DreamWorks Animated Features Ranking and Reviews

Other studios: Ghibli | Disney

I've recently gone through the DreamWorks Animation catalogue, skipping a few entries that I watched in the past and didn't like (Bee Movie) or that had poor enough reception (Shark Tale) - I also revisited this a bit in 2023, on top of adding new stuff as it comes out. They've earned a reputation for being a bit more childish than something like Pixar, another forefront CGI powerhouse around the turn of the millennium (Disney lagging behind until they bought their way out). In their broader catalogue toilet humor is a bit too common, along with whacky concepts like a baby who is also a boss (genious), and the infamous smug faces. Technically impressive animation and celebrity voices lend them prestige, but what really takes them up along-side the greats is their glimpses of earnest stories and remarkable artistry.

Their earliest works are more trying to be Disney than parodies of them, without much overt humor at all, and with The Last Wish I hope there's a will to be more mature going forward, but in the great gap between those there's still a lot of fun to be had. My ranking is below here, then some thoughts on their shorts, and reviews in order of release (except for numbered sequels which follow the first).

1. The Prince of Egypt
2. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
   
3. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
4. The Bad Guys 
5. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
6. How to Train Your Dragon
7. Kung Fu Panda 2
8. Penguins of Madagascar
   
9. Shrek 2
10. Megamind
11. Chicken Run
12. The Road to El Dorado
13. Kung Fu Panda
14. Rise of the Guardians
15. How to Train Your Dragon 2
16. The Wild Robot
17. Kung Fu Panda 3
18. Over the Hedge
19. Puss in Boots
    
20. Antz
    
21. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
22. Madagascar
    
23. Shrek
24. Joseph: King of Dreams
    

Shorts

Independent stories like To Gerard and Bilby are cute with solid visuals, but very fleeting. Side stories like How to Train Your Dragon's Gift of the Night Fury and Homecoming are more an excuse to spend a bit more time in those worlds, well done and worthwhile if that's what you want but they certainly don't stand out on their own. The exception, and the clear king of their short catalogue, is The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper, a distilled bit of well-choreographed comedy at crisp pace (you could say that about their feature movie too, but this more-so on every front).

Antz

I'm not sure how I once thought this was the third best DW film, but it's not bad either. Pretty solid theming, an individual chasing freedom to achieve goals outside the colony, and in doing so inspires others to break free and reshape the colony to be a worthy ambition in itself. The bad animation gets about as many laughs as the humor, but it's a bit too lifeless and messy to really deliver narrative beats cleanly (the voice acting is great but the animation doesn't seem to be fully synced with it).

The Prince of Egypt

A masterful tragedy about two princes of different people, probably the best dialogue writing in an animated film. The animation and music come together to sell the scale and grandiosity of Egypt, besides just being outstanding on their own - a spellbinding lullaby amid a banger opening chant, the life-affirming Through Heaven's Eyes bringing back Moses from the brink, The Plagues as probably my favorite song in film, even Playing With the Big Boys Now at least has the divine snake devour its imitators. There's a few awkward CGI bits like the basket and holy ghost, but a good share of really striking shots too, including every time they're in the subdued warm hues of the open bath.

It evokes empathy for the enslaved, building up Moses and God to deliver them and be hailed regardless of their methods. Moses' gradual disillusionment contrasts Rameses' increasing conviction, living up to his father's expectations that even his brother won't lead him astray. It builds up a man finally finding a life worth living, and then shifts to see the full fall of his brother at his hands. Because while Rameses is no good guy, God isn't really either, leaving his people to rot in slavery for generations before returning to guide them with plague, misery and death.

Both the relief of freedom and its terrible cost is never more clear than the chilling song the Hebrews sing as they march out of a city drenched in children's blood. And Rameses of course, left without his son or the glorious city entrusted to him, still has more to lose as he sends his people, too, to their death while God spares him as sole witness to the tragic story.

