I watched every ILLUMINATION movie (and what I learned) 

what’s your favorite illumination movie ? :)

"But it's for kids!" Kids are not stupid. They don't have a critical eye yet, but they're not stupid. They deserve movies that they can look back on time and time again and come back with a positive lesson, not shallow cash grabs.

I like how he skipped over the fact of illumination had 1 moment of clarity in the minions movie that they had to strand them in the artic during the 30s and 40s bc if they didn't the minions would 100%work for hitler

I watched the Lorax during World History and had to write an essay about how it represents Industrialization. I wish I was joking.

Everyone: _“Kids movies, yeah, movies for_ *young* _children.”_ Grinch Ads: *”Allow me to introduce myself.”*

'A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.' - C.S. Lewis

megamind is what despicable me wishes it could be

“If you want to watch a movie with better animal gags than sing then go watch chicken little” That, is the scariest quote I’ve hear in the past few months.

i like how their debut movie literally said "being good is so overrated"

Illumination movies are so fake and generic that they look like those background movies that some characters are gonna watch on TV in some other, better movie.

These movies all scream "I'm in the hospital waiting room and this is the only thing on besides more depressing news"

You know when you watch a movie as a kid, and you really like it, and then many years later you hear some guy complain about how horrible it actually was and you realize you were just a stupid kid who liked anything that moved? That's how I feel about Despicable Me.

I dunno, I kinda liked the koala character in sing. I thought his whole conflict of trying to pursue something and failing just to pick himself back up again was relatable for people trying to find their way. I think it’s a theme that’s been expressed less adequately in other movies, and at the very least I enjoyed that as well as other parts of the movie.

Video: “Onceler” Me: *shudders* Video: goes into depth about the onceler fandom Me: 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝... 𝑝 𝑙 𝑒 𝑎 𝑠 𝑒

For a company named after light, their movies sure are dull

The really sad part is that Illumination, out of all the animation studios out there, was the one chosen to make that upcoming Super Mario Bros movie. And that's just terrible.

Damn, you're right. Even you just mentioning Sing got me humming "I'm Still Standing"

"It's just for kids" is really indicative of how little they think of kids.

Whenever I hear the "It's for Kids" Argument, three things come to mind. 1. Whatever happened to General Audiences? You know material intended for both children and adults of all ages, did that just suddenly cease to exist? 2. So because something is for Kids, that means it should no longer be subject to any standards of quality. I'm sure those people would say the same thing for food, toys, and clothes. It's just for kids, why should any of it be good. 3. Just because something is meant for kids, that is not an excuse to be lazy and shit. Even kids deserve better than that.

Me: I like Despicable Me, I can wait to see Karsten’s take on some of Illumination’s other movies Karsten: *Hell is an eternity before the righteous ever-burning wrath of God*

"The one thing you'll leave this film with is "I'm Still Standing" by Elton John stuck in your head" It never left my head tbh

I don't care what anyone says, the first Despicable Me is a certified hood classic.

Commenting every day until Karsten ranks the Barbie movies: Day 15

23:59 As a kid who grew up with the illumination films until I’d say 2017, there’s only movie that actually gives me fond memories of being a kid. And that’s Minions. Now while I haven’t watched it in a while, that movie does stay in my mind because it was my first real solo movie experience. I liked the concepts in the film and thought it was good, but that was the first time I bought my own popcorn, the first time I sat down by myself, the first time I engaged with the big screen. That’s also why I’ll never rewatch the film, I will not tarnish that memory by having the movie fresh in my mind.

I’ve had a bunch of people tell me that I look like the oldest daughter with the glasses from the Despicable Me movies and every time someone says that to me a piece of my soul dies.

"It's for kids" is *never* an excuse for a bad, lazy story. A kid's mind is a sponge: when they see something, it influences them for life whether they realize it or not. Sure, most kids will sit through anything adults choose, but that's exactly why adults need to choose high-quality media! Saying "it's for kids so it's bound to be dumb" basically means "we *can* profit by wasting children's time with garbage, so we will!" It ignores the question of whether you *should* waste kids' time with garbage. Even if something goes over kids' heads, it's better to broaden their horizons with something they'll understand later, instead of stunting their perspective with generic pop culture dreck.

If you ask me, these movies aren’t, or shouldn’t be considered, “theatre movies.” These movies are hospital movies, or family gathering movies. These are the movies that are just “on.” You don’t set out to watch them, you end up watching them. To be honest they should almost have just gone straight to tv, and of course that didn’t happen because of money, but since they didn’t, they can be judged alongside things that just make these films feel like the equivalent of shocking yourself intentionally with a taser every few minutes because it’s better than doing nothing at all.

