Illumination Entertainment is one of the best animation companies around the world. It was founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007. Its also co-owned by Universal Pictures. To be fair, their best work didn’t come out till the start of 2010. But after that, its been a pleasure to watch their animated projects.
Illumination has even left Sony’s animated content speechless. Sony started their animation movies before even the existence of Illumination. Illumination’s worldwide success guaranteed them a total of almost $7.1 billion worldwide. Projects like Despicable Me and Sing have further allowed them to cement their triumphant stance. Here are 5 best projects of Illumination Entertainment.
Despicable Me
Despicable Me is a rather touching animated movie. It was released in 2010. The story features a criminal mastermind who adopts three young orphan girls as pawns to plot a grand scheme. Over the time, he gets soft and finds himself being affectionate to them. He then figures how their love aspires him to be a better man. Many sequels have been released of this movie now. But this part showed Gru’s villainous side. His evil strategies, mindset and attitude shows how the dark humour influences the movie. It also features voiceovers from some of the biggest stars such as Steve Carell, Jason Segel and Russell Brand. This story of an evil guy being redeemed is regarded as one the best of the lot in the animation department.
Sing
This movie features the story of a whole city full of humanoid animals. Further diving into the story we get to know that koala Buster Moon owns a theatre. He’s been interested in show business since his father took him to his first music show as a child. Following financial problems brought up by the bank representative Judith, he tells his wealthy friend Eddie that he will host a singing competition. With a prize of $1,000. But Buster’s assistant, Miss Crawly, accidentally appends two extra zeroes. The promotional fliers showing $100,000 are blown out of Buster’s office into the city streets. Its a movie that even moves the adults.
Minions: The Rise of Gru
Released just days ago, this movie has already made its way to be Illuminations best. The storyline can be described like this. In the heart of the 1970s, amidst a flurry of feathered hair and flared jeans, Gru is growing up in the suburbs. A fanboy of a supervillain group known as the Vicious 6, Gru hatches a plan to become evil enough to join them. Luckily, he gets some mayhem-making back-up from his loyal followers, the Minions.
Together, Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and Otto, a new Minion sporting braces and a desperate need to please, deploy their skills as they and Gru build their first lair. The team also experiments with their first weapons, and pull off their first missions. When the Vicious 6 oust their leader, Gru interviews to become their newest member. It doesn’t go well, and only gets worse after Gru outsmarts them and suddenly finds himself the mortal enemy of the apex of evil. On the run, Gru will turn to an unlikely source for guidance, Wild Knuckles (The driven out leader). Gru further discovers that even bad guys need a little help from their friends.
Minions: The Rise of Gru has been the best Illumination project in terms of opening weekend earnings. More is yet to come from this magnificent piece of creation.
Despicable Me 2
After all the love Despicable Me received, another part was surely on the cards. This movie features the changed Gru. How he loves his adopted daughters and how they drive him to be a better man everyday. It also features a love interest for Gru and his daughters leave no stone unturned to make it even better. The story goes like this. The despicable former super-villain with a heart of gold, gradually settles into a new life of fatherhood and jelly-making with his adorable three girls, Agent Lucy, of the covert Anti-Villain League organisation, calls for action. Now, with the highly experimental transmutation serum stolen by a mysterious, fiendish perpetrator, Gru reluctantly gets back in business, following on a string of hot-and-spicy leads. But is Gru, the once-infamous criminal mastermind, humankind’s best chance at saving the world. That too from a delirious madman and his irrepressible need for global dominion.
The comedic structure of this film is absolutely top notch. Gru and Agent Lucy’s blushing romance also makes it up for the immense likeness of this movie. Visual effects have also been significantly first-rate throughout the course of the movie.
The Secret Life Of Pets
Well the name already hints towards the background of this movie. How pets react when they are not being watched. It features the quiet life of a domestic terrier. Which later turns upside down after his owner brings home a large, bumbling mutt. The two dogs then get lost in Manhattan and must join forces against a gang of abandoned pets while their friends set out through the city to rescue them. One debatable aspect of the movie is that it doesn’t entirely display what more the pets can do when they are on their own. It can be described as a comedic great by Illumination as well.
