Dreamworks Animated "Classics"

[BambiFan87]

does anyone like those films. like Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, SinBad, Spirit, Antz, Chicken Run, and others...just wondering because I bought them all finally at Costco for like 8 bucks each and I wanted to see what everyone else thought of them.

[numba1lostboy]

does anyone like those films. like Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, SinBad, Spirit, Antz, Chicken Run, and others...just wondering because I bought them all finally at Costco for like 8 bucks each and I wanted to see what everyone else thought of them.

Prince Of Egypt- I LOVE this film. Epic in all forms. The music, cast, and animation is all stunning. Would definitely double-dip for this.

El Dorado- Not nearly as epic as PoE, still a good movie, IMO. Would not double-dip.

Sinbad- Pretty good. Again, a great voice cast. The storyline was interesting and engaging, but I though the end was a little anti-climatic. Would maybe double-dip.

Spirit- In terms of animation, this film is wondrous. I know it's a bit shallow, but I would have enjoyed this film much more if the animals would've had voices.

Antz- I hate this film with a fiery passion of a thousand suns. It was just strange.

Chicken Run- Hilarious film!

Other DW movies you didn't mention:

Shrek 1 and 2- I love these films! I have the 2-disc of Shrek and really wish DW had released a 2-disc of Shrek 2.

Shark Tale- Pure crap. It wasn't funny and I couldn't feel for the characters.

Madagascar- Purer crap. I didn't like the animation style and again, it wasn't funny.

[gardener14]

I would dare to say that The Prince of Egypt is the greatest modern animated movie. It certainly is underappreciated if nothing else, and Stephen Schwartz's songs are amazing. The scene which incorporates the song "When You Believe" is simply the most incredible scene of any animated movie ever...it's truly moving.

[Mr. Toad]

Prince of Egypt - agree with the lost boy. Great great movie. Thouroughly enjoyed it.

Joseph - again wonderful. Great telling of a great story.

Road to Eldorado - Slightly above average movie. Had its moments, nice animation, but had its story problems too.

Sinbad-How do you make Sinbad boring? Dreamworks found a way.

Spirit - sucked. Shocking violence towards animals in it. I know they were trying to make somebody a bad guy, but the way they did it made the movie completely inappropriate for children.

Antz- totally pales to a Bugs Life. Dont even bother.

Chicken Run - that is one funny, funny movie from some funny, funny people

Shrek 1 - Fantastic, hilarious sendup. Massive thumbs up.

Shrek 2 - Certainly pales to the original but still worth a watch or two.

Shark Tale - awful.

Madagascar - midly entertaining at points. Painful at others. Certainly not as bad as Shark Tale but still bad.

In summary, they have gone downhill since they started. I quite liked their early stuff outside of Antz, but recently outside of Shrek, nothing worth watching.

[numba1lostboy]

Prince of Egypt - agree with the lost boy. Great great movie. Thouroughly enjoyed it.

Joseph - again wonderful. Great telling of a great story.

Road to Eldorado - Slightly above average movie. Had its moments, nice animation, but had its story problems too.

Sinbad-How do you make Sinbad boring? Dreamworks found a way.

Spirit - sucked. Shocking violence towards animals in it. I know they were trying to make somebody a bad guy, but the way they did it made the movie completely inappropriate for children.

Antz- totally pales to a Bugs Life. Dont even bother.

Chicken Run - that is one funny, funny movie from some funny, funny people

Shrek 1 - Fantastic, hilarious sendup. Massive thumbs up.

Shrek 2 - Certainly pales to the original but still worth a watch or two.

Shark Tale - awful.

Madagascar - midly entertaining at points. Painful at others. Certainly not as bad as Shark Tale but still bad.

In summary, they have gone downhill since they started. I quite liked their early stuff outside of Antz, but recently outside of Shrek, nothing worth watching.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like Shark Tale and Madagascar! Everyone I know loves those movies. Ugh.

And I forgot about Joseph: King Of Dreams. That one was good too. It only got a DTV release, but still worth it. DW had originally planned that PoE and JKoD were part of a trilogy of Bible stories that shape Jewish History. But, as far as I know, a third film was never released...

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

Just to set things straight, Dreamworks, unlike Disney, doesn't advertise their films as "animated classics" and... oh wait, I think that arguement should be put to rest.

Anyways, going to this debate, Over the Hedge is by far the best of their films(excluding Aardman). It has wonderful characters, jokes, animation, music and general feel to it make it MUCH better than at least half of the Pixar films(including the 1-dimensional character development filled "Cars").

Madagascar, Prince of Egypt and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron are also 3 of their highlights imho. They are flawed no doubt, but I thought all were good in several different ways and were entertaining films.

The Road to El Dorado: Meh, it was amusing and cool in parts, but felt like half a movie almost.

Shrek 1 and 2: You either love it or hate it. I hate it. Just seeing the sequel at the top of box office charts makes my head shake as it was just full of lame pop-culture references and totally unfunny jokes, pure garbage imo. And the first was funny the first time, but I don't think it deserves half the success it got. The more you watch, the worst it is.

Antz, Sinbad and Shark Tale are without a doubt three of the biggest waste of times I've ever had. Unless you've done something you're not proud of, don't bother.

But, just to clear things up: Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromt: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit are made by Aardman, NOT Dreamworks, and by far, blow every movie Dreamworks has made. Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about "Flushed Away", which had it's moments, but in the end, felt too clutered with jokes and not enough heart. I enjoyed several parts of it, and thought it was "okay", but I think I prefer a few of Dreamworks' animated films to FA. I hope their next(and first film without Dreamworks) is much better and on the league with their first two.

[reyquila]

does anyone like those films. like Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, SinBad, Spirit, Antz, Chicken Run, and others...just wondering because I bought them all finally at Costco for like 8 bucks each and I wanted to see what everyone else thought of them.

Have' em all. Like'em all.

[slave2moonlight]

does anyone like those films. like Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, SinBad, Spirit, Antz, Chicken Run, and others...just wondering because I bought them all finally at Costco for like 8 bucks each and I wanted to see what everyone else thought of them.

Love Road to El Dorado and Prince of Egypt.

Haven't had a chance to really watch Sinbad. Saw it on an airplane, but I think I was only half paying attention. Don't remember how good it was at all.

I remember Spirit being great, but the music feeling inappropriate.

Antz was lame in comparison to A Bug's Life, and it was a hard comparison not to make.

Chicken Run is fantastic!

Shrek was good, but overrated and it especially shouldn't have beat PIXAR for the Oscar. Shrek 2 was much better than the original, as I recall.

I really liked Madagascar, but I Shark Tale didn't even appeal to me. Should have checked it out during one of its TV airings, but I just didn't feel like watching it.

Of the films discussed, I so far own DVDs of Chicken Run, Road to El Dorado, and Shrek. I have Prince of Egypt on VHS, and I USED to have Antz, but not sure if I sold it when I was clearing out as many VHS tapes as I could bare to part with a while ago. Still have way too many VHS tapes though. I WILL eventually get Antz again on DVD, because it was okay. And, of course, I need the others I said I liked.

[kbehm29]

I remember Spirit being great, but the music feeling inappropriate.

I think the music of Spirit is one of it's huge attributes. I get chills just thinking about it - it's part of what made the movie a success, imo.

I also think the fact that the horses didn't talk made it very unique.

[ichabod]

Prince of Egypt: Fantastic movie on an epic scale, would be a masterpiece, but unfortunately it suffers from the same ailment as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, there's a crap out of place song right in the middle.

Joseph: Bored me too tears.

Road to Eldorado - Had it's moments, but it just feels too desperate.

Sinbad: I wouldn't say it was an atroscity, but it's nothing special whatsoever.

Spirit: My favourite of all of Dreamworks films. Beuatiful animation and music. I love the fact there is so little dialogue in places, goes against most modern animation that feels there is a necessity to have someone constantly yapping. It's happy, it's sad, it's tragic, it's cruel. I'm glad it's a film that showed some guts and cruelty rather than being sugar coated.

Antz: Not terrible, but nothing special.

Shrek 1: Middle of the road, could take it or leave it.

Shrek 2: In my opinion the worst thing to happen to animation period.

Shark Tale: This really gets my goat. Because here was a film which could have been something really special, a modern day parable about breaking free from the crowd, standing out being different and acceptance. And yet it just came off as a crass Shrek wannabe with nothing going for it at all.

Madagascar: Book me in to have a yak inserted up my arse than watch this again, the pits!

[Jules]

Have' em all. Like'em all.