Joseph: King of Dreams

The animation, performances and music are clear downgrades right off the bat. The dreams are kind of cool, but everything 3D looks cheap. "You Know Better Than I" is a nice song on its own, but I'm not a fan of the message within. Joseph is portrayed as inherently superior to his brothers, partially in inventing irrigation and whatever but mostly just due to his "miracle child" status. There's clear favoritism from his father, he doesn't work with the others, and his ego is insufferable ("I am special, I am smart, petty rules and limitations don't apply"). He has no sense of humor, getting frowny when his brother splashes his face as he admires his unearned gift. It's mostly to blame on his father, but Joseph himself could be better about it, and I definitely understand his brothers' contempt of him. Although, of course that doesn't justify selling him into slavery.

As a slave, his privilege (education) and superiority to common men (being very efficient at washing apparently) quickly earn him respect and a better position. When more bad people set him up for further misfortune, his innate abilities rescue him from a worse fate than ever and propel him to be the next-mightiest man in Egypt. There's no nuance to his rule, it's idealistic and simple, and using slaves to make the silos statues of himself surely must be unnecessary work for the oppressed. Still I have more respect for his brothers, toiling and caring for their family's land, than the boy who is handed everything. In the end, both sides are given power and abuse it to harm their family, before realizing and regretting. It's a very basic execution of fundamentally just "fine people on both sides", without ever acknowledging their father (and/or god) as the root cause.

The Road to El Dorado

Solid fun with a really colorful setting and cute characters, albeit also a haphazard plot without much going on thematically. The animation is lively with attention to detail, though it doesn't have any showstopper moments (the ball game and even jaguar don't have much to choreograph, sealing the city is meh cgi, so the best it gets is the starting chase).

Chicken Run

It's good all around, pretty funny too, but kind of fails to resonate with me. I definitely have a preference for 2D animation over 3D (as a kid I remember being creeped out at Caprino's World of Adventure stop motion movies), so maybe that's why. Most animated movies are fairly predictable so I don't feel I can fault it for the simple narrative framework, and it does well with making the details surprising.

Shrek

Lifeless and plain-looking, despite the music and setting being full of energy. Their 2D movies contain plenty of 3D assets and elements, and Antz was entirely 3D (admittedly the environments did look flat there), so it's disappointing just how awkward a transition this is over to full 3D. Compare the magic mirror in 1937's Snow White to the one in 2001's Shrek. Shrek himself simply looks off at times, like when eating, but has his moments and Donkey has good animation overall. The action scene in the castle is quite stiff, with little camera movement and bland lighting and scene setting. There are some great vistas on their journey to the volcano, but once there it returns to bland, pseudo-realistic assets with flat lighting, and a plastic doll-looking dragon. The narrative is sweet on the journey home and in the themes of self-acceptance (with a better princess than most Disney ones), though rather simple and standard considering the trope subversion going on otherwise.

Shrek 2

The animation and cinematography is much more lively, the setting less one-note, the characters are given some depth, and the plot is more dynamic. The king projecting his insecurity about his own true self onto Shrek is a neat twist, and the way it doesn't all hinge on a misunderstanding (though there is a lack of communication) makes it more satisfying. It is still a light hearted people pleaser, but the execution is there this time.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

The visuals are nice, from the scenery to the horse animations, and it's cool to have a more grounded movie without the animals talking. Sadly, other elements go against this as the narrative is immature, songs and narration are still there but non-diegetic, and the horses are still anthropomorphized in their sentience and mannerisms. The action is decent but the stakes fall flat, as no matter how much he destroys and delays, the audience knows they will still conquer his homeland eventually. Through a more simple lens, focused on the nature, life and love, it does have some beautiful moments.

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

Such a wondrous setting that I can look past a lack of narrative depth. Rich skies, awesome music, plain cool locales, charismatic cast, and top of the line 2D animation taking it all one step further. There's a scene with Rat lighting all the lanterns around the ship that just feels like the animators having fun, there's no narrative weight that justifies making this one of the most fluid and dynamic scenes in the film. The 3D is relatively lacking, some awkward effects and models, but good storyboarding and set/creature design goes a long way in glossing over that. Oh and uh, the best-animated villain of all time? That helps.

Story-wise, there's a bit of squabbling with Sinbad not liking women on board and all that which works less well, but Sinbad, Proteus and Marina's dynamics are generally very fun. Eris has a simple motivation, but her schemes make for a pretty tight plot that sets Sinbad up for both rightful egoism and ultimate redemption in accepting responsibility regardless of blame. The romance comes more down to Marina's heartfelt yearning for the sea and choice between that and the stable land life that Proteus represents, than just a simple adventure romance where hardship forges deeper bonds.

