Dreamworks Animation: Difference between revisions

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The animation company that was orginally a subsidiary of [[Dream WorksDreamWorks]], created by Jeff Katzenberg's portion of the company (the "K" in "SKG") merging with animation studio and partner PDI. The company currently owns the rights to the [[Dream WorksDreamWorks]] trademarks, used under license by Paramount and Steven Spielberg's new Indian-backed [[Dream WorksDreamWorks]] operation. After Spielberg's previous animation studio [[Amblimation]] shut it's doors, most of its animators moved to [[Dream WorksDreamWorks]] too.

Katzenberg came roaring out of the gate with his new animation studio with the film, ''[[The Prince of Egypt]]'', an animated Biblical epic meant to compete directly with Disney. Oddly, what was meant to be Dreamworks's signature animated film looks like it was made by a completely different studio entirely [[Genre Shift|to people who are only familiar with the more recent Dreamworks animated films]]. (A fine article about the environment in which ''Prince'' was made can be read [https://web.archive.org/web/20090425104231/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,290103,00.html here.]). Unfortunately, the lavishly budgeted, but artistically timid film (with all the religious communities it strove to appease) proved a bitter disappointment.

While this success influenced DA's tendency to be derivative, the company soon found a more creative success in partnership with [[Aardman Animations]] with [[Nick Park]] creating hailed cinema like ''[[Chicken Run (Animation)|Chicken Run]]'' and ''[[Wallace and Gromit]] Curse Of The Were-Rabbit''. Meanwhile, while DA's in-house cel animation films like ''[[Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron]]'' and ''[[Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas]]'' proved a hopeless box office cause, in part because of the typcial North American [[All Animation Is Disney]] prejudice,

[[Computer Animation]] was another story entirely. While the blatant [[Follow the Leader]] variant of Pixar's ''[[A BugsBug's Life (Animation)|A Bugs Life]]'', ''[[Antz (Animation)|Antz]]'', proved a surprisingly big hit in 1998, DA really came alive on its own with the smash success of ''[[Shrek (Animation)|Shrek]]'' in 2001. Using DA's penchant for [[Stunt Casting|rampant celebrity casting]] and for modeling the characters from their movies [[Ink Suit Actor|after the actors voicing them]] to the max, this film finally put DA on the map as a real competitor in the feature film market, permanently opening the door [[Disney]] largely held shut for decades.

Post-''Shrek'', they became known for sticking various pop culture references and crude bathroom humor into their films as well with films like ''[[Shark Tale]]'' and ''[[Madagascar (Animation)|Madagascar]]'', hitting its [[Darkest Hour|nadir]] in 2007 with ''[[Shrek (Animation)|Shrek]] the Third'' and ''[[Bee Movie (Animation)|Bee Movie]]'' all disappointing at least critically and Aardman breaking away from DA. Beginning in 2008 however, the studio [[Growing the Beard|grew its beard]] with a new crop of films arising with an greater focus on story, characters, and quality. So far, this new direction has been paying off handsomely in the box office worldwide.

Originally rivals with [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney]]; currently rivals with [[Pixar]]. Disney alum Jeffrey Katzenberg has, of now, produced more films in his animation studio alone than [[Walt Disney]] did when he was alive! While the quality of the films have been more inconsistent than Disney, the best of the bunch manage to reach for Disney and Pixar quality (with ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (Animationanimation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'' sharing a director team with ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]''). In fact, in 2011, DWA ''exceeded'' them in critical reception with ''[[Kung Fu Panda 2 (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda 2]]'' (RT 81%) and ''[[Puss in Boots (Animationanimation)|Puss in Boots]]'' (RT 82%) considered far and away superior films to Pixar's ''[[Cars (Animation)|Cars]] 2'' (RT 38%) and both were nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar while the Pixar film was shut out. Furthermore, ''KFP 2'' outgrossed ''Cars 2'' as well in the box office worldwide. In short, a Katzenberg dream come true that year.

