Dreamworks Controversy Meme: TAKE YOUR PICKS!

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Following the rip-roaring success of my Star Wars Controversy Meme, I've looked back at the one that started all my interest in controversy memes (Dreamworks) and made my choices:



And here are my reasons for them:
Favourite Character: This was a close call between Po and Shrek, but Po makes me laugh more because of Jack Black's hilarious voice acting for him. On one hand Po is the Dragon Warrior he always hoped to be, but on the other he's still a clueless bumbler just as he was before he made that fateful journey to the Jade Palace. And in 3 we know where he gets it from!

Favourite Villain: It has to be Shen. From the first time I saw Kung Fu Panda 2, I found Shen to be very much what I would be if I was a villain - physically weaker than others but cunning, tactical and skilled with a blade - as well as having a full plan as to how I would conquer the world - not to mention his magnificent voice acting by the legend that is Gary Oldman. Tai Lung from the first film was great too (what are you going to do, Big Guy? Sit on me?) - indeed I'd say he's my second favourite - but Shen clinches it for me.

Favourite Film: Kung Fu Panda 2, because Shen steals the show and that it has a sinister dark edge to it that I really like.

Favourite Song: I have to say that is Jennifer Saunders' cover to 'I wanna be a hero', because it is just so fitting for the desperate assault on the castle it accompanies. Also arguably better than the original in places.

Favourite Moment: When Shen returns to Gongmen City, not only for the reasons above but also because he is able to use his swordfighting skills to thrash two Kung Fu masters at the same time, and when the greatest of the three defeats him, Shen promptly destroys him with one of his new cannons.

Despised Character(s): While I think Forever After is the worst of the Shrek films so far, the worst characters (not only in Shrek but all of Dreamworks' filmmaking history) are the pupils and staff of Worcestershire Academy from Shrek the Third, principally because they have the dreadful dialogue and diction to the way they speak so common in people nowadays, but also the whole atmosphere that they have bred is just the epitome of savagery and the death of civilisation, the complete opposite to the noble kingdom of Camelot portrayed in the legends. Even the teachers are bullies there as they want Shrek to eat Arthur just as much as the pupils do. From the show-off Lancelot to the tarty Guinevere, they are all insults to the Arthurian legends.

Despised Villain: Of all the villains in Dreamworks films I've seen, by far the worst is Rumpelstiltskin from Forever After in my view, mainly because from the moment I first encountered him, he reminded me far more of a school bully from my past than the evil conniving dictator they tried to make him - annoying and highly punch-worthy, but ultimately without any backbone. I honestly dread to think of the mess that Far Far Away would become if my favourite and despised Dreamworks villains were ever to meet...

Despised Movie: The one Dreamworks film I think I remember seeing at some point is Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, because it is definitely the most forgettable of all the Dreamworks films I've seen. Of course there are Dreamworks films I've not seen that look ten times worse (Home and Trolls come to mind) but Legend of the Seven Seas I would say is the worst I've seen. If you want to watch a great Sinbad film (or three), have a look at the Ray Harryhausen Sinbad trilogy (Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger), because those are truly terrific old films that blow Legend of the Seven Seas out of the water in my view.

Despised Song: I have to say I can't think of any song I particularly hate, because all the Dreamworks film songs I've heard are either great or average in my opinion.

Despised Scene: Continuing my Despised Character reasoning, the worst scene has got to be the arrival at Worcestershire Academy scene because it is just so cringeworthy, from the completely out-of-sync cheerleaders to Guinevere speaking in a language based on English none of the main characters can understand. The only decent parts are the future Sir Percival failing his driving test miserably ("Ease up on the reins") and the two RPG player stereotypes who are 'not fitting in' (I like to reinterpret them as Magic players who haven't ditched their cards and started Warhammer instead).

Anyway, I don't know how many of you watch or like Dreamworks films, but here's the blank template for those who want to create their own version:


I look forward to seeing what you all come up with!

 

[LizardWizard]

I thought about using the template, but then I didn't want to go digging for clips on the internet.

Favorite Character: He is actually from one of their animated series. Arrrrgh from "Troll Hunters".

