…………………………………………………

Ranking Illumination Films

Illumination (previously named Illumination Entertainment) is an animation studio that produces movies that aren’t for everybody. These movies are fast, funny, childlike/childish and colorful. They lack the sophistication of Pixar and the enchanting storytelling of Disney. Still, some of their best efforts remain very strong in their own right. Here is my ranking of all their movies.

10. Hop

Hop easily gets the worst spot here. This is the only live-action/animated hybrid for the studio and it simply did not work. James Marsden is reliably endearing and the mixing of these two mediums was surprisingly well done, but that’s pretty much it. The humor is weak, the plot is quite uninspired and the third act is frantic and dumb. It is great for the little ones, but definitely not for adults.

9. The Lorax

Dr. Seuss and Illumination could have been a fine fit, but that unfortunately did not happen, leading to one of the studio’s worst movies. It has terrific animation and it starts off quite strong, but it fades very quickly as it resorts to an overly contemporary soundtrack and mediocre humor. For a movie about environmentalism, it felt too consumerist, which made it seem fake. Structurally, it is also a mess. It was all just very disappointing.

8. The Secret Life of Pets

The Secret Life of Pets was the singular most disappointing Illumination movie for me. That is because the trailer for it was so incredible, sweet and charming. The idea behind it – what are the pets doing when alone at home – was exceptional for an animated feature treatment. Unfortunately, the result proved to be quite weak. The beginning is excellent and the movie is quite funny at times, but the script is very mediocre and the frantic pace robbed it of its appeal.

7. The Secret Life of Pets 2

As for the sequel, it was actually a slight improvement upon its predecessor which I did not expect. It still had forgettable action and humor at times, and of course it felt scattershot in its storylines feeling like different short movies instead of fitting into a coherent whole, but some of the scenes are very entertaining, the film looks great, it’s endearing at times and Snowball is such a hilarious creation, easily stealing the show from everyone else.

6. Minions

Minions is a movie that I quite liked watching it in a packed theater laughing back in 2015. However, now that the time has passed, I find it only passable. The movie is definitely funny and very enjoyable for what it is, but it can get overly repetitive and Gru was sorely missed here. This is a typical problem that Hollywood often makes – make a spin-off movie with just the most popular sidekick characters that should have remained sporadic appearances in the first place.

5. The Grinch

The Grinch features outstanding, charming and immensely cozy animation which is pleasingly colorful and containing great interiors. The beginning and ending are also pretty good and I just loved Max the dog who’s so cute and is the heart of the film. But the titular character needed more edge, the movie’s overly safe and uninspired plus this thin story was just never intended for a feature-length treatment, leading to a lot of padding and fillers in the end product.

4. Despicable Me 2

Kristen Wiig’s Lucy Wilde. That addition was the magical ingredient for this Despicable Me sequel that proved to be much better than expected. It is still quite inferior to the original and its structure and pacing are overly episodic, but when it works, it really works. The spy storyline needed more work, but the central romantic relationship was incredible and Gru was again superbly developed. It’s a fun, funny movie for sure.

3. Despicable Me 3

Despicable Me 3 is a solid sequel which succeeds as a pretty enjoyable, fun cartoon. Most of the plot points were cliched, some characters were shortchanged here and the film is filled with way too many subplots and thus it felt very uneven and convoluted. But the humor is solid, the animation is excellent, the score is good and Balthazar Bratt is such a good, highly amusing villain. It is on par with the previous installment, but ultimately I chose to include it above it.

2. Despicable Me

The one that started it all. The original Despicable Me came out back in 2010, and it still holds up to this day. Yes, ‘Megamind’ from DreamWorks was a better movie in regards to this villain becoming a superhero premise, but it was still very well done here, although highly predictable of course. The heart here was never again present in such capacity, and the movie’s simplicity and charm are its best assets. The Minions were used sporadically and Gru was the main star in the original, which is something that they need to get back to in the future.

1. Sing

Although definitely overly clichéd and predictable in its plot and quite fast paced, Sing is still such a good movie with a plethora of familiar, yet memorable and so well developed characters with Meena and Johnny being particularly relatable to me personally. The film is also a musical blast to watch, so entertaining and so emotionally rewarding, and it deals with a couple of really relevant themes with such great backstories for most of its characters. Illumination here made their most sophisticated and best crafted movie, which is why it gets the coveted first spot.