Lets Talk About DreamWorks Ripoffs....

Pixar's Feature Films
#121

I don’t find that random at all, actually. The smug faces, I believe, reflect towards the movies - the characters, mainly the protagonists, (IMHO) act as “smug twerps”, something akin to someone “up oneself”, and that quite distracts me from the film. Not more of Shrek, but more Sharks Tale (greatest example) and Kung Fu Panda.

DW actually created this “smug”-esque look on purpose - it’s deliberate so they can pull out the adults who are hesitant to watch because it’s a kids’ movie into watching, because when adults look at those faces, they don’t see a kids film, they see slapstick comedy, which pulls in families. And Pixar doesn’t do that because they do that already without the smugness - it’s called a good storyline & dialouge!

And, yes, Disney_Guy, you could say you can make the same thing with Pixar. I’m not denying that. But the DW one has Promotional Material with the smug faces (which grinds my gears, because that backs up the fact that they’ve made the smugness deliberate, and this smugness just wrecks the whole film!). If you would want to create the same thing with Pixar characters, you’d need to use screencaps, because you’d find the smug faces only relate to the storyline, not the character.

And you’ve completely ignored the cartoon, the smug faces is only to emphasize that DW has no creativity, not so much the smug faces.

#122

Awesome point Phileas!

Edited. There’s no need to quote the entire post. – Mitch

#123

For some weird reason, I thought Madagascar 2 ripped off Lion King. [spoil]In both movies, Mufasa and Zuba are pride leaders, Simba and Alex are separated from their homelands, Simba and Alex end up back in their homelands, and Simba and Alex must do something courageous in order to become leaders. [/spoil]

That Makunga guy and Scar looked alike in a way.

#124

Altho this is a DW ‘ripoff’ thread, it’s interesting that you should mention Lion King, which itself admittedly (watch the film-making part of the dvd) heavily borrows from Joseph in the Bible and Hamlet. That was the admitted part, the real firestorm back then was over the shocking, and heavily news media covered, similarities to the great Japanese cartoon ‘Kimba, the White Lion’ with its wise simian and messenger avian (bird), Simba vs Kimba, dead parents, etc…

I was so pissed I refused to put down $7 for the movie, and only recently finally saw the entire 2-dvd set for a lousy 80 cent 5-day rental.

#125

Actually, a reversed version already exists. Just don’t have it on me.
After all, not all MS Paint comics from /co/ manage to find their way onto the rest of the internets.

#126

I don’t think Dreamworks Animation rips off Pixar but I do agree with most of you on their movies. Usually when I’m watching a Dreamworks picture I’ll laugh for the first 45 minutes, but because they are sqeezing in so much “humor” into it I get bored of the movie. Pixar takes time into their movies and add every detail into every scene where it matters. Dreamworks , on the other hand, release 2-3 movies per year, not caring about the plot and more about the money.

#127

Hey, I’m new here and since you guys are discussing about Dreamworks ripping off Pixar, I have a point to make.

Dreamworks may or may not ripped off Pixar. But they do ripped off of some other production company’s movie.

You guys may not have heard of KungFu Gecko. KFG was originally created by a Singaporean named Nickson Fong. He wanted to do something asian. Unfortunately, the small production house (Egg Story) revealed too much of the movie at a film festival. And the big guys at Dreamworks managed to rip it off and make KungFu Panda. The trailer for KFG was released waaaaay back in 2005. Since it’s not a big production company, they were still seeking funds for KFG.

KungFu Gecko Trailer
youtube.com/watch?v=5Uk3Wimyb4I

Blogpost on KungFu Gecko (read the comments)
cganimation.blogspot.com/2006/01 … gecko.html

Well, you guys be the judge.

#128

That’s just silly. Anyone who thinks dw ripped off this small studio is smokin’ something I want some of.

Kung Fu Panda was in the works long before this short. And while I’m no big dw fan, Kung Fu Panda was mildly amusing, and certainly looks FAR better than that crappy little short.

#129

I don’t like to cry “Rip-off” every single time there’s some teeny tiny similar things. Pixar has been accused of plagiarism many times and IMO those “original ideas” sometimes are worse than the idea in Pixar films, not mentioning the execution. You can rip off the design of a clown fish but how can you rip off from anywhere the whole story? You can rip off Doc Hollywood storyline but how can you rip off that many design and art development for Cars? How many stories about rats or mice and how many stories about kitchen? Johnny 5 and ET? The execution is important, not a single idea. Everybody has ideas but few of them can turn out good products.

Likewise, I don’t like to accuse DreamWorks of ripping off anything. You can rip off the martial art story, the “Kung Fu something” title, even the idea of a fat panda. But you still have to pour years of storyboarding and designing and planning and animating the 90-minute film and that whole process can’t rip off from anywhere. It’s not like Lion King vs. Jungle Emperor, or Antz rushed to beat ABL and even with them the stories differed a lot.

A lot of things in DWA films are not the best quality, blatant rehashed story and reference is one of them, but to accuse them time over time that they rip off Pixar or laugh over their characters’ faces is grating and make Pixar fans look just bad.

From the blog of Jim Capobianco:

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to. —Jim Jarmusch

I’ve seen people call Up “blatant rip-off” of Danny Deckchair, Edith Macefield, 21 Balloons and what not. And they haven’t even seen the film.

#130

This is a great quote. Authenticity is the key, and what really connects with people. Isn’t that what Shakespeare did? Make stories relatable and fresh and new in his time? It’s not like he invented everything.

#131

Since I doodle in class, I made this list (kind of based of thedriveintheater’s video, Pixar vs. Dreamworks).

