Led by Alvin and the Chipmunks director Tim Hill, 2011’s Hop is the one true outlier of the Illumination resume, being the only project of theirs that combines CG animation with live-action. Main Cast: James Marsden, Russell Brand, Kaley Cuoco, Hank Azaria, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, David Hasselhoff, Chelsea Handler, & Hugh Laurie Screenplay by Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio, & Brian Lynch All 14 Illumination Films Ranked Worst to Best 14. Is this studio deserving of all the condemnation, or is there more depth within these hours of animated mayhem than it may appear? Does it matter? From the first Despicable Me to 2023’s Migration, here are our thoughts on the works of one of the most unstoppable animation studios in film history. We ranked all 14 Illumination movies so far to decide on a definitive list, going from the very worst to the absolute best. The jury is out on whether any of this is a really good thing or not. As it stands, the studio is planning to release the highly-anticipated Despicable Me 4 on July 3, 2024.

We’ll likely be seeing more Illumination for many years to come – more Minions, more Secret Lives of Pets, more singing animals, and more Nintendo video game adaptations. If that wasn’t enough of an accomplishment already, the film is one of the biggest animated features of all time as well, only coming behind Frozen II and The Lion King. Movie was another billion-dollar smash hit, quickly skyrocketing to becoming the highest-grossing video game movie of all time. Of course, these complaints haven’t exactly slowed the studio down in any way. On that note, Lazy is usually the word that gets tossed around when it comes to Illumination, with much of the criticism being aimed at the films’ thin plots and middle-of-the-road entertainment value. The emotions that do exist in their projects often feel shallow if not outright hollow, or worse, lazily manipulative. The studio’s bright and sickeningly sweet colors, celebrity voice casting, and endless barrage of pop songs can be surface-level fun but don’t usually offer much substance. For all of its mega popularity amongst children, Facebook aunts, and Comcast shareholders, Illumination has also earned itself somewhat of a bad rap when it comes to whether or not their movies are truly good. Needless to say, lucrative financial success isn’t always an indicator of quality.

Co-owned by its main distributor Universal Pictures, the studio and their yellow bite-sized boomer meme mascots have rapidly become juggernauts of the animation industry ever since, devouring the competition (like Pixar and DreamWorks, which is also Universal-owned), infecting pop culture, and even beating Disney at their own box office game. As such, we’re now here to decide which of these Illumination titles stand as the very best in a fully ranked list from worst to best. Moreover, it’s been over a decade since Illumination released its first film, Despicable Me, to an unsuspecting public. It’s been 17 years since producer Chris Meledandri left 20th Century Animation to found Illumination.

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