I left some out, but only because they don’t deserve a spot on the list
- The Prince of Egypt
- How to Train your Dragon
3.Shrek 2
4.Madagascar - The Road to El Dorado
6.Shrek
7.Joseph: King of Dreams
8.Sinbad: Legend of the 7 Seas
9.Shrek 3(HATE IT!!!)
I left some out, but only because they don’t deserve a spot on the list
I prefer Pixar (IS THE SKY BLUE??? ) but I have to say I enjoyed some of Dreamworks’ works (lololol) but I haven’t seen all of them, so some stay blank. Ya.
-WALL OF FAME-
1/ How To Train Your Dragon: Pushed Up off the first place for ‘favourite movie’, and I believe that says enough. Amazing, beautiful and heartfelt film.
2/ Madagascar: While not the best, it is definitely one of the most enjoyable. Fun fact - when it first came out I watched it 6 times in one day once.
3/ Madagascar 2: I liked this one as well though not as much as the first - in my opinion, the old lady should’ve been left out. In the first, it is funny because it is unexpected - but the joke turns old soon. (Ha, I maed a funneh!!!1)
4/ Over The Hedge: While an incredibly boring movie (IMO! SORRY! D: I just think it’s not very noteworthy) I watched it so much when I was little, so it’s got an important place in my heart. Not to mention that I probably wouldn’t have loved skunks if it wasn’t for this movie - however Stella didn’t give her species any better of an image.
5/ Kung Fu Panda: I like this movie. Back when it first came out I didn’t like it as much, but now I see it’s much, MUCH better than Dreamworks’ past films. Also, you gotta congratulate Dreamworks for having a snake protagonist that isn’t evil or a jerk. And female too. Haven’t seen those since The Animals of Farthing Wood.
6/ Shark Tale: While not the most amazing plot there’s ever been, and many pop culture jokes (I don’t care that you have a Playstation!!!1), it is an enjoyable film. Also, I like sharks.
I liked that one shark dude, what was his name again? Lenny?
7/ Shrek: I’m not a big fan of this film (ugh, pop culture, farting, belching, exploding birds and other random instances of animals being hurt for some cheap laughs ) but the animation is really nice and the voice acting is good as well. Also, dragon!
8/ Bee Movie: Just the general ideas of bees all wearing little yellow and black vests makes me lol. Fun fact - when I was at the local library, some kid claimed it was ‘gloednieuw’ (Dutch for when something’s just new)
-WALL OF SHAME-
Shrek 3. Just… Shrek 3. Though the dream of the invasion of all those baby-Shreks was REALLY funny.
For me it’s a short list.
…and the rest is not worth mentioning.
I haven’t watched Antz and How to train your Dragon, yet, though.
The latter could even claim the top spot, if it’s as good as everyone says.
Yeah, ditto the short list totoro. I like Shrek and How To Train Your Dragon, and Kung Fu Panda was also okay. My favourite will always be Antz, though. It’s the only film of theirs that I actually really love.
LG - Haha, Antz happens to be one of my worst movie! I’m so sorry, but I really hated it as a kid. Maybe I’ll ‘rediscover’ it, though.
I’m rating the computer-animated flicks for now, as the traditionally-animated ones deserve a separate thread, and are not made by DreamWorks Animation per se.
How To Train Your Dragon - I had high expectations for this film, but little did I imagine it would actually beat Cars and Up among my favourites. This is quite possibly the only modern DW movie with no pop-culture references (although there’s a bra joke). There’s something about its purity and childlike wonder that will never escape me. And thank god they didn’t make the dragons talk!
Kung Fu Panda - This used to be my fave, but when compared with HTTYD, some of the snarkiness and ‘wink-wink-nudge’ references to martial arts films starts to creep in. But it’s still barrels of fun, and you’ll be cheering Po all the way on his epic journey. Oh, and the Furious Five… kick *ss.
Over The Hedge - Another talking animal movie, but what lifts it above the rest is its smart and subtle observations on modern suburban living. I had the opportunity to read the comic strip that inspired it, and the movie certainly treated its source with respect. Plus you get to hear Bruce Willis voice a raccoon.