Favorite Villain: Would be Tighten from "Megamind". He felt extremely realistic in how your average human might deal with the sudden manifestation of god-like powers.

Favorite Movie: "The Road to El Dorado". I can watch this film on repeat and still enjoy every minuet of it.

Favorite Song: "The 10 Plagues" from prince of Egypt. Although, the entire soundtrack is absolutely amazing.

Favorite Scene: It is from Sinbad when the Kraken attacks their galley. One of the soldiers is eaten and then regurgitated onto the deck. In fact this one I will go search out a clip for: https://imgur.com/gallery/6Qrxuxw

Despised Character: The baby from "The Boss Baby". I feel this one is pretty self evident.

Despised Villain: Captain Smek from "Home".

Despised Movie: "The Baby Boss".

Despised Song: Dreamworks manages to always have strong soundtracks. I cannot think of any glaringly bad songs.

Despised Scene: Any scene from "The Baby Boss".

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Interesting choices - I’ve never seen “Troll Hunters”, “The Boss Baby”, “The Road to El Dorado” or “Home”, though, so I can’t really comment on them. However:

Favorite Song: "The 10 Plagues" from prince of Egypt. Although, the entire soundtrack is absolutely amazing.

I do agree here - I was originally thinking of choosing “You’re playing with the big boys now” from that soundtrack as my favourite song but I still see it as my second fave after “I wanna be a hero”

 

[ASSASSIN_NR_1]

Now I have not exactly seen all Dreamworks movies, and I am probably quite biased towards HTTYD as can be seen here:



Favourite Character: This is a tie between Toothless and Hiccup. Toothless is adorable and I absolutely love his design, I love cats and dragons so the match is perfect for me. Furthermore Who didn't want a dragon companion as a kid? Maybe there is some Eragon influence here too.
For Hiccup I just see a lot of my own personality in his, so I guess that is part of why i like him so much.

Favourite Villain: Tai Lung is an interesting villain, in that he was/is not inherently evil, and was basically brought up to be that way by shifu, and I think that Shifu being both Po and Tai Lung's mentor is quite neat. and he's a cat, so there's that too .

Favourite Film: Really this is a toss up between either of the HTTYD movies, as I adore all of them. I have just chosen the third movie, as it is great due to the character building of the first two films, which makes me care about the characters that bit more, and the ending is quite bitter sweet IMO, but probably in the best way they could have done it.

Favourite Song: I could again go with more than one here: If scores are allowed then 'Forbidden friendship' from HTTYD (

), 'Where No One Goes' from HTTYD2 (

) or 'Together From Afar' from HTTYD3 (

).
Once again I will go with HTTYD3 and say 'Together From Afar', because of the baggage from the other movies, and the, for me, bit emotional end of the franchise.

Favourite Moment: This is either the part in HTTYD where Hiccup and Toothless connect while 'Forbidden Friendship' is playing, specifically at the end where Hiccup gets to touch Toohtless for the first time; Or ir is the very end of HTTYD3, which I will not spoil for anyone who has not seen it yet.

Despised Stuff:
Honestly I have never given much thought to what I disliked the most; furthermore I don't think I have seen any Dreamworks movie that I disliked, but if I had seen Boss baby that would probably be it for every despised entry.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Now I have not exactly seen all Dreamworks movies, and I am probably quite biased towards HTTYD as can be seen here:

View attachment 51586

Favourite Character: This is a tie between Toothless and Hiccup. Toothless is adorable and I absolutely love his design, I love cats and dragons so the match is perfect for me. Furthermore Who didn't want a dragon companion as a kid? Maybe there is some Eragon influence here too.
For Hiccup I just see a lot of my own personality in his, so I guess that is part of why i like him so much.

Favourite Villain: Tai Lung is an interesting villain, in that he was/is not inherently evil, and was basically brought up to be that way by shifu, and I think that Shifu being both Po and Tai Lung's mentor is quite neat. and he's a cat, so there's that too .

Favourite Film: Really this is a toss up between either of the HTTYD movies, as I adore all of them. I have just chosen the third movie, as it is great due to the character building of the first two films, which makes me care about the characters that bit more, and the ending is quite bitter sweet IMO, but probably in the best way they could have done it.

