Pros
The movies are of high production value. Your co-workers make the days bearable. Portland is great if you can bear the commute. You will also never play a better lunch time game of 4-square than you will at Laika.
Cons
Absolutely everything else. Depressing studio, with no windows, decorations (except for the main entrance) and the kind of stuffy air you can only get from people sandpapering little faces all day. Morale is always low, for good reasons. As everyone else mentions in these reviews, there is a hierarchical ladder that compares best to highschool. The leading man of the studio has never worked at any other animation studios, and thus has no clue how an animation studio should actually really run. There are a lot of unqualified people in strangely high positions, hiring more qualified people for extremely low pay to do their job for them, while making sucking up to the boss their primary responsibility. As great as the movies are, they have all bombed, yet they keep throwing money at the wrong places thanks to daddy Nike, and making up those losses by letting people go every couple of months. I mean. Literally, the studio is run by someone who used to rap under the name "Chilly Tee" (feel free to youtube). Come on. HR pays no attention to literally anything. I have never worked in an animation studio where most employees feel "bad" about talking with each other, or socially interacting with one another, at any hour of the day with the exception of lunch. It generally feels wrong to do so. The pay is incredibly low compared to industry standards. I know people that have worked there for 4+ years and received close to no salary increase although plenty of extra responsibility to undertake. Interns are paid the same rate as McDonald's employees. Industry experience doesn't really seem to be a negotiating factor either. Overall, if you have other options, take them instead.