Shrek - The one that started an entire trend in fairy-tale spoofing, and still remains the best. Great plot and character development, witty lines, and a twist I didn’t see coming, this film will have a special place in my heart because I watched it countless times with my siblings as a kid.
Monsters vs Aliens - A brilliant subversion of B-grade monster movies. Susan is DW’s strongest female protagonists next to Astrid and Fiona, while possessing a quiet vulnerability. Her sidekicks are equally endearing, and Gallaxhar is the most deliciously devious villains since Lord Farqhuar.
Shark Tale - A lot of people say this is one of DW’s worst, but I have a childhood nostalgia for it when I saw it in theatres with some friends. An amusing satire of gangster movies, rags-to-riches story, and the shallowness of contemporary pop-culture, this is a hipper version of Finding Nemo, only with celebrity voices and minus the drama.
Madagascar 2 - The visuals of Africa are indelible and majestic, but the plot dives into typical ‘everyone-has-a-problem-to-solve’ territory, something which has plagued the Ice Age series. But I did love the Melman x Gloria romantic subplot…
Madagascar - I can’t get over the ‘chunkiness’ of the character designs and the Tex Avery-style OTT animation. And it got a bit creepy with Alex wanting to take a bite of Marty. But it is harmless, lunatic fun, and who doesn’t love King Julien and Morty?
Shrek 2 - An above-average sequel to the much better first. Suffers a little from character-overload, and the pop-culture jokes are wearing a little thin now. Puss in the Boots is quite possibly the only saving grace of this adventure.
Bee Movie - Like Shark Tale, instead of creating a surreal-but-plausible world like Pixar, it goes for an entire human-recreation of a metropolis within a beehive. Jerry Seinfield is annoying, and Zellweger’s florist can’t save the painfully mediocre script. And seriously, what have the scriptwriters being smoking? A bee suing humans for honey abduction? Why isn’t anyone surprised they can let alone talk?!? The final plane-landing sequence did it in for me.
Antz - I can’t remember much about this film, but I really hated the character designs as a kid. They’re so freakin’ fugly (yeah, I know it’s redundant repetition, but anyway…). Maybe I’ll appreciate it on a rewatch as an adult, but I preferred the superior ABL anyway. The magnifying-glass burning and termite-invasion sequences gave me endless nightmare-fuel!
Shrek The Third - Or rather, the t*rd. A textbook example of how not to do a sequel. Endlessly division of labour with little auteur supervision, hiring another stellar voice cast without attention to the script, and bringing back a previous villain for yet another revenge-plot, and you have an awfully boring, excruciatingly-lacklustre, and just plain ugly movie.
For me, DreamWorks is really hit or miss. They have some stuff that’s really good, and they have some stuff that’s really terrible and they have a whole lot of mediocre. I’m excluding the Aardman stuff because it was just published by DreamWorks, not created by them.
The Good:
How to Train Your Dragon
Kung Fu Panda
Shrek
The Prince of Egypt
Shrek 2
The ‘Meh’:
The Road to El Dorado
Madagascar
Over the Hedge
The Bad:
Antz
Monsters vs. Aliens
Shrek the Third
The Ugly:
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Shark Tale
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
Bee Movie
Great list, Illusion! Though I would’ve changed a few entries:
The Good:
Over The Hedge
Monsters vs Aliens
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (Nooo… how could you classify it as ‘Ugly’? )
The ‘Meh’:
The Prince of Egypt (A bit too religious, but nevertheless very spectacular)
Shark Tale
Madagascar 2
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
But that’s just my stupid opinion.
These are the 5 dreamworks films I actually like a little bit:
1. How to train you dragon - truly amazing movie, I was suprised when I found out that it was a dreamworks film.
2. Shrek - really fun, frankly I don’t really like the sequels, especially NOT the third!
3. Shark Tale - The animation… Uhh, well sucks in this film. But it’s a very funny and enjoyable anyway.
4. Kung Fu panda - I don’t really remember anything from the film except that I did liked it very much. xD
5. Antz - Since I was small when I last saw this movie, the only thing I remember is that I thought that Antz was a rip off of A bugs life ( And I still do xD).
thedriveintheatre- Definitely give it another watch if you can. It’s one of those movies that, I think, really shouldn’t be watched by children, not because it’s really unsuitable for them or anything, but it does tend to fly over their heads. You’re right though, those character designs leave a lot to be desired!