Dreamworks Ripoffs list:
B.O.B. (Monsters vs. Aliens)= Mike Wazowski. One eye, a monster, and one eye.
Barry (Bee Movie) and Z (Antz)= A Bug’s Life. The Bee Movie came out after ABL, and Antz came out around the same time. But still…!!
Oscar (Shark Tale)= Finding Nemo. Um, he’s a fish. Came out after FN.

Next thing you know they’ll have living clothes or something that come to life when their kids aren’t in the room! >: ^P

#132

BURN-E: I can see how the first one’s a ripoff, but the last one, I disagree. The same species, yes, but TOTALLY different story, TOTALLY different characters and character traits. If just the characters being the same species or kind is a ripoff, then Cars is a ripoff of Herbie: Fully Loaded, and Ratatouille is a ripoff of Dumbo just because a rodent sits in a hat. Which they aren’t, so you see my point?

#133

Sheesh, bright dot-dasher, italicize much? But yes, you’re right about that last part of my list. If there was to be an actual Pixar vs. Dreamworks smack-down fight, then FN and ST would most likely be pitted against each other. That would actually be cool… WWE PIXAR VS. DREAMWORKS SMACK-DOWN!!! THE BIGGEST FIGHT AGAINST THE BIGGEST RIVALS!!! WHO WILL WIN!!! STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT!!! But now, a word from our sponsors…

#134

8D 8D 8D 8D 8D 8D 8D

#135

I like Dreamworks but not as much as Pixar. I mean, Shrek 4 is coming out this year. They made 3 more Shrek movies before the 1st one tuned 10. They also plan to have a Madagasgar 3 by 2012 and a movie about Puss in Boots, which may be good.

#136

I’ve learned to like both Pixar and Dreamworks. I mean, come on. If you spend forever comparing the two and building up such a hatred for anything non-Pixar, you can’t enjoy the films for what they are. Who cares if they ripped off movies? Originality is hard to come by, as everything has been done before in one way or another. If you just watch whatever film interests you and like it for what it is, you save yourself a lot of unneeded negativity.

I love Pixar, but I can say negative things about it too.

Pixar repeats their stories, over and over. They just change it a little. It’s always about a character who has some sort of problem, and winds up in some other area and meets new characters and solves said problem. Think about it. :stuck_out_tongue: Sure, they add a lot of things to each story to make it unique, but the basic skeleton of the entire plot is always pretty much the same.

Toy Story : Character leaves house to wind up in another house, meets a bunch of characters, winds up back home eventually.

A Bug’s Life: Character leaves home to go to the city, meets a bunch of characters and comes back.

Monsters, Inc. : Character has to deal with a character who left original home and they have to get that character back home. Sorta reverse, but you get what I mean.

Finding Nemo: Character leaves ocean to wind up in fish tank, meets a bunch of characters, winds up back in the ocean.

The Incredibles: Character leaves home to wind up trapped on an island, winds up back home in the end.

Ratatouille: Character leaves sewer to work and live in human world, winds up living back in the sewers (sure he comes back to work La Ratatouille but he still lives with his father and brother!)

UP: Character flies off to a mysterious jungle land, meets a bunch of characters and winds up back home.

WALL-E: Character leaves earth and eventually comes back.

Cars: Character leaves big-city life (unintentionally) and winds up stranded in a place he’s never been to, meets a ton of characters, and finally goes back (sorta … doesn’t he?)

Sure, when you think about it, it’s a common storyline used in many films, but why can’t the character work things out in their own world instead of venturing to somewhere they hadn’t been before? Granted, that’s not very interesting, but still! I hate seeing constant similarities, even though they are well hidden (sorta)

#137

I’m not normally a big fan of Dreamworks–the first two Shreks are about it for me–but after the rave reviews for How to Train Your Dragon, I couldn’t resist not going. And so I did, and saw it in 3-D.
All I can say is Dreamworks did not rip-off Pixar in anyway. The movie was fantastic, a definite new best for Dreamworks. Perhaps it was because they based it off a book instead of their own story, which probably wouldn’t allow Pixar copying anyway. Or maybe it’s a sign they’re turning around!

#138

:confused: I’m surprised that this thread is still AROUND. Oh, back in the days when I was young and innocent (not to mention kind of dumb…)

FONY: While your point stands, if you think about it, 75% of stories in the world are kind of like that.

#139

Pixar is soooooo much better then DreamWorks. I’ve seen 2 and parts of 2 more dreamworks movies, but they weren’t very interesting
Over the Hedge: It was all right i guess, still not very great, but i have to say it was the best one i saw.
Madagascar: This one was pretty bad. right now i’ll say it was the worst one i saw. Those lemurs singing were driving me nuts! And the give the penguins all the attention when they aren’t really big characters in the movie!
Shrek: Ok, I only saw half of it in a doctor’s office, but anyway, I didn’t get it. I was very confused.
Antz: Only saw about 15 minutes of it when i was pretty young, I thought it was a bug’s life, because of the title and the stars of the movie were ants. Then i realized, the Bug’s Life ants are a blueish purple! After realizing that, i grew very bored and changed the channel.

#140

For my money, Pixar scores above Dreamworks because the stories are cleverer, the characters more developed, the situations better observed, the humour more mature (and funnier) and the tender moments more poignant- a definate bonus as an adult watching. Plus the Pixar shorts add a new dimension that elevate the genre beyond mere entertainment to an art form. In short- Pixar is genius.

Having said that, Dreamworks are showing signs of closing the (previously enormous) gap. Kung Fu Panda is so good I’m convinced it’s actually a stolen Pixar film, ditto for the excellent How to train your Dragon. However trash like Shark Tale and Bee Movie has never sullied (no pun intended) Pixar’s almost blemish-free portfolio. And the Toy Stories have not outstayed their welcome like the Shrek series has. So another point for Pixar for consistency.

There’s definately room for both studios however, and there is no evidence that DW have ripped off Pixar :slight_smile: