They may often be critically perceived as Pixar’s lesser cousin, but the folks over at Illumination can dry their tears with the stacks of money made by massive worldwide hits like Sing, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Despicable Me, which sees a fourth chapter in its quest for animated domination in July. The latest adventures of Gru and his little yellow buddies will bring the total of Illumination films to 15, a perfect number to look back on the studio’s output as a whole. Since 2010, Illumination has been a dominant force in family entertainment, a factory that produces not only movies but toys, theme-park rides, books, and many more things you can buy. In a lot of ways, it’s criticproof. Almost every film on this list made an unfathomable amount of money, even as critics tore some of them apart. The folks over at Illumination figured out what people wanted in the 2010s, and what they want in the 2020s, and it’s largely throwbacks to an older sense of humor driven by physical comedy, classic tunes, and a couple Dr. Seuss books. And some are better than you remember. But let’s start with a few that are worse …
15.
Sing 2 (2021)
Even fans of this movie when it came out would have trouble telling you what it’s about now because it’s so weighed down by nonsense. They might remember the awkward Bono cameo (leading to a truly meh original song) and maybe a few karaoke choices, but nothing makes an impact here narratively. There’s something about Buster (Matthew McConaughey) trying to put on another show, this one in the Vegas-esque Redshore City, where they cross paths with the powerful Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale), right? Most of the cast comes back, sings new songs that the kids in the audience might know, and the day is saved. Rinse and repeat. There’s no memorable heart or humor, the two things that define the best Illumination flicks. Even the strong voicework of the first film is swallowed up by a plot that’s impossible to care about, because it’s really just a loose skeleton for more bad pop covers. The music choices are less inspired and more grating here, too (“A Sky Full of Stars” for one of the biggest numbers?), though that’s partially because there’s nothing else to hold on to. Hyperactive instead of creative, it’s like the nightmare someone would have after being forced to listen to Kidz Bop at top volume for a week.
14.
Hop (2011)
The second Illumination venture ever is also arguably its most forgotten, even though it still holds the title of being the only film that mixes live action and animation that the company has made to date. Part of the problem is that this stab at finding an annual Easter family movie just isn’t very well made with poor James Marsden unable to get past the fact that he’s quite obviously acting opposite a green tennis ball. Marsden plays Fred O’Hare (a name that Illumination apparently likes as it resurfaces in The Lorax), a slacker who ends up hitting a bunny named E.B. (Russell Brand) with his car. The pair form an unexpected friendship, and Fred learns that his new bunny buddy dreams of being the most famous E.B. when he follows in his dad’s footsteps and becomes the Easter Bunny. Fred and E.B. bond over awkward daddy issues, but this is a weird movie thematically, never quite sure what story it’s telling as it awkwardly builds a universe in which a cartoon bunny performs with David Hasselhoff. You know, what Easter is all about.
13.
The Grinch (2018)
We can’t get enough of the Grinch, one of the most popular seasonal characters in history. Most people still think of the 1966 animated TV special when considering the irascible green guy who learns the meaning of Christmas, but there’s also a generation that associates Jim Carrey with the character after the 2000 Ron Howard version of the Dr. Seuss tale. You know who no one thinks of during the holiday season? Benedict Cumberbatch. The undeniably great actor is just the wrong casting choice here, but that’s only one of the problems with a film that never figures out how to expand the classic 1957 book into something fresh for viewers six decades later. Everything that works about Illumination’s Grinch is because of the source material or the way it scratches a nostalgic itch for those who love the other versions. It’s a pale copy of a beloved property, one that never quite justifies its existence, and really only makes people want to go back to the book or the cartoon.
12.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)
Illumination has a bad habit of taking what works about a hit and merely turning up the volume in a sequel, which is the case with the louder Sing 2 and the more hyperactive Secret Life of Pets 2, a movie that has some fun moments but ultimately gets weighed down by dividing its characters into competing subplots that never quite develop. It’s almost like three of those mini-movies you find on the Blu-rays for Illumination flicks that have been sewn together to form a feature. An always welcome Patton Oswalt effectively replaces a canceled Louis C.K. — never mimicking the cadence of his predecessor but somehow still seamlessly taking over — but the vocal standout is a surly performance from Harrison Ford as a rough-and-tough sheepdog named Rooster. The problem is that Ford is fighting for air in this overcrowded, manic movie that makes one long for the days of a simple tale of two dogs just trying to get home. (Cotton the lost lamb is pretty funny, though.)
