Illumination

Film Review: Migration is a lively animated comedy that should resonate with your family this holiday season

Given that Migration, the latest animated offering from the Illumination collective (the production company behind such successes as Despicable Me and the inexplicable Minions), is penned by White Lotus creator Mike White, it makes sense that the film manages to make us care about its characters, rather than just be mildly amused at their comedic…

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Interview: Elizabeth Banks and Kumail Nanjiani on identifying with their animated counterparts in Migration; “Cartoons are better than people.”

This holiday season, Illumination, creators of the blockbuster Minions, Despicable Me, Sing and The Secret Life of Pets comedies, invites you to take flight into the thrill of the unknown with a funny, feathered family vacation like no other in the action-packed new original comedy, Migration. The Mallard family is in a bit of rut….

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Film Review: The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a safe, shiny, optimistic vehicle that will “level up” for families these school holidays

We’ll address the elephant in the room first.  Yes, Chris Pratt does indeed adopt a stereotypical Italian accent for his voice work as Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.  No, it’s actually not as offensive or as wince-inducing as you may be anticipating because, quite ingeniously, the film makes a joke out of the…

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Film Review: Minions: The Rise of Gru delivers the safe, nonsensical shenanigans we’ve come to expect from such characters

Even though 2010’s Despicable Me was centred around Steve Carell‘s Eastern European reformed super-villain Gru, it was his hoard of indecipherable henchmen – his Minions – that stole the film from under his considerably rendered nose. They were funny without really trying to be, so it made perfect sense that subsequent films (Despicable Me birthed…

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Interview: Sing 2 director Garth Jennings on classic comedy, dream casting and working with a “melting pot of creativity”

Having a background in live-action comedy films has evidently paid off for director Garth Jennings with his animated aspirations.  The acclaimed helmer of such features as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Son of Rambow, Jennings moved into animated fare with 2016’s jukebox-musical success Sing. Now back to reunite his scrappy crew of musical…

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Film Review: Sing 2 is a harmless, uplifting family outing that wins over with its charm and soundtrack

For better or worse, Illumination will always be known as the studio that gave an extended life to Minions.  Originally something of a throwaway gag to provide easy laughs within the Despicable Me films, they took on a force of their own and seemed to pull focus from any other studio property.  One such charmer…

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Nintendo confirms they’re taking another crack at a Super Mario movie, hell quite chilly today

The unthinkable has happened. Hell has frozen over. The day we thought would never come has arrived at last: Nintendo have confirmed that work has begun on a new Mario movie.

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Film Review: Despicable Me 3 (USA, 2017) finds that love, family and Minions make for an excellent third chapter

Despicable Me 3 opens this week and it brings with it a charming, if not a little repetitive, new chapter in the franchise. The entire gang is back to cause, create and then solve a global catastrophe. More of a good thing isn’t always better, kind of like chocolate and wine (ok, maybe just chocolate),…

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Illumination’s new animated film Sing celebrates its premiere in Toronto

Sing, the latest film from Illumination Studios (Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets) had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, ahead of its Boxing Day release. The animated film sees Buster, a koala, holding a singing competition in his home town in order to save his theatre. Sing stars Matthew McConaughey, Reese…

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