Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that Walt was not racist, or that his company wasn’t guilty of racist material in their films at any point. Perhaps my statement of ‘peculiar conspiracy theories’ would be more apt to describe the more sexual ones (“Good Teenagers take off their clothes”, the naughty-looking castle in the Little Mermaid poster, etc). As some of you have pointed out, there are indeed obviously racist overtones in his earlier films, and I won’t deny that. There are the obvious prejudiced instances like the Fantasia fawn, the crows in Dumbo, that line in Peter Pan, the Siamese twins in Lady and the Tramp, etc. Then there are the misguided ones with good intentions like The Three Callaberos, Uncle Remus, Sebastian the Crab, etc. Oh nuts, I promised not to elaborate here, didn’t I?
Anyway, my point is, I think Dreamworks should do okay. I agree with Czarine, nothing should be above commentary, even for humorous purposes (I should know, I spoof and parody things all the time 
).
My rule of thumb, though, is that it should be in good fun and not be demeaning. Some people will say this is subjective, but you’ll know it when you see it.
Example: Luigi from Cars speaking in an Italian accent and obsessing over Ferraris, a native brand from his country. Stereotypical, but acceptable.
Example: Mushu, a miniature Chinese dragon who strangely has an African-American accent. Kinda strange, but acceptable.
Example: Sunflower the centaur, who is obviously darker-skinned than all the other centaurs, has buck teeth and curled hair, and is the lusty hoof-polisher. Has negative implications, is demeaning, and in poor taste. Unacceptable.
Again, this is dependent on societal mores of the time. What would have been funny back then wouldn’t have been funny now, and vice-versa. We are much wiser now, and have a better idea of when jokes cross the line from being good-natured to downright insidious.
I am aware of that, but again, some modern Indians (who I assume have been Western-educated or have no ties to their original culture) might take offense. The cow is also a venerated animal there, but if I were an Indian who didn’t know better, I still wouldn’t like my race being represented by it, any more than a Western woman likes being called a dog (who is man’s best friend).
Dreamworks might have the best of intentions, and it’s not like they haven’t used animals to represent a different ethnicity before (again, Kung Fu Panda). But if monkeys are going to be the only animals in the film, and they are to represent Indian culture, then there are bound to be a few sensitive folks who will jump to conclusions (as I’ve mistakenly did) and kick up a fuss about it.
I have no problems whatsoever with Monkeys of Bollywood. I watched Roadside Romeo which had dogs as its entire cast and was partly-produced by an Indian animation company, and I throughly enjoyed it. But some easily-offended types might take issue with it.
So, if Disney was Racist, so were 90% of white people of his era. This is true, by today’s standards. But back then, it was like that. If you called them Racist, they’d call you a Communist.