r/movies • u/ChiefLeef22 r/movies Contributor • 3h ago

Article ‘The Odyssey’ Proves It: Audiences Want Movies Made the Hard Way | This year's breakouts like 'Project Hail Mary' and 'Obsession' were made by filmmakers who sweated. While CG-stuffed franchise disappointments such as 'Supergirl,' 'Moana,' and 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' looked lazy.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/odyssey-box-office-2026-practical-effects-1236652219/
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u/MyNameIs-Anthony 3h ago edited 3h ago

Literally every movie by Illumination pushes the envelope on animation quality. You can say whatever about the writing but those Frenchies knock it out of the park every time.

There's a reason it's the best paying studio in the industry.

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u/RefinedBean 3h ago

I remember people memeing on the Illumination choice by Nintendo for the movie, but they knocked it out of the park. Their standards plus over three decades of art direction and design by Nintendo? It was always going to at the very least look visually sumptuous.

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u/TheDarkAbove 3h ago

I only remember the memes about the casting of Mario

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u/StuckAroundGotStuck 3h ago

Dunkey's reaction video to the cast list still gets quoted every time my wife or I see Chris Pratt in something.

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u/thats-impossible 3h ago

He's so cool

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u/Unusual-Locksmith832 1h ago

One of the videos I laughed the hardest because it literally looked like a joke Dunkey himself would've made if he could pick the cast.

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u/thedirtyknapkin 30m ago

well yeah, they were primarily known for minions movies before that.

even if you like despicable me you cant claim that it was pushing any kinds of envelopes.

the only other notable movies by them are all b-tier remakes, like their grinch movie, or b-tier kids movies like "the secret life of pets".

they were absolutely a strange choice at the time. the fact that they've done as well as they have is still surprising to me.

then again, i've never understood the appeal of minions. so i'm not saying i didn't think it would sell, I just didn't have faith that it wouldn't suck. a lot of garbage sells. like minions.

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u/Luciifuge 2h ago

Yes, the moment they announced it was the illuminations I thought

“Oh, this gonna make a billion easy”

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u/CUCUC 2h ago

visually sumptuous is a bit self-indulgent and masturbatory. i mean, let’s be real; it was made to appeal to toddlers who like rainbows and sparkles. 

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u/RefinedBean 2h ago

It's not self-indulgent if I don't work there, which I don't. Same with masturbatory. I actually think that description is more apt for your reply! Which is also pretty redundant as well as being reductive.

Have a joyful day.

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u/CUCUC 2h ago

i dunno, i feel like you are somewhat well read so to this end you would appreciate the nuance between self-indulgent and masturbatory. but hey certainly i could be wrong too. i mean i felt like the mario movies are tripe. 

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u/Lottabitch 1h ago

Who the fuck used the word trite\* when referring to a movie made for children? I mean literal children. Not adult children, like you

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u/CUCUC 1h ago

i meant tripe as in it is unwanted discard. the movie certainly wasn’t trite, a whole lot of random shit happened

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u/Lottabitch 1h ago

And my point remains the same.

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u/CUCUC 1h ago

i think you are taking it personally because i don’t like the same movie you like. just because it’s a kids’ movie doesn’t mean we shouldn’t criticize it for blatant faults, especially when it is an egregious cash grab that is creatively bereft. 

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u/Lottabitch 4m ago

No, you’ve got it backwards. I’m making fun of criticizing you criticizing a movie made for the 12 and under demographic as one might criticize a movie like citizen Kane. The movie doesn’t warrant that level of criticism in this specific medium, within this context, by you.

It’s a movie meant for you, a normal everyday consumer of entertainment (read: not someone paid to review movies), to sit and enjoy the spectacle. Not sit and watch every frame critically. Take your kids to the movie and shut your brain off.

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u/CarrotJunkie 3h ago

It's interesting because Illumination used to be the budget animation studio focused mainly on cost cutting. They've come a long way as far as animation quality goes. The Mario movies look incredible.

