At DreamWorks, The Dream Works

DreamWorks Animation Studios is a name and a company that will likely garner mixed responses. Its films are often accused of being cheesier, cheaper and more rushed; it’s always playing second fiddle to Pixar. Then again, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Pixar is the greatest animation studio of the past few decades; it took over when Disney faltered, as the crème de la crème of animation. Narrowly following this is a hard act, yet one DreamWorks seems to have managed over the years, with improvements hitting us all the time.

Also, let us not forget that DreamWorks were awarded the very first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature back in 2001, for Shrek, which still remains one of their finest films, trumping Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. in the process – not an easy feat.

So, how did DreamWorks get this reputation for being a far cruder, far less emotionally poignant, wannabe version of Pixar? To be honest, I don’t think they have this reputation anymore, but the main reason is likely the way they rush a lot of their films, in the past anyway. There are a few DreamWorks films that I love on par with any other film – Pixar, animated or otherwise –, those being Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda 2; they were witty, smart, funny and, more importantly, genuinely touching and heart warming. However, we also have a series of, maybe not great, but solidly fun and entertaining films, such as Monsters vs. Aliens and Megamind. The problem, however, with their reputation lies in the large portion of their films that are just mediocre filler.

A lot of the DreamWorks canon is unmemorable, dull, crude or just plain pointless; Bee Movie, Shark Tale, Over the Hedge and Shrek the Third are four films that I just consider plain bad, they were cringe worthily terrible, the characters felt unformed, the scripts felt unfinished and the animation looked unpolished. Similarly, films like Madagascar and Shrek 4 felt like they had potential and, while they were fun, they felt like DreamWorks, in their desire to make money, had rushed the production, loaded them full of stupid pop-culture gags and references and crude “edgy” humour.

The effect on the studio of its CEO, former Disney head honcho, Jeffrey Katzenberg, usually provides some form of consternation for animation aficionados. Katzenberg has a reputation for being unreasonable and micromanaging, insisting on 'edge', and making it difficult to make a resonant, warm film. However, let us not forget that he is one of the largest factors behind the Disney Renaissance, without which, Disney may not be what it is today still, it may have not been able to buy Pixar and the entire landscape of animation history would be different. Jeff Katzenberg is an animation visionary and without him, DreamWorks wouldn't be what it is, for good and bad; yes we can attribute blame to him, but we must also attribute rapturuous acclaim.

But, there is no arguing, DreamWorks is a fantastic studio. Specifically in recent years, the studio has been, more and more, refining their films, fine tuning the story and its characters and focusing on genuine emotions, and it shows. Over the last two years, DreamWorks have released two of my favourite animated films of all time: How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda 2. Both were definitely ‘Pixar quality’, and can easily be considered some of the best films in recent memory. The studio is riding a curve upwards at the moment, they are on a major roll, Puss in Boots (review up this weekend) is supposed to be a pretty solid and entertaining film from the studio, and films like The Croods sound like they’ll be a great way to keep the current tradition going.

DreamWorks produce, more so now than ever, warm, touching, very funny and witty animated films that the whole family can truly enjoy. They are the second best animation studio around, and, particularly after the last couple of years, it should be very proud of that.

DreamWorks Animation - Highlight Reel

A couple of days ago DreamWorks Animation uploaded a new video (above) onto their YouTube account; a highlight reel of some of their best and most recognisable films.

The video showcases some of the studio's finest moments, really adding a sense of accomplishment and amazement to the famed studio.

However, I am somewhat confused by the exclusion of most of the DreamWorks canon, the video focuses only on the Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon and Madagascar films, omitting recent films such as Megamind and Monsters Vs. Aliens as well as some of their older films such as Antz or Shark Tale. I suppose DreamWorks could just be showcasing their highest points (although Madagascar has never particularly been a critical hit), it just seems weird.

Nonetheless, the video really does capture the studio's claim to being one of the best animation studios in the world.

New Puss in Boots Clip: "He's So Legendary"

Yesterday, DreamWorks released a new clip (above) from their upcoming Shrek spin-off, Puss in Boots. The film, centring around "the most interesting cat in the world", is due out in cinemas on November 4 in the US and on December 9 over here in the U.K. and this new clip shares with us some of Puss's achievements, basically telling us how he's the feline Chuck Norris.

Although I was sceptical about another Shrek film -  even if it is a spin-off - after the dip-in quality from Shrek 1 and 2, I must admit, I'm very excited for Puss in Boots. Also, there's no arguing that there has been a huge increase in DreamWorks' quality of animated film in the past couple of years, with them spawning two of my favourite animated films of all time, How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda 2; not forgetting that Shrek 4 was decent enough and Megamind was really fun.