Favourite Song: I could again go with more than one here: If scores are allowed then 'Forbidden friendship' from HTTYD (

), 'Where No One Goes' from HTTYD2 (

) or 'Together From Afar' from HTTYD3 (

).
Once again I will go with HTTYD3 and say 'Together From Afar', because of the baggage from the other movies, and the, for me, bit emotional end of the franchise.

Favourite Moment: This is either the part in HTTYD where Hiccup and Toothless connect while 'Forbidden Friendship' is playing, specifically at the end where Hiccup gets to touch Toohtless for the first time; Or ir is the very end of HTTYD3, which I will not spoil for anyone who has not seen it yet.

Despised Stuff:
Honestly I have never given much thought to what I disliked the most; furthermore I don't think I have seen any Dreamworks movie that I disliked, but if I had seen Boss baby that would probably be it for every despised entry.

I largely guessed by your avatar that you would put How To Train Your Dragon as most of your ‘favourite’ choices

I liked the first two How To Train Your Dragon Movies when I saw them as well as Riders of Berk - as standalone films they are very good. However, I had read the books before the films came out, and if you have read the books at all you’ll know as much as I do that the books and films are as different as chalk and cheese. The only two characters even remotely accurate to the book versions are Hiccup and Stoick (and even then personally I never voiced Stoick as a Scot in my mind), and the plots are very different. But in any case, I was rather spoiled, I suppose, in reading the books first, so I imagine that I can’t really enjoy the films to the fullest extent that others can, although I maintain that as standalone features I still enjoy them. To be honest the music for HTTYD never really gripped me compared to Kung Fu Panda, Shrek and The Prince of Egypt (perhaps too Scottish for my tastes? I don’t know), but that’s just me.

 

[Aginor]

I only saw the first HTTYD and liked it
However.... in was waiting for the "how to train" part. That was a bit... short.

As for most of the other mentioned movies:
Haven't seen them (except parts of Shrek) so I cannot say anything good or bad about them.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

I only saw the first HTTYD and liked it
However.... in was waiting for the "how to train" part. That was a bit... short.

Yeah, that’s another inaccuracy the films have to the books - throughout the first 2 or 3 books Hiccup is desperately trying to get his much smaller and younger Toothless to do basic things where the other boys already have their dragons pretty much trained, while in the film he manages to train Toothless much more easily, although they did have less time in which to do it I suppose.

As for most of the other mentioned movies:
Haven't seen them (except parts of Shrek) so I cannot say anything good or bad about them.

No matter, I understand everyone has other commitments to fulfil - I just put this thread up for those who have seen and enjoyed a good lot of the Dreamworks films. Maybe you’ll see more of them later on

 

[Aginor]

Yeah, that’s another inaccuracy the films have to the books - throughout the first 2 or 3 books Hiccup is desperately trying to get his much smaller and younger Toothless to do basic things where the other boys already have their dragons pretty much trained, while in the film he manages to train Toothless much more easily, although they did have less time in which to do it I suppose.



No matter, I understand everyone has other commitments to fulfil - I just put this thread up for those who have seen and enjoyed a good lot of the Dreamworks films. Maybe you’ll see more of them later on

Most likely, I have kids.

 

[Scalenex]

There are so many Dreamworks movies I haven't seen because critical reviews and promos looked terrible, so I didn't watch them.

I'd have to make educated guesses as to what is most despised. I will ruminate on this.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

There are so many Dreamworks movies I haven't seen because critical reviews and promos looked terrible, so I didn't watch them.

I'd have to make educated guesses as to what is most despised. I will ruminate on this.

I look forward to your answers!

 

[Aginor]

ruminate

OMG you won't believe what I just read there on the first quick glance.

 

[LizardWizard]

OMG you won't believe what I just read there on the first quick glance.

What did you read it as?

 

[Aginor]

What did you read it as?

Urinate....

 

[LizardWizard]

Urinate....

Well how else are you suppose to make an educated guess without the litmus of urine?

 

[Scalenex]

Did you know Dreamworks was originally created just an "Mahrlect you!" to Disney? Some of the big players in their animation department got in a lot of protracted fights with the top mice at Disney and the defectors formed Dreamworks.