I, too, was pleasantly surprised by The Grinch. I recall that the director of the live-action movie said because he recognized he couldn't compete with the Chuck Jones adaptation, he went in a contrary direction to make something that has its own identity---a grittier, wittier, more cynical one. With that in mind, I believe the Illumination take forms a trifecta by being the "light and feel-good" film of the bunch. Life of Pets 2 was such a forgettable flick for me, to the point that I needed to remember a specific plot (the sheep farm) to remember the rest of the film (possibly if I had even seen it). Plots just appeared and disappeared as they pleased (the neck-scratching, in particular, being near-literally tossed once it's served its purpose), and there were too many of them present overall to form a decently complex narrative, the worst offender being perhaps the circus which, what, only comes up in the second half of the film to set up a climactic sequence? At least the first film knew where it was going with everything, so I'd probably swap these two in my own rankings, relative to each other. I was actually kind of impressed with what Gru's VA did in Despicable Me 3. The twin's voice sounded different enough but somewhat similar enough to make it work, and the same voice actor during one scene managed to convincingly act out the brothers imitating each other. That's some vocal talent, if you ask me. The film itself was meh, however. The Lorax could've been such a great adaptation, although I'll admit I still enjoyed it to an extent. Imagine if for all the time spent messing around, we got some proper expansion into the settings, the characters' psyches and motivations, and all that; after all, the original adaptation is mostly just us watching the industry grow with a few character exchanges here and there until the climax, not much actual plot progression. An update for modern audiences would've been an opportunity to not only construct a proper feature-length story but also take the aspects of today, cultural and otherwise, and throw them back at the viewers in a way that matters. The film's unused song "Biggerin'" gives a glimpse of what could've been a considerably heavier-feeling work and is what got me thinking about the film's potential in the first place. It seriously could've possibly been Illumination's greatest film, even in the scenario where the others were made better.

8:35 is no one gonna talk about how this is perfectly synced with the voiceover

"So let's talk the Onceler--" My mind: T H E O N C E L E R F A N D O M

Sing is better when you consider it a part of a trilogy Sing: Taron Egerton plays a gorilla who sings "I'm still Standing" by Elton John The Kingsman 2: Taron Egerton plays a spy who saves Elton John from an evil mastermind Rocketman: Taron Egerton plays Elton John. These films were made for Taron Egerton to slowly evolve into Elton John

"They're just for kids." So is Kung fu panda So is HTTYD So is the lego movie So is cloudy with a chance of meatballs So is tangled A lot of films are made for kids mate

dude I actually really like sing. I think that johnny's arc with his dad while cliche is still really touching and that moment where he breaks out of jail just to tell johnny that he's proud of him while I'm still standing is playing in the background legit had me crying man. I think moon's story is also a really relatable one about failing over and over and not giving up no matter how much the world breaks you. yeah all the other characters' story arcs are pretty generic and bland and this is definitely not a top tier movie nut I wouldve put it wayy higher on this list for sure.

The problem with the minions is that they are not characters from a movie, they are a product

there’s a reason why movies like Toy Story, Up, and Wall-E made me cry when i was little and still make me cry now, but movies like the Lorax and Despicable Me made me laugh when i was little but make me cringe now

There was a small amount of time where I used to have sing on dvd and watched it almost daily since my family couldnt afford cable at the time. I even drew fanart of ash out of boredom. Years later today, I'm watching the few clips from the segment of this video and literally none of the scenes stood out as if I've never watched the movie before

One thing I can always appreciate about Illumination is the lighting and colour pallet. The animation and character models range from pretty good to pretty bad, story and writing are mediocre when it's focused but pretty bad when it splits into a ton of sub plots, however I always appreciate their use of colour, light and shadow. That alone is always bright and vibrant. I just wish the rest could have matched up.

hop is one of those movies that i associate with a teacher going "im putting on a movie, be quiet" the day before a holiday break

"children who grew up with these movies arent going to grow up and look back at them as a glimpse of childhood" as someone whos been growing up with these, thats absolutely true

Until watching this video, I didn’t know a onceler fandom existed and I wish I had kept it that way.

This is why I'm terrified of the new mario movie

It’s so interesting how in Sing, Taron Egerton, who plays Johnny, sings “I’m still standing”. And then 3 years later, plays Elton John in Rocketman...and sings the same song.

“I play Harrison Ford as a dog” is the best Harrison Ford quote.

Illumination is like a reaction channel. It exists, it takes up space but for some reason is still succesfull at the end of the day.