Madagascar

Has like nothing going on beyond the jokes, which are an occasional highlight rather than consistent source of laughs. From funniest to not so much, the penguins, Melman and the king are fun. The rest of the cast I can take or leave, partially since they have a bit more focus on drama than pure comedy. Which isn't actively bad, similar to how the visuals aren't as ugly as contemporary Hoodwinked and Chicken Little (god what an awful year for CGI), but drumming up such a fuss about the ethics of a carnivore in a world of talking animals to just give him some fish does nothing for me. The earlier conflict with some animals wanting to be in the wild and some not wanting that are more an excuse for introductions and comedy than an effective narrative device.

Over the Hedge

Takes a while to get going, the bear is cool and the eventual family dynamic is alright, but the humor to start is just very low-energy slapstick and fart jokes while slowly establishing the setting. Once the humans get a bit more attention you get gems like "I don't remember seeing a permit for a gathering~", and The Verminator is fun, making use of the suburbian dystopia and great voice cast.

The story works pretty well, classic tale of a selfish asshole slowly growing attached to people, but without the melodramatic bickering that often comes with that. The vehicular combat with the bear is a really cool setting to have them all come to terms with his betrayal and forgive him, and the conclusion is punctuated by the first example of the satisfying time stop scenes that Quicksilver popularized.

Kung Fu Panda

They lay the self-aware jokes on thick to start, but the animation is nice on its own and serves the lifelike animals and action well with nice colors and effects during fights. Character-wise they have strong archetypes but not much beyond that - the turtle is well executed all around, Shifu has a nice backstory, and Po has a decent motivation, while the five warriors don't have much to them at all.

The story and message don't make much sense. Po wants to get stronger, fails through pure training, gets the scroll, it does nothing, which gives him confidence to be himself, which just makes him physically stronger - but then he also uses a secret gotcha technique at the end anyway. When believing in yourself is all that's needed to be physically strong and do kung-fu, the hyperfocus on him being fat feels like a very overdone joke. All other fighters have trained for ages, but apparently it's for nothing against the power of being the chosen one and being confident. There is such a clear character arc they could've done instead too, as Po shows unique strengths in both this and the sequels that fit his character more than raw strength.

We see him direct the other members, being a fanboy who knows their strengths and how to coordinate them. He uses his belly to bounce around, deflect attacks and stun enemies rather than relying (just) on brute force. Lastly, he uses the environment to his advantage, when the villains are more about pure kung-fu fighting technique. Leveraging these to beat the boss instead of relying on raw strength and hand-down techniques would be a lot more satisfying. There's still some good beats along the way, like the training montage and dumpling fight, but I don't think it gets much right more broadly.

I do like the aesthetics though, the setting and characters are brought to life by Dreamworks finally reaching beyond tolerable 3D animation - it was serviceable in freeing Shrek 2 and Antz from the shackles of reality, and worked well to complement the 2D in all its 2D movies, but I never was much impressed with the animation in and of itself like I was here. The plot does let that down, especially the setting had much more potential, but it's still a very entertaining film with some strong moments.

Kung Fu Panda 2

The opening 2D animation is a lot worse than in the first movie. The Furious Five are given a bit more time in this, but with five of them competition is tough and Tigress is the only one who is really explored. Replacing the bland strong villain of the last movie, is the bland smart and agile villain. Both are simply evil, though at least the tiger tied into Shifu nicely. The peacock is stylish as fuck though, so his action sequences are a lot more interesting.

Story-wise it's fairly similar, but with a bit better execution. The development is still not shown that convincingly, Po gets defeated, is told to face his past, does that, and loses his inhibitions. Since the artificial weapon is the main threat, rather than another fighter, there's no strong scene that shows that he's overcome this, he's basically just back to his old self and doing some good old fighting. With Po left alone, they actually utilize the development really well however, as it's not raw strength vs raw strength but all about control, just like when you're guiding a water droplet along your body. Sadly, there's no slow motion shot of him guiding the cannon balls like the droplet, he's kind of just juggling them and throwing them at random (or not so random) spots. There's some cool visual effects and choreography, but the analogy to the droplet fails as his method of controlling the balls is to hold it still between his hands rather than guiding it by redirecting momentum. It's a small detail though.