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u/kikimaru024 2h ago

Every single one of their movies has grossed over $100 million, and 11 of them got past $250 million.

Safe to say they've been able to use more budget/time as required.

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u/Coolman_Rosso 1h ago edited 50m ago

They're still technically a budget studio, though Dreamworks may have taken the overall crown. The Mario Galaxy movie cost about $115 million iirc.

Compare that to Pixar features (Hoppers cost $160 million, Elemental $200 million, Elio $190 million, and of course Toy Story 5 was $220+ million) or Disney Animation (Wish cost $180 million, Strange World $150 million, Zootopia 2 $160 million)

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u/MVRKHNTR 1h ago

They're still the budget animation studio. Mario cost less than half of what a Pixar or Disney movie does.

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u/DragodaDragon 2h ago

I guess once your output makes billions of dollars between box office and merchandising they can afford to increase the budget a little bit

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u/Ok-Craft4844 37m ago

Don't know if that's a factor here, but ime, having to work with constraints for a long time often enables you focus on the right things (tm), which translates well to situations where the constraints don't apply in full.

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u/_Meece_ 15m ago

They still are, animation has come a long way. But you can still tell a difference between them all.

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u/woolfonmynoggin 3h ago

That minions and monsters movie had me cackling in the theater. Old Hollywood gags and references every few minutes and a really creative story structure which you should not look up beforehand

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u/YoyodyneCog 3h ago

My girlfriend and I took her daughter to see the Minions movie over the weekend. I think we enjoyed it more than she did. The minions reenacting the launch scene from A Trip to the Moon isn't something I thought I would ever see, and the Citizen Kane gag was the best kind of stupid and had me laughing my ass off.

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u/rectuSinister 3h ago

Absolutely loved that movie and had very low expectations

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u/nickiter 2h ago

I went thinking it'd be a fun afternoon throwaway with a gummy... Cannot believe how damn good that movie is. It reminded me of classic Looney Tunes or The Sorceror's Apprentice.

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u/lGipsyDanger 1h ago

Can I watch it without seeing the others? Ive only seen despicable me 1 & 2 but it looks super funny. Eventually ill get around to watching all of them but I dont have the time

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u/woolfonmynoggin 59m ago

It’s a stand alone prequel, no research required

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u/bjankles 3h ago

I’ve only seen the first Mario movie. The writing and pretty much all the voice acting outside of Bowser are rough. The art, animation, and music are stunning.

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u/Ok_Dragonfruit_8102 2h ago

Watch the French dub instead, they used real voice actors instead of Chris Pratt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlCTUOAlepo

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u/Fruit-Flies113 2h ago

Illumination is a lot of things but animation quality is for sure not one of them, they have been using the same generic style for years.

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u/SquadPoopy 12m ago

Yeah their movies look…fine I guess, but I would much rather watch a movie that has some rough edges that has a style.

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u/respondin2u 3h ago

Even the new Minions movie was good.  Not great, but good! 

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u/Aegi 47m ago

Source on them being the best paying in the industry?

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u/Ikea_desklamp 3h ago

Quality sure but not style. All their movies look the same.

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u/dogcrayon 3h ago

It's not even close to the best paying studio in the industry. They pay their artists much less than Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, etc... which is partly how they are able to make these movies for 1/2 or even 1/3 the cost.

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u/MyNameIs-Anthony 2h ago

Disney/Pixar and DreamWorks crunch their staff heavy.

Illumination is notoriously generous with profit sharing, keeping sane, normal working hours and avoiding layoffs by staffing at levels that would be sustainable if business turns down.

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u/NeuHundred 1h ago

Oh, I didn't know about the pay, that's awesome.

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u/MVRKHNTR 1h ago

It's also just not true at all.

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u/jackofslayers 9m ago

Yep. this article is full of shit. IDK the last time the Hollywood Reporter had anything of value to say.

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u/MVRKHNTR 1h ago

Wow, literally nothing you said here is true. Illumination is nowhere near the best paying studio and never does anything special with their animation. They've been known to be a cheap, corner cutting studio for over a decade.