Top 10 Illumination Movies, Ranked (According to Rotten Tomatoes)

Last decade, a man named Chris Meledandri left his position as President of 20th Century-Fox Animation and established his own studio, with the help of French animation studio Mac Guff, called Illumination Entertainment. Its first release, Despicable Me, was an unexpected surprise that it cemented their status as a primary force in the animation industry that produced billion-dollar hits and flooded the decade with the Minions craze.

To honor their dominance, here are all of their ten movies (so far), ranked by their Rotten Tomatoes score. And it will not surprise us on which is still the best-rated Illumination movie.

10
Hop (25%)

This is the only CGI hybrid that Illumination produced, so far. Clearly, it was released at the time of the saturation CGI creature-centered family films, like Mr. Popper’s Penguins, The Smurfs, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-wrecked. And the quality is rather reflected on the big screen.

While the CGI creation of EB (voiced by Russell Brand) is a fine one, the story, the characters and the conflicts are clichéd and lame. And some performers are really phoning it in, with James Marsden slumming it as the main human (only to redo it better 9 years after). Hop is average.

9
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (53%)

Dr. Seuss’ adaptations had a bad track record on being attempted to film, so far. One of the most infamous cases is Illumination’s take of The Lorax. To give some credit, it stayed loyal on the original story, with Ed Helms as the Once-ler and Danny DeVito as the Lorax delivering their parts well.

However, its additional story of a kid discovering the beauty of trees, which serves as the framing device, is a sluggish one. And the family-pandering bits are painful to revisit. But the biggest criminal is its oversaturated marketing. It had bits of Seuss, but gets overshadowed.

8
Minions (55%)

The Minions are the true breakout characters of the first Despicable Me movie that they had their entire subplot in the second movie. And two years after, they had their own spinoff, which became their highest-grossing film with a $1.159 billion income.

Even with that said, the film is a mixed bag. While the main Minion trio Kevin, Stuart, and Bob are amusing, they cannot carry the story and take the lead. Sandra Bullock’s over-the-top villainess carried the movie, for better or worse. There are funny antics along, but Minions is another 90-minute timewaster with continuity errors and kids-only humor.

7
Despicable Me 3 (58%)

For the third movie, the Despicable Me saga takes a turn when it introduced Gru’s long-lost twin brother Dru, also voiced by Steve Carell. So, it gave more wiggle room for Carell to contend with himself as the weasel-voiced brother and the straight man. That is just one of several highlights in this middling third part.

The subplot between Gru’s new wife Lucy and Margo is unsatisfactory. The Minions B-plot does not add anything other than Minion oversaturation. And the main plot does not feel fresh. However, the highest point is Trey Parker as the child actor-turned-supervillain Balthazar Bratt.

6
Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (59%)

In 2018 comes Universal’s second attempt of a Grinch film adaptation. While the 2000 Jim Carrey one was maligned for being inappropriate-looking, this one by Illumination was noted for being mediocre. Until now, it is still debated on which is the superior feature-length adaptation.

But on the benefit of its own, it is colorful. It has notches of Seuss-inspired production design. And its stealing segment is clever. Benedict Cumberbatch is passable but subpar over Jim Carrey’s memorable one. And the Grinch’s character neuters his meanness in the first place. While this is average, The Grinch has a better (shorter) version.

5
The Secret Life Of Pets 2 (59%)

Here comes Illumination’s second plan for a franchise. While the first movie is an average family-friendly fare, The Secret Life of Pets 2 is pretty much the same quality, only with lower ambition and less effort to be creative. Granted, the three central subplots converging in the end could work, but the film has no backbone to make it resonate.

As per usual Illumination standards, the animation is crisp and the gags are there. But there is not much work that its ensemble cast of comedians (and Harrison Ford) can work with. This solely works to watch cute pets’ misadventures.

4
Sing (72%)

2016 is the landmark year of animated films featuring cities inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. One is the excellent Zootopia, and the other is the competent Sing. An animated film featuring various animals partaking on a singing contest, Sing may have a predictable plot (and another abundant marketing ploy) but it had legs as an engaging family story.

Packed with an all-star voice cast, including Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Seth MacFarlane, and others, this film got every character to have his or her own time to shine. And the song numbers are instant crowd-pleasers. Sing is hummable.

3
The Secret Life Of Pets (73%)

Pets lovers will easily fall in love with this fairly innocent animated film about a Jack Russell terrier named Max who had to contend with another dog, a shaggy Newfoundland mix named Duke, living in his owner’s apartment. The plot is immediately a knockoff of Toy Story. And there is the addition of a maniacal rabbit named Snowball (Kevin Hart), who ran an underground animal cult of rejected pets.

There are bits of cleverness in this film, with a vocal cast of talented comedians who try to handle the material well. But it settles as a fine, pleasant family movie.

2
Despicable Me 2 (75%)

After the unexpected success of Despicable Me, Illumination expanded their filmography with the CGI hybrid Hop, the animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax and a Despicable Me sequel. With that, they pushed the animation further and expanded Gru’s story with a level of heart that Illumination managed to recapture.

While the Minions subplot is there, though tolerable, the story of Gru being accepted as a spy from being a supervillain is well-executed. And his tandem with Lucy (Kristen Wiig) is a fine addition. Even the orphan girls had moments to shine. This is arguably the best Illumination effort that it was noticed in the 2014 Academy Awards for Best Animated Film and Best Original Song for Pharrell William’s “Happy.”

1
Despicable Me (81%)

But based on the rating, the first Despicable Me still stands as the highest rated movie from Illumination Entertainment. Ten years after its release, its cleverness is still fresh on the screen. Steve Carell’s vocal performance of a Russian-accented supervillain named Gru is a funny one (for his straight man shtick) and an earnest one (for his subplot of adopting Margo, Edith, and Agnes).

In terms of its animation, even with a budget of $69 million, the animation is of the same quality as Disney and DreamWorks. Its Looney Tunes antics of Gru’s heist shenanigans and villain showdowns range from chuckle-worthy to laugh-out-loud riots. And the Minions themselves are amusing creations.

Thanks to this film, Illumination made its dominant (money-making) mark.
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