11.
The Lorax (2012)
It’s almost as if Illumination and Dr. Seuss aren’t the best fit. It makes sense why it would lean into adapting Seuss — beyond the sales hook of an already beloved story — in that Illumination’s sense of humor often feels old-school, pulling from inspirations like Looney Tunes, the pratfalls of silent comedies, and even ’60s-spy spoofs. But the best work of Theodor Geisel has a surreal playfulness and an emotional core that are often lacking in the shiny, manufactured superficiality of Illumination. Take The Lorax, a story that’s essentially about valuing the earth, turned into a tale of a boy (Zac Efron) who wants to impress a girl (Taylor Swift) in this clunky telling. There’s whimsy and an unexpected sense of humor in the source that get dragged into the animated-blockbuster machine in this film, but just enough of the core of the tale remains to keep it from the very bottom rungs of the Illumination ladder. And Danny DeVito is just about perfectly cast as the title character.
10.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Most people know that Barbie was the highest-grossing film of 2023, but Mario and Luigi were right on her tail with a truly obscene amount of movie money, the most for any film on this list. How did this long-awaited adaptation of the world of Mario, Donkey Kong, and Princess Peach make almost $1.4 billion worldwide? It gave fans of the game exactly what they loved the first time, just in a new form. And nothing more. The problem with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, at least after a relatively strong opening act — love the side-scrolling bit in Brooklyn — is that it feels like a checklist of characters, locations, and ideas from the games just loosely strung together to form a movie. It too often feels soulless, desperately wanting to pull off the residual goodwill from the source instead of doing anything new with it. That was enough for most people who just wanted that familiarity in an anxious time in the world. It makes sense. It’s comfort food for Gen-Xers. But it should have been more nutritious.
9.
Despicable Me 3 (2017)
The 2017 sequel in the Despicable Me franchise, non-Minions division, is the weakest of the four, but it does have some decent comedy and action sequences and the strong voicework from people like Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, and the legendary Julie Andrews that help to elevate this series overall. The DM movies are all about family — the makeshift one formed by Gru and his three girls being primary, but the Minions are also essentially children, and Gru’s character arc often flashes back to his distant mother. So it makes sense to bring Gru’s twin brother, Dru, into the mix, but it leads to some pretty uninspired humor and a movie that just doesn’t work as well as the other two or even the Minions movies. It’s not particularly bad or particularly good — hence its place close to the middle of this list. It might just be the most forgettable.
8.
Despicable Me 4 (2024)
Made from the same episodic, strung-together-mini-movies model as The Secret Life of Pets 2, what is technically the sixth film in this franchise reveals a series that has woefully run out of ideas, but maintained enough goodwill to produce a smile every now and then. There are some decent sequences in the deeply fine Despicable Me 4 — the T2-influenced supermarket scene, the arrival of the Super-Minions, the diaper bag-led heist of Lycée Pas Bon — but it never feels like anyone stopped to thematically tie any these various characters together. Will Ferrell makes a compelling villain who basically has replaced minions with cockroaches — another thing that refuses to die — but he disappears for too much of the movie. It’s also visually lazy compared to some recent Illumination like Migration. All that being said, a few of the Minion-led bits are admittedly funny, and Carell once again gives it his all as Gru deals with something to which all the parents in the audience can relate: a grumpy baby.
7.
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)
You’re either a Minions person or you’re not. It’s that simple. At their best, they’re wonderful physical-comedy icons, creations that most directly recall the silent ones of Looney Tunes: characters like Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, who can get a bigger laugh nearly dying than with a line of dialogue. This sequel to the 2015 spinoff takes place in 1976 as an 11-year-old Gru seeks to join his favorite supervillain group, the Vicious 6. The period detail and needle drops really help keep the film moving, but the plotting here has that Illumination-sequel problem of being a bit too cluttered for its own good, relying on multiple chase scenes to move the narrative forward. Thankfully, a great voice cast that includes Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, and the legendary Alan Arkin adds substance, and the script by Matthew Fogel understands what people love about the Minions as characters and their long lineage of goofy characters with big hearts who end up saving the day, because they don’t know they shouldn’t be able to.
6.