What an infomative and intelligent statement.

[Escapay]

Have' em all. Like'em all.

What an infomative and intelligent statement.

Yes, indeed it is. I guess the fact that we type very well means that we should expect more, but of course, we won't get any more.

Anyway, I haven't responded to this one yet...

Antz - when both Antz and A Bug's Life came to theatres, my dad took us (original NJ trilogy) to see one of them, our choice. We picked Antz, because it looked funnier. Since then, I haven't seen the movie since, though I've see A Bug's Life countless times. But I remember Antz fondly, and will likely pick it up one of these days.

The Prince of Egypt - I bought this for Kram in Florida, and watched a bit of it before it was his. It's a pretty good flick, though I'd need to watch it again to make a better assessment.

The Road to El Dorado - I really liked this film the first time I saw it, but after more viewings, seem to enjoy it as a whole less and less, and only find parts of it funny now.

Shrek - the first was okay, but I don't care for the movie at all. Haven't watched my DVD of it in years, and never got around to selling it anywhere. The second I avoided, but Kram has it on DVD. Doubt I'll ever watch it, since I really don't care much for the series.

Aardman films - Loved Wallace & Gromit. As is evident by my avatar. Have to see Chicken Run, and plan on seeing Flushed Away.

Other than those, I haven't seen any of the other Dreamworks animated films.

Escapay

[slave2moonlight]

Saw Wallace and Gromit (Wererabbit) on TV recently and really liked it. I'll get it eventually. I love the Aardman stuff. I even have some of those Chevron toy cars from those old commercials (They used to sell them at the gas stations). I have a DVD of Aardman shorts, the main one on it being Creature Comforts (didn't they make a series out of that or something?).

[Jules]

Antz - when both Antz and A Bug's Life came to theatres, my dad took us (original NJ trilogy) to see one of them, our choice. We picked Antz, because it looked funnier. Since then, I haven't seen the movie since, though I've see A Bug's Life countless times. But I remember Antz fondly, and will likely pick it up one of these days.

Heh. I saw A Bug's Life first. I was 8 or 9 years old. A friend of mine had a birthday party and I was invited. Later his mother took is all to watch it in a theatre. I later saw Antz on home video. I was impressed by both. However, it's been so long that I watched Antz (on VHS) that I can't really assess it. However, I think I might actually enjoy A Bug's Life a bit more. One scene in the latter that really impressed me was (SPOILERS!) when at the end of the movie, the ants hold a firework display from the corn and vegetables. (SPOILERS END!) I remember thinking how a little imagination can go a long way.

The Prince of Egypt - I first saw that in a theatre and enjoyed it very much. I later saw it on VHS. However, it's been so long, that there's no way I can judge the movie fairly.

Road to El Dorado - I saw this recently on DVD, and although I enjoyed it, I wasn't impressed. In the bonus features, Elton John kept going on how about he wanted to create a musical epic like The Lion King. Two words: he failed. I think El Dorado's music is the most instantly forgettable musical composition ever created for an animated film. It pales next to Elton John's Lion King music, not to mention Alan Menken's Disney projects. I also found the film to be weak on plot, but it had some good gags. I felt the villian was rather naively cobbled together, and not as sophisticated as something from Disney. The animation was very good, though maybe not quite as polished as WDFA.

Shrek & Shrek 2: Liked both movies a lot. However, I don't think they deserved half the acclaim they received. Strangely, I barely noticed any Disney knockings. They're just light-hearted comedy fun.

Sinbad: Very impressed. Had some top-notch animation and an engaging story line. However, I still prefer Disney's Treasure Planet.

Spirit: Made my jaw drop with its stunningly gorgeous animation. I'd rank this movie as one of the prime examples of the beauty of animation along with Sinbad, Disney's Treasure Planet and Disney's Atlantis. However, the rest of the movie was only just "pretty good". It was exciting at parts. However, I don't want to see it again, because the movie on the whole just clouds me with a depressive feeling. I think it's the setting of the story that I dislike.

Wallace and Gromit: Enjoyed it very much and was really impressed with the stop-motion animation. Definately a worthy candidate for the best animated film Oscar (even though I think it should have gone to Howl's Moving Castle). I was disappointed in just one area though. The critics' reviews made out this movie to be side-splittingly funny. Though I did laugh occassionally, it never brought me to the state of needing hospitalization, like The Emperor's New Groove did. The latter holds the record for the funniest movie I've ever seen, along with Rat Race. However, unlike Rat Race, TENG has more replay value. The gags just never get old, unlike RR, where I'm virtually sick of seeing it.

