Ranking Warner Animation Group Films

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Ranking Warner Animation Group Films

Warner Animation Group is the newly created studio within Warner Bros. that produces animated movies. They started with their first feature in 2014 and by now six films have been produced with four of them belonging in the Lego franchise. I liked that finally this studio entered into the animation arena, but they still have a lot growing to do in the future. Here is my ranking of all six films so far.

8. Tom and Jerry

I love Tom and Jerry, but their live-action/animated movie that came out in 2021 was just so bad. The mixing of the mediums was well done and the two are sometimes fun, but the ending was just wrong how positive it was, those pigeons were easily hatable and the human characters are boring. The fact that they get the most screen time was baffling to me. The rap soundtrack was the nail on the coffin for me.

7. Scoob!

I did not hate Scoob! I actually found it to be okay as are most movies on this list, but like most of these, it fails to really stick with you. It’s just way too modern in its approach. The animation is great, some of the humor is excellent and Dick Dastardly is a whole lot of fun. However, the storyline is just mediocre, the references are annoying and the overwhelming emphasis on action and humor instead of mystery was frustrating.

6. Storks

Storks could have been a very good movie had it had a better approach and execution. Some of it was quite heartwarming and I did really appreciate its endearing animation and some very funny moments here and there. But unfortunately the movie is way too modern in its tone which I really dislike in my animated flicks plus it’s simply filled with way too many action sequences leading to a frenetic, annoying watch which is a flaw many of these movies share.

5. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

The second Lego movie was by far the most disappointing one on this list. I am not the biggest fan of the original also, but they really dropped the ball on this one. The first act is really good and I liked Emmet quite a bit there, but the rest of the film succumbed to silly and/or convoluted storytelling and again way too much action. Some of it was funny, but most of it was chaotic and did not mash well whatsoever.

4. Smallfoot

Wonderful Life is the highlight of this movie as that song is so well sung and very catchy and memorable. The film actually is rather strong thematically speaking and also containing some polished animation. However, the character designs themselves are very ugly and atrocious and the movie overall felt overly familiar in its story plus in sensibilities and approach it was very mainstream.

3. The Lego Movie

The most overrated movie on this list is easily the first Lego Movie. I like this movie, don’t get me wrong. It’s quite solid and particularly funny at times with great one-liners and a great parody approach to its humor. The animation’s also great as are some of its characters. But the movie made a fatal mistake of relying too much on frenetic pacing and loud action leading to a very dull, exhausting watch for me. The live-action ending was great though.

2. The Lego Ninjago Movie

By far the most underrated film on my obviously very unconventional list is The Lego Ninjago Movie which certainly lost its steam in the second half as that half is nowhere near as good as the first one, but still the emphasis on story instead of action really suited me. The character development is also superb as is its very strong humor. Lord Garmadon is the film’s shiniest example as he’s so amusing.

1. The Lego Batman Movie

And of course the number one movie for me has to be The Lego Batman Movie which is so much better than any other Warner Animation Group film so far. It again has too many action scenes and too many characters, but it has a giant heart and is much more moving than any other movie on this list. It’s also hilarious quite frequently plus Batman himself is not only very funny, but also superbly developed and his relationship with Joker is absolutely superb. This is not only the best movie of this bunch, but also one of the best Batman movies we’ve gotten so far.