Sing (2016)
It’s basically Zootopia: The Musical, but what puts Garth Jennings’s pop jukebox high on any Illumination ranking is its let’s-put-on-a-show passion for entertainment and its notably big heart. It’s about the outsiders, the people who sing in the shower or the car but will never get the chance to be on a stage, and that kind of underdog story has an inherent emotional power that’s often lacking from Illumination works. It helps that the vocalwork — both dialogue and music — is arguably stronger here than in any other film on this list. There’s McConaughey’s playful tone as an artistic dreamer and Reese Witherspoon’s emotionally effective characterization as Rosita, but the real standout is Taron Egerton, who imbues Johnny the gorilla with genuine conflict, making him one of the best Illumination creations overall. The music in this one is also so much stronger than the original’s, including “Under Pressure,” “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight,” and the almost-legally-required “Hallelujah,” but it’s Egerton belting out “I’m Still Standing” (almost in a nod to when he played Elton John in Rocketman) that steals the show.
5.
Minions (2015)
Depending on your tolerance for the little yellow guys, this might be the funniest movie on this list. From the truly excellent prologue that sees the Minions aiding bad guys through the centuries from dinosaurs to Count Dracula to Napoleon — easily the best opening minutes of any Illumination movie — to the fun the creators have dropping the Minions in a period as rich with supervillain potential as the late ’60s, this one has a comedic rhythm that is often lacking in Illumination flicks. It’s mostly a series of sight gags and ways to sell more products to little kids, but there’s something about this movie that’s deeply likable. Yes, you can sit back and say that the villain Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock) is pretty weak and that this series loses something by not having Carell involved, but you can also turn off that critical part of the brain and enjoy another tale of the yellow underdogs with an unshakable belief that they are on this earth to serve evil.
4.
The Secret Life of Pets (2016)
In 2016, Illumination launched what would become its second franchise of the decade, a charming tale built on something that children have imagined for years: the fun lives that our beloved pets must be living when we’re away. Kind of like Toy Story but with house pets instead of playthings, this very lovingly NYC movie balances the different comic voices of Louis C.K. and Eric Stonestreet well, but it’s the extended ensemble that really sells it, including memorable work from Jenny Slate, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Buress, Albert Brooks, Steve Coogan, and a truly over-the-top Kevin Hart. The Secret Life of Pets follows a pretty traditional format for a kids’ movie — the oil-and-water buddy comedy meets the need-to-get-home journey — but it does so with just enough charm and wit to make it feel fresh for parents, too.
3.
Migration (2023)
If there’s a theme to the lower half of this list, it’s the weakness or downright absence of screenwriting — so it helps to have someone as talented as Mike White behind the script. That could be why Migration doesn’t really feel like anything else Illumination has ever done, avoiding the common waves of pop-culture references to just lovingly tell the story of a group of mallards on a journey from New England to Jamaica. Kumail Nanjiani nails the tone of an overprotective father in a story that’s remarkably familiar but well executed. Again, it might be the pedigree of its creators: Director Benjamin Renner brings the artistry of his work directing the French films The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales … and the phenomenal Ernest & Celestine. This one looks richer and just seems less desperate than some of its peers. Let’s hope the Powers That Be at Illumination took a lesson from this one, in that sometimes hiring the right people is half the battle.
2.
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
The first two acts of this blockbuster sequel might be the best single hour Illumination has produced to date. Consistently funny, building on characters and ideas from the first movie, just the right amount of Minion jokes — it really works. The last half-hour succumbs to the issues that would weigh down so many Illumination movies — hyperactivity masquerading as comedy — but enough goodwill is engendered by the unfiltered joy in that first hour that it’s what fans really remember. Watching Gru balance his need for control with being a good father, and maybe even finding love in the process, grounds this movie in a manner that is often lacking in Illumination. And it’s got some bighearted laughs.
1.
Despicable Me (2010)
The one that started it all remains the best that Illumination has made to date, uncluttered by the chaotic approach to storytelling that would mar subsequent productions and openly embracing classic animated inspirations in a way that doesn’t feel cheap but rather like a loving, educated homage. It’s almost as if someone tried to make a Looney Tunes origin story for Dr. Evil from Austin Powers; this movie clicks by balancing a simply told story with sharp animation that felt fresh before the world overdosed on Minions and strong voicework. Carell is better in this film than in any other in the franchise. Funny, unexpected, and genuinely sweet, it makes one wish that Illumination would go back to the basics and find the purity of this film in a new project instead of circling so many of the same drains. It might take a supervillain who wants to steal the moon to make that happen.