Overall I think the story is more focused and coherent, even if it wasn't particularly strong, and the animation is good as ever. The action doesn't have any brilliant sequences like the first, but it's solid which the performances are as well. As a sequel it's less unique than the first and doesn't really develop the setting, but stronger story and characterization go a long way.

Kung Fu Panda 3

It starts off with some great art and animation, much heavier on stylization than the other two (it's been a gradual increase though). They go a bit overboard with showing Po as an incompetent teacher, he's already been shown to take charge in battle, commanding the Five to do moves according the flow of combat and what he's doing himself. Kai looks a bit weird, and is another generic bad guy returned after exile / death / imprisonment. I don't think the spirit realm and chi stuff brings that much to the setting, but the stylized animation does a better job of exploring the preexisting setting visually than the first two. I get what they're going for with the two dads, but it was already a plot point in the second when they dealt with Po being adopted. Neither of them are very likeable either, the bird is too spiteful and the panda goes too far in lying about being able to help save the world.

Po becomes a teacher but still doesn't find his own self, and ultimately the conflict is solved by a magic trick. It's fair that chi is a simple oneness with the self and the world, but it's still a bit simple to say he just suddenly mastered it. For him to inspire his students to understand it is more fair, but for Po himself it feels a bit too heavy on telling rather than showing - he says he's been asking the question of who he is, a teacher or student, son of a panda or goose, and he's all of them. He says that, and achieves enlightenment, turning the fight from one-sided in favor of Kai, to one-sided in favor of Po. I don't think it's as weak as 1 narratively, and the stylized visuals are welcome, but in terms of clean, simple action choreography and cinematography it's comparatively lacking.

How To Train Your Dragon

The humanization of dragons, chiefly Toothless, is the main focus and well warranted. For Hiccup and the human storyline, it's a fairly common animated core of finding and accepting yourself and what you're good at, instead of trying to fit some mould. I think the more interesting narrative aspect is that in finding himself, he has opened up a new path for the entire civilization (starting with the young recruits), and that's the main conflict in the story. Visually I think it's pretty lacking for the most part, environments and people are stylized in form but the textures and colors don't follow suit, leading to some pretty drab-looking rocksides and overall environments, with rarely much going on in terms of lighting. Where it doesn't disappoint though, is everything relating to the dragons, both their designs, the details in how they're animated (like Toothless' mannerisms when interacting with Hiccup), and the effects from their attacks.

I think the romance is also good, considering how easily it could be a standard case of the winner getting the girl, Astrid falling in love with Hiccup when he stops being a weakling. But instead, she hates him even more because of his methods and mentality, and only starts liking him when he opens up about his secret and shows her what he's really like. He's found himself, and that's what's attractive, not just the fact that he's strong now. She straight up pushes him towards that too, encouraging him to make his mind up and face his decisions.

How To Train Your Dragon 2

There's more life and color to the scenery and setting, and it focuses more on the wonders of flight compared to the first where it's more about the bonding and fighting. The story and villain is more scattered though, the conflict is larger scale but still fundamentally about defeating a big bad boss to free the dragons that on their own are kind. It goes back and forth quite a bit, without as strong a direction as the first.

In terms of the setting and associated themes, it can't just leave it at "dragons are good actually". At the dragon island the climax is Toothless being mind controlled by the alpha, and all throughout the fight a single big-ass human is just impossible to take down or shake apparently, so he gets to go nuts with conquering all the dragons. The dragons were never super intelligent mind you, but I still think this undermines the humanization the films have done so far, as they're reduced to mindless beasts that must follow their alpha no matter what. The first film made sense in regards to its leader, they gave her enough food or she ate them to cover the gap, a rule through fear that any of the dragons could leave behind (at the cost of the rest of them). Here, it's magical authoritarianism, and the implications at the ending where Toothless becomes the new tyrant aren't too pleasant.