Not to mention certain scenes (such as the grasshopper’s wife being squashed, or the flood scene at the end) may be too traumatic for kids. But yeah, I’m having a feeling there were some things I must be missing when I watched it back then, so maybe I’d appreciate it better now.
Hm, I may see it too.
I’ve always had a thing for not-so-kidfriendly animation. Like where characters die. Call me morbid, but ya.
Haven’t seen many of the, but here are my rankings for the ones i have seen:
Over The Hedge- Ok i guess. one of the better ones.
Madagascar- Ugh. Hated this one.
Shrek- ok again, but i was in a waiting room and i wasn’t too interested.
Spirit- This one was really good, best out of all the ones i’ve seen.
Well, that’s actually all i’ve seen, maybe someday I’ll try another one.
Of the ones that I’ve seen (not ranked, btw):
Shrek 1 and 2: Screw the unofficial forum etiquette/rules and haters. I actually really like the first 2 films. The “overuse of popculture refs and farts” comments only really apply to ones past the 1st one, and even then I think that 2 used them pretty damn well. I still prefer the 1st film over the 2nd though. Human Shrek is also super mainly and sexy. :3
Shrek 3: Meh. Damn Artie. Felt like they didn’t even try.
Antz: Surprisingly enjoyable. I’ve always like the darker elements in this one. Everyone seems to like to rag on how the ants look, but they never really bothered me, tbh.Also, Chrisopher Walken is in this, and I’m inclined to like everything with him in it.
Kung Fu Panda: Very enjoyable and fun. Much more re-watchable than Wall-E, imo. raises flameshield
How to Train Your Dragon: Wow. Awesome in 3D. Plus, but Toothless and Hiccup are adorable. Much, much better than Sander’s last film, Lilo and Stitch. Disney overhyped that film sooooo much; Lilo and her sister we just annoying.
The Road to El Dorado: Again, I love the dark elements in this one. I also love aztec/mayan styled artwork. The 2 main characters also have wonderful chemistry with each other.
Sinbad: I’ve seen parts of in while it was on Cartoon Network. It’s not good, but it’s not bad. Just okay/mediocre. Better than Madagascar/Shrek 3.
Madagascar: Definitely the worst Dreamworks movie that I have seen, and maybe one of the worst animated films that I’ve seen (and I’ve seen the Felix the Cat movie). All the character are just unlikable and annoying, with maybe the exception of the penguins, but I don’t care for them at all. It might just be that I had to watch this in Spainish class with a bunch of kids that bullied me all the time, but I still say that this film sucks.
Edit: I forgot about the Aardman films:
Chicken Run and W&G: Curse of the WereRabbit: Both very enjoyable. I prefer W&G under 30 mintues or so though.
Flushed Away: Ugh. Did not enjoy this one at all. Very obnoxious, but not as much as Madagascar. I also hated the American Mice stereotypes that they tried to make out to be “funny.” Only Americans are good at making fun of themselves (see Team America), with the exception of LittleKuriboh’s Bandit Keith, but that’s probably because the original character was just horrily racist/stereotypical to begin with.
Okay, here are my favorites in order:
How to Train Your Dragon GREAT movie. Not quite Pixar level, but almost. I even cried at the end. And Toothless? Absolutely adorable. I thought this movie wouldn’t be that great, and I was shocked to learn otherwise. I couldn’t believe something this good came out of Dreamworks! Frankly, it’s the best film they’ve done since…
The Prince of Egypt…this one. Beautiful visuals, beautiful songs, beautiful music, always makes me cry and always strengthens my own faith.
Kung Fu Panda Very funny, and a great story. I was so glad it wasn’t full of spoofs. I wouldn’t have gotten any of them anyways; the only other martial arts film I’ve watched is Shanghai Noon.
Shrek 2 My favorite of the Shrek franchise, just for Puss and Boots alone. I do think the franchise has been run into the ground, but I am looking forward to the Puss in Boots movie.
Madagascar I really liked this one! In the theaters it made me laugh until I cried. I liked the lush colors and the zany Looney Tunes style. And how could you hate the scene stealing Penguins?