I can't believe you somehow managed to make me *miss* 2016. Also, as someone who was active on Tumblr at the time, I really can't overstate how out-of-left-field and wild the Onceler fandom was. Istg it was like a hurricane that just appeared, flung shit everywhere and then suddenly cleared out to let the rest of us deal with its baggage 💀

Y'all remember when kid's movies were actually inventive? Y'all remember Pinocchio? Incredibles? Hercules? Shrek? There's a ton more.

"The most conventionally attractive guys" Dude... teenage girls started obsessing over Sans, Baldi, Cuphead, and many more...

I know a lot of people criticize illumination and their films. But just be happy that there's something out there that has competition for Disney. Because Disney not just owns Pixar but 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios which is sadly gone. I'm happy that there is competition for Disney.

My 4 year old daughter just watched the latest Minions movie, had a great time, and called the film "fun, silly, and funny." Illumination has an audience: very young kids. Not all content merits an in-depth analysis. Some movies exist just to be silly, colorful fun.

“Kidz Bop as a film” is the most venomous insult I’ve ever heard.

Ok the concept of "Onecest" and why it came about is legitimately funnier than anything in any Illumination movie

If anyone ever thought "what if the secret life of pets was good?", well, HBO has a series, cancelled now, called animals

I surprisingly kinda liked Sing. I thought it was kinda dark to have a scene where the bear was still on the trunk of their car. Although they didn’t show it, we all know he was brutally murdered. Pretty dark tbh.

bringing up the onceler fandom really brought out my fight or flight response (also sarah z made a really good video about it)

the idea that Secret Life of Pets would have been better if they had taken the time to have solo films with all of the pets, and had built up to a large infinity war-sequel event is honestly the funniest thing i’ve thought about all year.

They say if you watched every illuminations movie without cringing, you become God.

I’ve never seen Hop, but it makes me feel oddly nostalgic because I remember being very excited about the Webkinz event associated with it

Biggest take away: I completely forgot the bfg became a movie.

But Karsten you don’t understand. He’s been a bad boy.

The Lorax holds specific memories of being on vacation as a kid, drawing with sharpies and watching it for the first time with my cousins

I'm genuinely scared for the Mario movie 😔

"Sing is like if kidz bop was a movie" I have never been so upset with something I completely agree with

Karsten didn’t appreciate any of these movies because there was too much animated fur. The only reason Despicable Me was his favourite was because Gru is bald

The fact that the Despicable Me franchise overshadowed the underrated classic that is Megamind kinda gives me a slight grudge towards Illumination

I really liked Sing. It's a great movie to enjoy when you're Hammered

Title: "I watched every ILLUMINATION movie (and what I learned)" Opening sentence: "In an article titled 'What is Hell'.."

Vector is easily the most memorable character in the entire franchise and we can't forget about the iconic quote "OH YEAH"

I'd argue Sing wasn't really for kids, it was more for their parents. My SO read Sing as an ensemble movie about people from a bunch of different walks of life coming together to make art and "make it" a lot of the characters are built as parallels to where a lot of the kid's parents could possibly be at in life, like the Pig who feels tied down to her domestic life, or the gorilla trying to work his way out of an oppressive system. I haven't seen the movie myself, but I thought it was an interesting take

I dont know why but even as a kid I just watched a lot of Illumination Entertainment's movies and said, "Well, that was a movie." Sing was played so often that even young me got tired of it and realized that some of characters sounded like stereotypes. Even young me didnt care about Despicable Me 3, The Secret Life of Pets, Hop, and The Grinch. Even today when I get reminded about the movie I don't have any vivid memories from ANY of the movies (except the first Despicable Me because of Vector, and The Lorax because my sister and I made fun of the Onceler and the movie and how weird it is a lot)

I absolutely HATE this bland, round, recycled animation style

Karsten:"so his voice actor was replaced as the rat from ratatouille" DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY RATS ARE IN THAT MOVIE

"How bad could I be" was the best for projecting what consumerism is. Love that song cuz it catchy and later in my life do I realize how fucked it is. "How Bad can I be I'm Just building the economy." Das messed up man

Karsten trashing on AMC popcorn and comparing to illumination is weirdly amazing

It takes a TRUE madlad to watch every single Illumination movie, I salute you.

I will never let my mom live down the day where she made us go see Minions in theaters because Ant-Man was “inappropriate” for me.