His parents rekindling their relationship is handled really well, and his mother is pretty cool in being detached from society and all that too. The side characters aren't anything special besides that, same as the first movie except Astrid plays a much smaller role, and then there's Hiccup. In the first film he knows the people of the village and want them to realize the dragons can be tamed and allied with. Now he acts with such certainty that he can convince anyone of the same, including a crazed warlord he knows nothing about. In the first he's not that special, Astrid and the other younglings quite easily accept allying with the dragons once they're shown that it's possible, and the rest follow suit even if it's hard to show that to them. The guy with a dragon army naturally already knows this is possible, and simply doesn't want to, but so much time is spent with Hiccup naively wanting to just talk to the guy. It's like he read too much Naruto.

Hiccup also has a bit of an identity crisis, despite coming to accept himself as different from the other vikings in the first movie. His mother straight up tells him what he is, mostly just based on genetics and him inheriting some innate understanding of dragons, which I hate. The central conflict he's struggling with during the movie (about whether to take the fight to Drago or "protecting your own") isn't resolved, since Drago takes the initiative and forces them to defend their own not once, but twice. It's fine for Hiccup to go through another case of not fitting in and needing to find himself (gaining deeper insight into yourself isn't a one and done deal), but it's handled really poorly and doesn't really have a resolution of much significance.

There's some nice bits here and there, with Toothless and Hiccup deepening their relationship (with focus on the wonders of flight), and his parents having a great dynamic, but the narrative as a whole really overshadows all that in its poorly conceived and executed attempts to be bigger and better than the first.

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

The visuals and animation are a step up, and various character and setting design has been updated for the timeskip as well, but beneath it all it's a lot of the same. The sidekicks haven't really grown at all, despite their facial hair and fancy armor. Hiccup is still apparently seen as an unattractive weakling unfit to be ruler and all that. The first encounter with the villain is a bit frustrating. First he sneaks into the leader's house with no one in the village seeing him, then they don't kill/stun him so his dragons back him up, and then his two (?) dragons manage to fuck up a bunch of houses and get him out of there without the hundreds of dragons in the village doing anything. He does have a lot more personality than the past villains though, which makes for some good interactions (e.g. the imprisoned twin sister).

As the story continues, it's more of this: the villain can drop in anywhere, anytime, and no one is able to do anything. The future of Berk and the dragons is the most interesting obstacle they face, so getting caught up with contrived short term failures and setbacks feels like a bit of a distraction. I do like that the villains are fractured though, it really feels like the whole world is against Berk, yet they aren't all united beyond that and their reasons vary.

Hiccups' personal struggles feel the most genuine here. He has relied on Toothless either as proof of his ideas or as the strength needed to execute them, so he doesn't have much confidence in just himself alone. Astrid has a larger role again and delivers on that nicely, though she's firmly complementary to Hiccup without her own arc. The visuals are also quite well utilized overall, both in the Nightfury interactions and with the titular hidden world. The action is comparatively a let-down, it sets up some growth from the team with a clumsy start and then another battle later on, but the flaming sword and huge axes are betrayed by it being so averse to blood and injury. Thankfully, the narrative doesn't dumb things down in the same way, as it lets go of the series' staple power fantasy. In the first two Hiccup, and eventually the people, find strength and meaning through draconic relations, but here it finally resolves as they find strength and meaning without dragons as a crutch.

Megamind

This is a weird one for me. I watched it long enough ago that I have a bit of nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses, but not long enough that a rewatch let me see it in a new light. Great style, fun and charming characters, similarly to Shrek there's a lot of focus on trope subversion but thematically it's the same old (would be really cool to see a superficially subversive film have a bit more of a controversial or uncommon message). I don't think it's very funny which holds it back a decent bit, it's enjoyable but rarely stretches above that.

Puss in Boots

Humpty is a bit too unredeemable, maintaining that Puss is the one that betrayed him for so long and then with one small speech at the end he's suddenly convinced he's the one who needs forgiveness. It's got some cool locales up in the sky and decent choreography, but doesn't look great on the whole and the plot weakens with the silly twist of everything being planned from the start.

Rise of the Guardians

At its face doesn't work that well, simple plot with weak conflict / resolution for Jack, pretty ugly cgi outside of sand/ice effects, character design is good until you get to the villain (you can't make Jude Law the ugliest person in a movie, come on). But there's a lot of simple joy in the characters' place in the world and chemistry with each other. I also really like that there's no real physical war being fought, it's all about their ability to make the kids' lives better or worse, the final conflict is a lot of fun as a result with Jack finding his core and the kids playing off that. 