Shrek A very different twist on Beauty and the Beast, and I quite enjoyed it. It was very funny and had a great story (plus a princess that kicks butt). But it totally stole the Oscar from Monsters Inc.
Flushed Away A very funny little film. I quite enjoyed watching Roddy and Rita fight each other. And the Toad and Le Frog were funny.
Over the Hedge I’d never heard of the comic before, but I loved seeing it from the animals point of view. Hammy was hilarious, and I loved RJ’s explanation about how food works for humans.
Chicken Run Saw this in theaters when I was a kid, and liked it ever since.
The ones I don’t like:
Shrek The Third The potty humor is getting old. Has anyone besides me noticed that all of the Shrek movies are about people trying to take over the throne?
ANTZ a horrid Bug’s Life rip off. Bug’s Life is funnier, has cuter ants, is more lush and attractive looking, has a better story, and is just way, WAY better all around.
Madagascar 2 Loved the first one, but thought this one lacked the charm and humor the first one had. The Penguins weren’t even as funny, and they were the best part!
Shark Tale a horrid Finding Nemo rip off with shudder rap music. Ick, ick, ick. Plus a vegetarian shark. Gee, where have we seen that before?
Monsters Vs Aliens I was looking forward to this one, but was overall very disappointed. I couldn’t figure out why Susan was so interested in Derek, and was so irritated with her talking about him. I was like, ‘Geez woman, shutup about Derek already!!’ Plus, all of the other monsters were pretty much useless. It did have it’s funny moments, and I did love B.O.B. But he was still kind of useless.
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas The only good thing about this one was Eris. The animation for her was brilliant.
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Meh, boring. Great animation and visuals though. It just didn’t make me feel anything.
The Road to El Dorado Didn’t like the story, the songs, and didn’t care much for the characters. Lovely visuals, and El Dorado looked beautiful. Again, some funny moments, but not enough to make me like the film.
The ones I’ve never seen:
Bee Movie
Wallace and Gromit
Here’s hoping for Megamind. This one actually intrigues me, especially with the realese of this new trailer. I would love it if the bad guy stole the heart of the hero’s girl. Have we ever seen that before??
I don’t believe it does Aardman any justice as a unique animation studio with its own distinctive style and character just to lump them in with the rest of Dreamworks (particularly seeing as how their working relationship was a pretty short-lived one anyway) so I’m going to rank them on their own:
Now, Dreamworks Animation themselves. From what I’ve seen:
For me:
I haven’t seen Bee Movie and I haven’t seen all of Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.
These are the only ones I like.
I’m only listing the 3D ones, and not the 2D ones or the ones from Aardman (because those are usually good)-
Great:
1: How to Train Your Dragon
Good:
2: Shrek 2
3: Shrek
4: Over the Hedge
5: Kung Fu Panda
Average:
6: Bee Movie
7:Shrek Forever After
8: Madagascar
Bad:
9: Antz
10: Shark Tale
11: Monsters Vs Aliens
Worst of the Worst:
12: Madagascar 2
13: Shrek the Third
Megamind looks like it’ll be garbage, by the way…
I don’t count Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were- Rabbit, Chicken Run and Flushed Away as Dreamworks films. They’re more of an Aardman sort of thing. But, Aardman are my second favourite animation company and soar past DreamWorks.
Asterisks note which films I own on DVD. Eventually I’ll probably buy most, if not all, of Dreamworks’ films, but they will be purchased used for a low, lowwww price. I don’t know if I’d fork over $15 for most of these.
THE GOOD
Shrek*
How to Train Your Dragon
Kung Fu Panda*
Antz*
THE NOT HALF-BAD
Shrek 2*
Road to El Dorado*
Bee Movie* (though I’m biased as a Seinfeld fan)
Over the Hedge
Monsters Vs. Aliens
THE MEH
The Prince of Egypt (another movie I’m biased against because I have no interest in religion or this story)
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas*
THE OH GOD NO DON’T MAKE ME WATCH IT EVER AGAIN
Shrek Forever After
Shark Tale (Note: I just started watching this the other day and already have a rapidly growing list of complaints.)
Madagascar (Alright, alright. I don’t remember it very well, but I do remember not being too fond of it. Despite the title of this section, I am planning on watching it soon. )
Shrek the Third
And I am not including Aardman films in my rankings. They’d easily top it!