I just learned Illumination is making the Mario movie I’m very scared

I love how in Sing they put Taylor Swift's songs together with the mom character since most 40 year old moms are seen to love Taylor Swift. They really are just trying to make the audience relate by using popular songs lmaoo

If Karsten married James Marsden his name would be Karsten Marsden.

i cannot explain this but hop emanates the energy of "you're in a hotel in the 2010s the people in the floor above are running around, its late, and Nothing Else is on but we can't just go to sleep yet"

I love how even when "Sing" came out it was generally accepted that Taron Edgerton's cover of "I'm Still Standing" was amazing. If you happened to read the comment sections of those videos (before COPPA had them disabled) people who had seen the film agreed that the movie was worth it for that cover alone. It's funny how Edgerton would later go on to star as Elton John in Rocketman.

I love that you start off this video talking about the concept of hell, really frames what we're getting into here

Fun Fact: The actor for the gorilla who sings "I'm Still Standing from Elton John" played the actual Elton John in Rocket Man

I want to stop and say that Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs does the “adaptation of a brief kids picture book” fairly well, but it works because they take the concept of “food-related weather” and throw out the rest (not that there was a lot else). The Seuss adaptations take his short, simple stories with basic but fun characters and try to stretch them out to 90 minutes, which will inevitably fail.

Illumination (for me at least) is like eating lukewarm soup in the middle of Australia but the soup is nostalgic to you so you eat it anyway and afterwards you just go "Huh. Well that was shit." I need sleep...

Remember, if they hadn't gone to Antarctica, the Minions would have willingly participated in the "Great Baking" of the 1940's

"It's like The Avengers but they're throwing us right into Infinity War and we have no idea who any of these animals are, we don't care" I'm not into superhero movies but my brother wanted me to go see Infinity War with him so this is exactly how I experienced it lol

What I think Zootopia had over Sing! (well, besides everything) was the world. Zootopia's world actually felt like a universe where animals had become the dominant lifeform, and you see everything in that universe accommodate for each type of animal. Sing! doesn't do that. The entire universe is literally _just_ humanity but with certain things altered from time to time. You could replace every animal in this movie with a Muppet or pillows or sentient cans of Coca Cola and nothing would change.

I think Despicable Me is their best film tbh. Moments like Gru trying to get the Pony for Agnes is one of my favourite moments in a film cus it’s just so goddamn adorable

fun fact: the day i met my best friend jordan we watched the grinch (2018) in theaters december 14, 2018. pretty average kiddy movie but it helped in sparking a wonderful friendship since then me and him have been watching movies together

Title: *I watched every ILLUMINATION movie* literally the first 15 seconds: *defines hell* Oh boy, this is gonna be a ride.

A sign of a good kids movie is when a child spends months of their life being enraptured by it's concepts. When i was a little kid trying to catch the 'toys' that I owned, thinking they were going to spring to life because of Toy story (and toy soldiers), or having dreams and thoughts back to the visual style of nightmare before Christmas, having the visuals stuck in my head. I was obviously older when i watched despicable me, but nothing stuck, nothing kept my brain occupied thinking about it over and over. Movies overall have a different effect when you're an adult of course. But there is nothing there in these movies that could stick with someone like the movies I grew up with.

While I haven’t enjoyed all of illumination’s films, they are still nicely animated. And Sing 2 was honestly my favorite animated film last year.

All I remember about the Lorax movie is the weird shipping fandom online. I wasn't around on Tumblr at the time for it, but I heard horror stories. It honestly kind of made me feel bad for the actor Ed Helms. He just wanted what Steve Carell had in Despicable Me, to be in a wholesome family movie, and it was Dr. Seuss on top of it. But while Steve got the benefits of a fun family franchise, Ed had to hear about an entire subsection of social media making erotic art of his own character *with itself*. And you wonder why he doesn't really go on the internet anymore.

Is it weird that I strongly agree with every single criticism about Sing, yet I still love the movie?

i thought that the Minions movie was actually pretty alright UNTIL people started actually talking. it would've been great to see the Minions interact completely without communication eh. at least we have the Shaun the Sheep movie

About the start of this video, I'd like to add a bit: I think it's beneficial to watch bad movies not just for an aspiring filmmaker to know what to avoid, but also as someone who does enjoy movies, to wider frame of reference. You can only truly appreciate the really great movies, when you've watched some of the very worst.

The fact that Benedict Cumberbatch didn't use his wonderful normal voice for the Grinch will never cease to infuriate me

the Onceler looks like a human Hazbin Hotel character

Onceler shipping reminds me of Sans shipping... just one guy being shipped with thousands of variations of himself. It's almost terrifying. The Sansverse is basically the Onceverse on fifty-two pounds of crack and a sprinkle of hormonal teen girl horniness.

I seriously thought Illumination was Dream Works studios for a good 8 years. My mind was BLOWN when I learned that Despicable Me wasn’t made by Dream Works animation.