With all this in mind, I have high hopes for Puss in Boots and this great video has me even more excited!

Red Carpet Time

It's awards season...

As such, today was the 1st Annual A113Animation Awards Ceremony. A wide range of awards covered all bases in terms of animated films for the past year, it has been a great year for animation, with many good films and a few great ones. However, ultimately, there can be only one winner of the biggest prize we have to offer...

The A113Animation Award for Best Animated Film of 2010 went to...

Toy Story 3!

This really shouldn't come as too big a surprise, Toy Story 3, was a fantastic film, topping nearly every other film this year in terms of depth, originality and genius. However, of note is the huge amount of rethinking that occurred as a result of How to Train Your Dragon; there have been a lot of good animated films this year, like Despicable Me and Megamind, however I was genuinely pleased to find another great film this year, in the form of HTTYD. I really believe that this is DreamWorks' strongest offering since Shrek and it joins Shrek and Kung Fu Panda, as DreamWorks' claim to creating some of the best animated films around. However, it just couldn't topple Toy Story 3, thusly it claims the Oh So Close Award. Pixar continue to impress year by year, but it is a good sign for DreamWorks that they are heading in the right direction - despite 13-18 announced sequels.

Also of note is that, in terms of the People's Choice Award, up until Christmas Eve, Despicable Me was winning. However Despicable Me claims several awards nevertheless: The Breakout Film award, as this film really put newbies Illumination Entertainment on the map, they also claim the Best New Side Character(s) award for the ever adorable Minions.

Here is a breakdown of the awards by film:

• Toy Story 3 - 4
• How to Train Your Dragon - 3
• Despicable Me - 2
• Megamind - 0
• Shrek Forever After - 0

I encourage you to check out the full awards page and to leave your thoughts and personal picks in this posts' comment section. On a side note, my favourite non-animated film of the year was Inception.

Megamind vs. Despicable Me

Having just been to see DreamWorks latest animation Megamind, I thought that given the glaring similarities between it and Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me, it was a good idea to do a comparison.

*Warning* Spoiler Alert

If you're unfamiliar with the films, both Despicable Me and Megamind are films about Super-Villains, both of whom aren't the most successful villains in the world, that eventually, for the good of those they care about, see the light and become the "good guys", in the process defeating the greater evil.

In Despicable Me (the first feature from Chris Meledandri's Illumination Entertainment) the main character, Gru, changes his ways to become a father to 3 orphaned girls (not dissimilar to The Pacifier). Whereas, in Megamind, the main character (Megamind) falls in love with the stereotypical Lois Lane rip off, Roxanne Ritchie (even down to the alliterative name) and rises up against a super-powered monster, of his creation, becoming the good guy in the process.

Personally I prefer Despicable Me's reasoning, it's more emotional and just a bit deeper, whereas Megamind's story feels like it's been done before.

Another area of note is the voice acting, in Despicable Me, it's hard to tell who anyone is, Gru does not sound like Steve Carell, Dr. Nefario doesn't sound like Russell Brand and Vector doesn't sound like Jason Segel, the characters are interesting and original. However, in Megamind, whilst all of the characters are really funny (I particularly liked Minion), you can instantly tell who's who, Will Ferrell is instantly recognisable as Megamind etc..., however he still turns in a great performance.

But, overall, I preferred the characters in Despicable Me, they just felt more original, however the side characters in both films were some of their best qualities, the Minions in Despicable Me and Minion in Megamind (notice a similarity there?).

When I first heard about both of these films, I thought three simple words... Incredibles, Rip, Off... But I was really happy to be wrong; whilst neither film had the depth or originality of Pixar's 2004 classic, both were really entertaining and had far more depth than I expected. Both films, really brought something new to the table, both with a funny and interesting ensemble of characters.

All in all, I preferred Despicable Me for its originality and the extra subtlety it showed in its voice cast compared to Megamind, however I was really impressed with both films and enjoyed them both really much.

How is Megamind Doing?

DreamWorks Animation's latest feature film, Megamind, was released in the U.S. earlier this month, the film has done very reasonably for itself. Megamind currently holds a 68% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (80% from the Top Critics) and has raked in $136,300,429, bearing in mind it hasn't opened everywhere yet, that's pretty good. It holds the fourth highest opening weekend for an animated film of 2010, behind Toy Story 3, Shrek Forever After and Despicable Me.
Not bad at all.

Update

Megamind's total gross revenue worldwide was $311,656,309, not ground breaking but not to be sniffed at. In comparison, Illumination Entertainment's similarly themed super villain film, Despicable Me, grossed $541,897,970 worldwide. Also, Megamind's final RT score was 72% (78% from Top Critics).