* [[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]] episode "Treehouse of Horror VI" (1996; Technically animated by PDI prior to partnership with the company, but still a noteworthy mention)

* [[Antz (Animation)|Antz]] (1998)

* [[The Road to El Dorado (Animation)|The Road to El Dorado]] (2000)

* [[Chicken Run (Animation)|Chicken Run]] (with Aardman Animation; 2000)

* [[Joseph: King of Dreams]] (2000)

* [[Shrek (Animation)|Shrek]] (2001)

* [[Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron]] (2002)

* [[Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas]] (2003)

* [[Madagascar (Animation)|Madagascar]] (2005)

* [[Over the Hedge (Animationanimation)|Over the Hedge]] (2006)

* [[Flushed Away (Animation)|Flushed Away]] (with Aardman Animation; 2006)

* [[Bee Movie (Animation)|Bee Movie]] (2007)

* [[Kung Fu Panda (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda]] (2008)

* [[How to Train Your Dragon (Animationanimation)|How to Train Your Dragon]] (2010)

* [[Megamind (Animation)|Megamind]] (2010)

* [[Kung Fu Panda 2 (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda 2]] (2011)

* [[Puss in Boots (Animationanimation)|Puss in Boots]] (2011)

* ''[[AIA.I.: Artificial Intelligence (Film)|AI Artificial Intelligence]]''

* ''[[Angels in Thethe Outfield]]''

* ''[[Batman Returns (Film)|Batman Returns]]''

** ''[[Batman Forever (Film)|Batman Forever]]''

** ''[[Batman and Robin (Filmfilm)|Batman and Robin]]''

* ''[[Carlitos Way (Film)|Carlitos Way]]''

* ''[[Cliffhanger (Film)|Cliffhanger]]''

* ''[[Double Dragon (Filmfilm)|Double Dragon]]''

* ''[[Eraser (Film)|Eraser]]''

* ''[[Evolution (Filmfilm)|Evolution]]''

* ''[[Robo CopRoboCop|RoboCop 3]]''

* ''[[Star Trek VI: theThe Undiscovered Country (Film)|Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country]]''

* ''[[True Lies (Film)|True Lies]]''

* ''[[Toys (Filmfilm)|Toys]]''

* [[Cash Cow Franchise]]: Being an independent company specializing in animation and hounded by unpleaseable stockholders, DWA has to develop every successful property into one. For instance the ''Shrek'' series has made over $2 Billion from the four movies alone (and that's not counting merchandising), while ''[[Kung Fu Panda (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda]]'', ''[[Madagascar (Animation)|Madagascar]]'', and ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (Animationanimation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'' are becoming the company's new bedrock ones.

* [[Celebrity Voice Actor]]: One of the most [[Egregious]] perpetrator of this trope. Every last one of their movies has an [[All -Star Cast]] (save for ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (Animationanimation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'').

** And even ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (Animationanimation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'' has Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson...

* [[Dueling Movies]]/[[Follow the Leader]]: Earlier on in their history, before they decided to go in a "light fantasy" direction to counter Pixar's more "epic" films, they were notorious for copying the template of whatever Pixar film was being developed at the same time. Examples include ''[[Antz (Animation)|Antz]]'' vs. ''[[A BugsBug's Life (Animation)|A Bugs Life]]'' and ''[[Shark Tale]]'' vs. ''[[Finding Nemo]]''.

* [[Genre Shift]]: While of course not uncommon for a film studio, it's just a bit jarring to go from serious adaptations of [[The Prince of Egypt|biblical]] [[Joseph: King of Dreams|text]] to parody comedies just within the first three years. And it's also having ''another'' [[Genre Shift]] in combining "heavy" and "light" elements more effectively with ''[[Kung Fu Panda (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda]]'' and ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (Animationanimation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'', creating the company's next foundation franchises to replace the ''Shrek'' series.

* [[Trailers Always Lie]]: This seems to be their modus operandi since ''[[Kung Fu Panda (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda]]''. The movies tend to have more substance compared to the trailers.

* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: An [[Egregious]] case as it looks like DWA won't stop having big spoilers in their movies like the trailers for [[Megamind (Film)|Megamind]].

* [[Troperrific]]: It's no secret that the folks up at the studio are very [[Genre Savvy]], and they seem to have gotten a better hang around using well-ingrained story tropes- star examples include ''Shrek'' (a [[Take That]] to Disney as well as an [[Affectionate Parody]] of fairy tales), ''[[Kung Fu Panda (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda]]'' (a send-up of the [[Unlikely Hero]] and [[Wuxia]]), ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (Animationanimation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'' (fantasy [[Coming of Age Story]] with [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons|dragons]]), and ''[[Megamind (Film)|Megamind]]'' (an [[Affectionate Parody]] of ''[[Superman]]'' and the superhero genre as a whole).

[[Category:TropeProduction Companies]]