Well, it is official. I completed the DreamWorks Review segment where I reviewed each and every single film in that canon. I remember starting this blog 5 and a half months ago on Jul 13th, 2013, and I was nervous as heck. I have met some great people thanks to this blog, and I have popped across some other blogs thanks to his blog. I am gonna reflect on where things changed for DreamWorks, how I felt when watching and reviewing these films, and my overall perception of the company.
I will first show my ranking of each film and see which one I think is the best and the worst.
UPDATED SINCE THIS POST WAS PUBLISHED.
- 1. Kung Fu Panda: 86%
- 2. Shrek 2: 84%
- 3. How to Train Your Dragon: 83%
- How to Train Your Dragon 2: 83%
- The Prince of Egypt: 83%
- 6. Kung Fu Panda 2: 82%
- 7. Shrek: 80%
- 8. Chicken Run: 79%
- 9. Megamind: 78%
- Kung Fu Panda 3: 78%
- 11. Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit: 78%
- 12. Puss in Boots: 76%
- Rise of the Guardians: 76%
- 14. Antz: 73%
- 15. The Croods: 71%
- 16. Monsters vs Aliens: 70%
- Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron: 70%
- Penguins of Madagascar: 70%
- Trolls: 70%
- 20. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: 69%
- 21. Flushed Away: 67%
- 22. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted: 66%
- Over the Hedge: 66%
- 24. Shrek Forever After: 64%
- The Road to El Dorado: 64%
- Mr. Peabody and Sherman: 64%
- Home: 64%
- 28. Madagascar: 61%
- 29. Shrek the Third: 59%
- 30. Turbo: 58%
- 31. Shark Tale: 56%
- 32. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas: 53%
- 33. Bee Movie: 49%
I know many will disagree over some of the spots, but here is my opinion, and I am sticking with it.
Anyways, I was actually very shocked with Antz and Prince of Egypt, which lifted up my spirits for this, but El Dorado reminded me of how bad these films can be. From about Shark Tale to Bee Movie, my spirits were down when I was reviewing mediocre-bad movie after mediocre-bad movie. Blogging is REALLY draining at times, but the accomplishment of finishing a review is brilliant. This was definitely a rollercoaster, and made me think in ways I never did beforehand.
I was thinking that they were very creative and took more adult risks in their earlier films, chances that WDAS would never take, but along the way, the creativity of the company went away. Since their first films were practically flops, they went with what was cool; CGI pop-culture films. Which worked for them ala Shrek and Shrek 2, but even still, they were will pretty adult and their humor was more adult. I blame Madagascar for the childish ways the company went to this day, and the formula which makes people hate DreamWorks.
I do not think DreamWorks is on top, since the good films from 2008-now is only Kung Fu Panda and it’s sequel, HTTYD, Megamind, and…..the rest are mediocre, and even the ones mentioned above are still worst than the Disney films released that time and Pixar.
My overall advice for DreamWorks is to cut it down with the pop-culture references, and the over marketing of celebrities. It is not really bringing that much more people to your movies, and the quality goes down when it comes to the story.
Jus to make this clear, this is NOT the end of AnimatedKid’s blog, but it is the end of the beginning. My next projects are to take on the WDAS films. I will be posting a post about the Best and Worst animated films in about a week. I will also be writing a review for every animated film released in 2014 and then I will combine it for the Best and Worst animated films of 2014. Thanks to the 3,700 people who read this blog. I’ll be back soon.
animatedkid 
I agree with your advice and more or less everything you said…but naturally not with the list. Excluding the Kung Fu Panda movies and Chicken Run (I want to see them at one point), for me it is Prince of Egypt, Rise of the Guardians, Spirit and How to train your dragon. The rest, aside from Shrek two and the Wallace and Gromit movie (which I don’t really consider DreamWorks), are forgettable at best.
Thanks for commenting. I also think DreamWorks is the reason why so many smaller companies copied the pop culture over story and character. I know the list is kind of different from most people’s list, but it is from quality, not favourites. A lot of them are definitely forgettable, at least they are done.
BTW, I just posted my review of Frozen.
And, again BTW: I just started my third blog (I am crazy): http://swanpride3.wordpress.com/
Congrats on finishing! It feels good to finish a movie project, doesn’t it? I totally agree with you that they need to cut out the pop culture references.
So are you saying that your list of favorite to least favorite Dreamworks Animations films are ALSO the list of the DA films that you’ve rater from highest to lowest? For example, I enjoyed watching “Pollyanna” for my Live Action Disney Film Blog, but in the end it only got like a 57% according to my scale.
I’m looking forward to your journey through the Disney Canon!
Yes, it feels REALLY great: I know how you felt when you finished your Forgotten/Minor Characters project. Actually, this list is by quality, though KFP is my favourites. No bias, I swear. Hope you had a great Christmas.
Wow! Your grading scale looks really tough! Or maybe you just don’t like DreamWorks (as you seemed to imply). I see your movie poster background includes many WDAS pictures. I’m wondering if these are your favorites, and if this means you like Disney more than Pixar. In any case, I look forward to your next project, which was essentially my first project. Good luck and congrats on finishing (I could never review that many DreamWorks films myself)!
Kevintae, happy new year. Actually, my grading is not that difficult. It is very easy for a film to move up about 8-12% from the music and animation (Road to El Dorado would have been as low as Sinbad if it was not for those two categories).
When I started this, I disliked DreamWorks A LOT, but I appreciate and like them a lot more, knowing that they are not THAT bad. It got really tiring reviewing these films after a while, and I considered stopping for a moment. It was draining.
I do like Pixar and Disney equally to be honest. Thanks for the support and good luck on your blog too.
My ratings for all of the DreamWorks Franchises starting.
The Shrek Franchise:
Shrek (2001): 9/10
Shrek 2 (2004): 9/10
Shrek The Third (2007): 7/10
Shrek Forever After (2010): 8/10
Overall review of the franchise: The first two had great humor and they still held up to this day even as a young adult, but the third film had a contrived story and uneven script, although most of the humor was funny. At least Shrek Forever After had a touching ending.
The Madagascar Franchise:
Madagascar (2005): 7/10
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008): 8/10
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012): 9/10
Overall review of the franchise: The original wasn’t the best if it wasn’t for it’s predictable, yet heart-wrenching story, but while Escape 2 Africa had much better character development, Europe’s Most Wanted was a lot more heartfelt and sentimental which makes it the best of the bunch. Can’t wait for the Penguins spinoff, although I’m not sure how Madagascar 4 would turn out.
The Kung Fu Panda Franchise:
Kung Fu Panda (2008): 9/10
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011): 9/10
Overall review of the franchise: Much like the first two Shrek films, these two films are some of DreamWorks Animation’s best films to date. They mixed comedy, action, and heart perfectly with a solid storyline and wonderful characters. Even Tai Lung and Lord Shen, the villains of the first two, made them worth it. Can’t wait for Kung Fu Panda 3! 🙂
The How To Train Your Dragon Franchise:
How To Train Your Dragon (2010): 10/10
Overall review of the franchise: OK, I know the sequel’s coming out in four more months, but it doesn’t help the fact that I still love it. Heck, even more so than Shrek and Kung Fu Panda. The story mixes the same clichés we’ve seen before and combines them into an epic one. It also takes it time to make me relate to the characters and it shows. They’re great. The animation is also great. And do I really have to say that the action sequences and the flight scenes are awesome?
The rest of the DreamWorks movies are pretty good, but only three of them disappointed me.
Three films:
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003): 6/10
Shark Tale (2004): 6/10
Bee Movie (2007): 6/10