Just because a sequel sounds like a cash grab or is unnecessary that doesn’t mean that movie can’t possibly be good. Finding Dory is a perfect example. When it was announced everyone thought it was unnecessary and thought it was a cash grab but in the end it ended up being a great film and a worthy sequel to the original. Who is to say the same thing can’t possibly happen with Toy Story 4 and that Pets 2 can’t be good. Heck, there are some movies that aren’t sequels that when announced sounded like pretty unnecessary or like cash grabs but ended up being great movies (a certain movie based on a certain toy comes to mind). There is possibilities, uncessary or not, that the movie in the end could be good and just because we don’t know what they could do in a sequel doesn’t mean they don’t know.

Yeah I can see your point with those other movies such as Wreck-It Ralph 2 or The Incredibles 2 which have more story to tell and we’ve been waiting on a sequel with them. As for Toy Story 4 yes I do think it’s milking the cash cow. Pixar knows that Toy Story is financially and critically successful which really irritates me that they are ruining a perfectly closed trilliogy with a fourth. As for Secret life of Pets, it was a cute movie well animated but doesn’t need a sequel. I could actually see it being more of a tv series/short films. Don’t get me wrong I love a good sequel but you can always tell when there’s actually one needed and then there’s one just greenlit because of how much money the film makes.

Yeah, because it is totally out of the ordinary for a movie that ended up being very successful reception wise and box office wise to immediately get a sequel or spin off and because it is getting a sequel or spin off that obviously means it is going to be a cash grab or cash cow with no actual quality. Well, I guess films like Wreck It Ralph 2, The Lego Movie Sequel, The Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4, and anything else that is a sequel or spin off are just going to suck then and be just cash cows without any possibility of being good.

I was talking about their writing work from an animation standpoint.

Also, they are already doing something different with Sing. That film looks to be out of the ordinary for them, let us just hope that is in a good way.

And I would not go as far as to even call Illumination the “animation equivalent of Michael Bay” because unlike Michael Bay they actually do sometimes make good films whereas an actual good film from Micheal Bay rarely, if ever, happens. They are more so a serviceable studio that can be hit or miss with their films. Also, unlike Michael Bay, what some of Illumnation good films lack in story they do make up for with a really good sense of humor and characters who are likeable while not being the most fully developed. With their good movies (Pets in particular) at least they still managed to make the movie entertaining, funny, and somewhat different in a good way despite the fact that we have seen some of the story before. With Michael Bay, particularly in Transformers, it’s literally the same thing over again and different in a bad way. He doesn’t try to make the film good and at least entertaining and fun despite the fact that it is the same style, it is the same thing beat for beat and it is tiresome and drawn out. At least with Illumination and their good directors and writers for their films they take their style and TRY to make the movie as good, fun, and entertaining as it can be with their style. Plus, they have a faster pace for certain films so it never does feel tiresome and there is never a dull moment to be found. Unlike Michael Bay who doesn’t want to try at all and rarely does. If Bay actually TRIED to make something good, fun, and entertaining with Transformers and his style rather than just trying to make a quick buck and not listen to the people who gave his film flak we probably would have an actually decent Transformer movie. At least with a movie like TMNT: Out Of The Shadows, while it does have it’s problems it still was a fun movie and you could definetly tell the people behind it actually tried to make something good and pay respect the orignal 80’s cartoon this time around and listen to the feedback from people who did not like the first film. Bay simply does not want to try, and at least with some of their actually good films, Illumination does.

Sorry, about the little Michael Bay rant there.

First off, it’s Cinco and Ken, not Cinco and Paul. Second, they’ve written a total a 10 films (which was what I meant by overall). Four or five of those movies were good/decent. The rest were complete garbage. So to amend my previous statement, they have just as many misses as hits and you really can’t count upon them to be consistent in their writing.

I know you are easily forgiving of a movie if you are entertained. Either that or I’m too jaded from having watched hundreds of animated movies at this point, but I just see a lot of problems with their current formula and these are problems that will only get worse if they don’t branch out and do different stuff. It’s happened before (look at DWA before Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon) and it could happen again.

Sooner or later, it just won’t be enough to glide by on a bunch of gags at the expense of characters and story. That, to me, sounds like the animation equivalent of a Michael Bay movie. Technically impressive, but otherwise junk.

First off, Cinco and Paul have written a total of five films, three which are actually good (Despicable Me 1 and 2 and Horton Hears A Who!). So technically they do have more hits than misses. However, I will agree that when they are bad they are REALLY bad.

Secondly, there is nothing wrong with having mile-a-minute gags constantly in your film, especially when that film is a full on comedy. What matters is if the gags are constantly funny and, with their actual good films, they are. It doesn’t really matter to me if they have bright colors and laugh-a-minute gags in replacement of plot pregression and character development as long they gags are funny and visuals are interesting to look at.

Maybe I’m not a hardcore Illumination Entertanment fan, but Cinco and Ken have more misses than hits overall, and while they have their moments, that’s not enough to deflect the fact that when they are terrible, they are EXTRODINARLY terrible.

Sure, Cinco and Ken were an essential element in constructing the Illumination Entertainment house style, but they need more writers and better writers at that.

Also, it’s too often in most of Illumination’s movies that the humor takes over and all of a sudden, an entire second act is wasted on nonsense that dosen’t add up to anything before they finally resume the plot in the third act. I don’t mind something wacky and stupid as long as it makes me laugh, but when you are just tossing in mile-a-minute gags and bright colors to fill screen time that could have been devoted to character development and plot progression, that’s the point where I either groan or I pull out my smartphone to check the time (at home, of course).

Also, BTW are you going to do an article on the new Storks trailer? Spoiler alert: It’s pretty funny and truly embraces Warner Brothers Looney Tunes roots with it’s cartoony and fast paced animation and it’s witty dialogue and very funny physical comedy and gags. From what I have so far if Warner Brothers plans to another Looney Tunes movie wether it be a solo character outing or an ensemble film I would say get they get this team making it. Also, speaking of Looney Tunes I heard that a new CG Wile E Coyote and Roadrunner short might play in front of the film which is equally exciting!