Madagascar: "OK" movie. Just passable. Entertained me for 90 minutes, even if I found it unfunny (save for some moments), and very weak on plot. Nothing to roar/bray/*insert giraffe sound here*/*insert hippo sound here* about.

[Siren]

Prince of Egypt...BEAUTIFUL MOVIE! Love the music and great voice cast

Road to ElDorado....It was okay. It had its moments, but not anywhere close to a favorite.

Spirit....one of my favorite animated movies of all time. It was about time that the animals didn't speak (besides some "well duh" narration from Matt Damon that wasn't neccassary at all). Animation was so captivating on this movie, it was like a moving tapestry.

Antz....saw it once, never wish to go through that torture again

Chicken Run...never saw it

Shrek 1....fantastic movie! Funny, great story (like a reverse Beauty and the Beast), and wonderful cast

Shrek 2....nearly as good as the first....VERY close to be as good, IMO

Shark Tale....bites the big one (pun intended)

Madagascar....this movie looked SO rushed. You could tell they wanted to beat Disney before they released The Wild. They try to say it was stylized, but it just looks sloppy. The story and humor was not very good either. Extreemly predictable, to the point where when you watch it the first time, you feel like you've seen it 100 times already

[MickeyMousePal]

The Prince of Egypt- One of the best Animated family film from Dreamworks has a very power cast and very powerful songs.

Road to El Dorado - Here's is another example of a well though movie and well written song lyrics by Sir Elton John.

Shrek & Shrek 2- Great films but didn't need all that hype that they got.

Sinbad- Great movie and very well drawn characters.

Spirit- Here's is another great animal film reminds me of Bambi very much...songs by Bryan Adam are great.

Wallace and Gromit- Great comedy movie and it took a long time to make.

Madagascar- This was very horrible and very sad that The Wild was the same too. Only positive is the song I like to move it...

Chicken Run- Great film with a power lead cast...Mel Gibson...very well thought movie.

SharkTales: On of the worst Dreamworks films ever!!!!

[kbehm29]

The Prince of Egypt - Sadly, I have never seen this movie. It is on my DVD wishlist. I hope they re-release it to give me an immediate excuse to buy it, because honestly - I have no idea if I'll EVER get to all the DVD's that are on my huge wishlist.

Road to El Dorado - I remember seeing it, and I remember it being 'pretty good'.

Shrek - LOVED it. Had zero expectation coming into it, and wound up being blown away. Have seen it with my kids maybe 1,000 times!

Shrek 2 - Enjoyed it, but nowhere near as much as the first one.

Sinbad - Never seen it as well.

Spirit - Best out of the bunch. The music takes this movie to a higher level. The animation is gorgeous.

Wallace and Gromit - I own this DVD, and have seen 'parts' of it - but I have no interest in this movie what-so-ever.

Madagascar - I sorta liked it at the time it came out, but this movie is forgettable and not really as funny as it tries to be...especially for repeat viewings. My kids like to watch it for the "I like to move it move it" song.

Chicken Run - Another one I've never seen, and have absolutely no interest in seeing. I know that I shouldn't have that attitude, because you can end up missing out on a really great movie....but how do you obtain interest in something?

Shark Tale: Terrible. Could have been great, but lacks in every aspect of the entire movie.

Antz: Never seen it. I own the DVD, and have never gotten around to watching it. I need to watch it soon. I keep putting it off.

Over the Hedge: Just OK. Pales in comparison to say...Cars. It's decent entertainment, but could never be "near and dear to my heart" like most of the Disney movies are.

I guess in the grand scheme of things, I'm much more of a Disney fan than Dreamworks. I really loved Spirit and Shrek, though.