Penguins of Madagascar

I kept expecting it to wear a bit thin but doesn't really happen even if the third act is a bit slower than the rest. One might expect (and many do think) that taking a comic relief aside from one film and dedicating the whole runtime to that wouldn't work, but it's not like Madagascar isn't mostly a comedy lacking any deeper storytelling anyway, so making all that comedy into the best flavor it's got fully works! Certainly helped by a very fun, well-developed villain, decent if generic theming, cool plot, and a sick one-take action set piece. It's not even so much about the jokes that the penguins make explicitly, the humor is just as much about small details in delivery and snappy movement that speak to the characters, without letting down in art direction either.

The Bad Guys

Nice mash-up of Lupin, Ocean's Eleven and [insert any looks can be deceiving movie], not really elevating that mix narratively but snappy editing and choreography make up for it. It also has an art style which is something to get used to in this post-spiderverse world, and all the visual excellence complements the charming cast. There's several heists packed in at a fast pace, and while they're each pretty lean I think the plotting at large works out, and thematically it's solid both what's out in the open (stealing is cool, don't judge someone by their cover, being good is its own reward) and more subtextual (bad people aren't just trapped by society's perception of them, but even more-so by their own inability to imagine anything but what's currently the status quo).

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Absolute rollercoaster of an adventure, spectacular action with some of the most impressive CGI ever. Harsh scrappy digital effects not as an artifact of sloppy cgi but as a considered aesthetic component in addition to more traditional texturing and lighting. Like take certain shots of this out of context, make the whole film like that or insert them into whatever else, and I might even call it ugly, but it incorporates it into a great holistic aesthetic mostly defined by the painterly textures. The imagery it's in service of, its silhouette transitions and absurd perspective shifts, is naturally thrilling to suit.

As for the story framework and theming, it is familiar but polished to perfection to reveal why that familiarity exists. Any potential to stumble, to blunt his growth with pacifism (usually not a fear but with a "you need therapy" line I did doubt), or have a character overhearing a vulnerable confession and thus not bothering to face that conversation by choice, or indulging in Puss as a myth to have his cake and eat it too, it succeeds in failing to cash in on any of that! It's not super deep, but gives a hell of a show with plenty of room for the characters to grow into themselves, tying in everything to Puss' fear of living honestly in the moment - particularly Kitty and Wolf who stylishly push Puss because they're so invested in his mentality.

The Wild Robot

Carries on the style of Puss 2 on the surface, but fails to contextualize that in any deeper way. It eventually gets to the flight montage and some of the later bits of the parental relationship, which are cute, but it throws so many defunct ideas around before and between that, and I can't really get behind the rest of the production values. Namely the pacing is completely insane, fragmented and with no sense of grace to dwell on moments and emotions; and the soundtrack is awful, never adding something of its own, just the most obvious slop overselling whatever they want you to feel at any given time. While maybe intentional, the AI being insufferable doesn't really help there either.

Then there's the themes at its heart, which fare no better. Equating animal instincts to AI programming; presenting complex ecosystems as inferior to utopic pacifist communities; motherhood as a responsibility and burden whose upsides are vague and magical (it clearly wants to be positive in this aspect, but has no concrete way to approach that); prey and predator morality that (as in most of these talking animal films) fails as a metaphor for anything meaningful; and a human society that's too absurd to function as any kind of sci-fi critique. It keeps bringing up ideas to do with these but never developing any substance or lingering on them, so impatient to get to the next chase or fight sequence that it never goes beyond the most generic tropes.

Spoilers: Then there's the ending where she becomes a slave, suddenly throwing away the forced utopia and hopes of making a difference. Both parts of the world literally the inverse of what should be: the wilderness as tranquil and flawlessly kind, and humans as a force impossible to reconcile or compromise with. In the face of grand injustices and breaches of natural process, all they do is follow suit at a smaller scale, making that untouched by humans also soulless and artificial. The ending is guaranteed to just be a temporary compromise so there's room for a sequel, but that only makes it worse.