that film, and even added some new stuff to the table. It raised the stakes much more, making this film feel like an event almost, and it went all out with the wackiness at times, which I really enjoyed. It also maintained the heart of the first film which is something I feel later films in the franchise lacked, thanks to many of the emotional moments hitting hard. The comedy is also hilarious here, with the Minions being a standout here once again, the cast does a great job again with Kristen Wiig as Lucy Wilde being a great new addition to the series and the animation is colorful, and well done, presenting all of the creative weapons, and gadgets which is something I always enjoy about these films. There a couple of things that don’t quite work like the villain is presented with promise but the film does not do much with him, and the focus on the Minions at times became too much, and made me wish they were more like they were in the first as background characters. But I still found this film to be a diabolically good sequel that makes me wish they ended the franchise off here (then again we are talking about a film that made $970 million worldwide so that was never going to happen).
2. Sing
Now here we have an example of execution is always key. Sing may not be the most original movie ever, and its premise is nothing special except for maybe the American Idol with animals aspect, and it can feel inconsistent when it comes to the way it switches from one character story to another. But what it lacks in originality it more than makes up for with its heart, and execution of the story. It succeeds as being very character driven, and does a good job of making the audience want to root for the characters, and make them memorable. The emotional moments are also handled nicely, as are the more comedic moments (that audition scene gets me every time), and the voice cast gives it their all especially in the musical moments. Speaking of the music, I was worried the film would just try to cram in all of these songs that have nothing to do with the plot, but when a song does play it is not distracting and actually matches with what is going on. But the finale is what really delivers here with it being intense, satisfying, and fun to watch all at once (although its weird that the last performance, while good is completely upstaged by what preceded it). So yeah, Sing is very good example of how a movie is about, and is a good one off for Illumination… Oh wait never mind their making a sequel, and all I have to say is why? (I know it made $634 million but come on, what else can you do with this concept).
and my favorite Illumination film is…
Despicable Me
I have been teasing this one for a bit, and it really should not come as a surprise. I mean say what you will about Illumination as a company, but at least they proved that Pixar, and Dreamworks are not the only ones who could draw big crowds with this film, and that it was good also helped as well. With this Illumination proved that an animated comedy does not have to rely on adult jokes, or fart jokes to please audiences, and it just feels like sort of is its own thing, and really feels like a film for the whole family. The animation is good, the humor is on point with some good dark humor added in, the characters are great, and memorable, the villain is a lot of fun, the Minions are hilarious comic relief, the film is refreshingly character driven, the gadgets, and weaponry are creative, and of course the film has a big beating heart at the center, with the relationship between Gru, and the girls. That relationship serves up many of the best emotional scenes (its almost sad that the sequels started using the girls less, and less) and it shows that when they focus on it, Illumination can really excel at grounded character driven moments, which is probably why most of their good films, and the best part of the not so good films are exactly those moments. Sure there are nits to be picked like there are some immature jokes, here, and there, and the character designs feel awkward, and weird at first, but this is just a great family movie, that is probably one of the best animated comedies of the 2010’s alongside such films as Storks, Madagascar 3, the Lego films, and more.
So that is my official ranking of all of Illumination’s films. So far we have two I don’t like, two I’m mixed on, two I like, and I three really like, not a bad batting average if you ask me. While I am not fond of them focusing on sequels for a while (and please do Mario right), I still enjoy most of their films, and am hoping for the best that they will continue to make quality animated features. So with that said what are your favorite, and least favorite films from the studio? Please leave a comment down below showing your rankings, and look forward for some new posts coming soon this week.
Leave your thoughts down below, and see you guys later!
Review Time 