[Wonderlicious]

I'm not sure if I would call Dreamworks' animated films as a group classics. They've all been produced within the past 10 years, and only a few have really become iconic or critics' darlings. Disney's animated features (as in the ones which both the company and fans call as a group "animated classics", excluding The Wild ) are a bit different. A lot of them are over twenty years old, and a good number of the newer ones (as in made within the last twenty years or so) are iconic and/or critics' darlings. Needless to say, here's my mini-reviews for the Dreamworks films that I've seen:

The Prince of Egypt: Wonderful. Along with Spirited Away, this my favourite non-Disney/non-Pixar animated film (I don't consider Studio-Ghibli films Disney films, for the record).
10/10

Antz: I haven't seen this in ages, but it felt a bit too-new age and subsequently...a bit unsettling. I'll stick with the superior A Bug's Life.
6/10

The Road to El Dorado: I only saw the last 20 minutes of this, but it looked okay, despite some awquard clashes with CGI and traditional animation. No rating here as I've not seen it all the way through.

Shrek: This is going to horrify some, but when this was released, this was my favourite film and along with Chicago, the only film since the end of my first living decade that I saw more than once in a cinema. Over time, it's definetely lost the status as my favourite film, and I haven't seen it in a while, but even though it had lost the status as my favourite film the last time that I saw it, I still liked it very much, and I predict that if I saw it again, I'd like it.
8.5/10

Shrek 2: I loved this film in 2004, yet when I watched it again recently, and I wasn't that impressed, to tell the truth, feeling that it was more a cash-in than a follow-up. Whereas the first Shrek was lots of twisted fun yet had a genuinely warm story, the sequel seems to elevate the twisted fun to the point where it sometimes gets too high and strings it together with a bit of a generic story. The humour here relies more on parodies of modern things than sendup on classic story conventions as opposed to the other way round (like the original). And whilst the Lord Farquad/Duloc subplot of the first film provided understandable satire on the sometimes daft nature of Disney management, a lot of the Disney digs in the sequel seemed pointless and cocky in nature, especially since most Disney films are better than this title. And the modern and medieval elements of life portrayed in Far Far Away don't blend properly. There is some good stuff in this film, on the whole, yet it just feels a bit half-baked. Oh, and I am so annoyed with the fact that Dreamworks iconicised Puss in Boots before Disney could. His original story would have made a great traditional Disney film (if retuned here and there, naturally)! I could imagine the tone of it being Aladdin in 18th century Continental Europe.
5.5/10 (maybe 6)

Shark Tale:
Not a good film at all. I rented it and couldn't be bothered finishing it (even though there were only twenty minutes or so left). It makes Shrek 2 look up there with Snow White and Pinocchio. Obnoxious characters, messy story. Stick with Finding Nemo. Even if you're not a fan of Dory and pals, stick with Finding Nemo.
4/10 (maybe 3.5)

The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper:
I haven't seen Madagascar yet, but I saw this with Wallace and Gromit. Delightful!
8.5/10

Over the Hedge
The best Dreamworks film since The Prince of Egypt. It's not your run of the mill funny animal CG picture, mainly due to the much needed social commentary on the obnoxious lifestyle sometimes found in Western suburbian/middle class life.
9/10

As for Aardman's films (Dreamworks are the distributors here, but probably due to Aardman's iconic status over this side of the Atlantic, I'll never consider these films to be true Dreamworks films like some of you American people are), I really like them, despite the currently low film count. My ratings of the two films...

Chicken Run:
An unusual little flick, yet equally rather entertaining, suiting the medium perfectly.
9/10

Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Ware-Rabbit:
This is very good, and generally deserved the best animated feature win at the Oscars (Corpse Bride and Howl's Moving Castle are great films, though, so it was a tough choice), but as someone who grew up with the original Wallace and Gromit featurettes, I felt that the film lacked a little bit. Still, only a little bit.
8/10

[KubrickFan]

Prince of Egypt
Great 'serious' animation. The songs are also very good.
Antz
Although it has a different style than A Bug's Life, it still feels the same, but weaker.
Chicken Run
Technically not from Dreamworks. Excellent film. Wonderful stop-motion, great humor and voice-acting.
Shrek
The first time I thought it was great. But now it's just toilet-humor in a weak story, with bad cgi.

I left out the other films, I have never seen them (and I don't really plan to, either).[/b]

[Jules]

Shrek

The first time, I thought it was great. But now it's just toilet-humor in a weak story, with bad CGI.

I wouldn't say Shrek has bad CGI. Actually, it's quite pretty and detailed. I think it would be more sensible to say that the CG work in Shrek pales in comparison to say, the Pixar movies.

P.S. It does appear, though, that Madagascar is a showcase of poor CGI, due to its rushed quality.