Antz was created as a counterpart to A Bug's Life and Dreamworks was desperate to get Antz to beat A Bug's Life to theaters.

Antz. I liked Antz. Even though the movie was rushed, it didn't seem rushed. A Bug's Life was better, but both movies were watchable. I do not think either movie is worth rewatching.

Prince of Egypt. Wasn't interested in what I thought was an animated remake of The Ten Commandments without Charlton Heston. My understanding is music fiends are really fond of the soundtrack. I might watch this some time.

The Road to El Dorado. Didn't watch it. The previews were not enticing. The reviews were not good. This movie lost a lot of money and almost sank Dreamworks.

Chicken Run. Liked it a lot. Liked it even more after I watched The Great Escape and saw the parallels. This is worth a few rewatches.

Shrek. Liked this movie a lot. This is what really put Dreamworks on the map. Shrek is worth many rewatches.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. After befriending someone who was a horse fanatic and insisted on watching the Man from Snowy River multiple times on VHS, I didn't feel like paying money to watch another movie about horses.

Sinbad: Legends of the Seven Seas. I wasn't even aware this movie was made until I looked up a complete list of Dreamworks movies. I hear only bad things about this.

Shrek 2: This is my third favorite sequel of all time behind the Dark Knight and The Empire Strikes Back.

A Shark's Tale: One consquence of watching Shrek 2 multiple times was being exposed to lots of advertisements for A Shark's Tale. The more I saw the promos the less I wanted to watch this. Never saw it. A Youtube film critic I respect (not as good as Mr. Plinkett, but he's good) really dumps on this movie comparing all bad things in any movie to A Shark's Tale or Big Hero 6. I look foward to his upcoming review of this with much anticipation.

Madagascar: Good movie, not a great movie, but I enjoyed it.

Wallace and Grommit: The Curse fo the Wererabbit: I didn't like this movie. I don't despise it, but I thought it was slightly cornball and slightly boring.

Over the Hedge: The promos, made the film look cliched and dull, so I didn't watch it.

Flushed Away: A movie with literal toliet humor, created by the creators of Wallace and Grommit? I didn't even consider watching this one.

Shrek the Third: Attempted murder of a franchise!

A Bee Movie: I used to like Seinfeld's show. At this point I was bored with Seinfeld's show and I didn't want to watch a whole movie powered by Jerry Seinfeld's jokes. But apparently Wisecrack.com showed this movie has a lot of nuanced social commentary exposing the flaws in both pure capitalism and pure communism and ending with a regulated capitalist system. I'm pretty sure Wisecrack's commentary is more entertaining than the movie would be.

Kung Fu Panda: Good job Dreamworks, you are not just a one franchise wonder! You have TWO viable franchises.

Madagascar 2: This movie was quite boring in my opinion trying and failing to ride on the coattails of Madagascar.

Monsters vs. Aliens: I liked it. I don't think it has much rewatch value though.

How to Train Your Dragon: This is the third strong franchise Dreamworks made. I like it, but I don't think it has as much re-watch value as Shrek and Kung Fu Panda.

Shrek Forever After: This movie was better than Shrek the Third, but not by enough...not by nearly enough. At least it grows the franchise and continues Shrek's character arc. The jokes were lousy though. I don't think I laughed once.

Megamind: Awesome. This is Dreamworks best standalone movie.

Kung Fu Panda 2: Much like Shrek 2, this was not a perfect movie, but it was a perfect sequel. I can watch this movie over and over.

Puss in Boots: The Shrek franchise disappointed me twice in a row, but I enjoyed Shrek 2 SO MUCH that I was willing to give the franchise ONE MORE shot. Again, I didn't laugh once during this movie. I certainly wasn't moved.

Madagascar 3: Madagascar 2 was so lackluster I wasn't going to give the franchise another chance.

Rise of the Guardians: It looked too campy for me to want to try it.

The Croods: Enjoyed this movie but I don't think this has much rewatch value.

The Turbo: I was already tired about "You can do anything you put your mind to" movies. A racing snail is just too campy for me outside of the Neverending Story that is. No way I'm watching this.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman: I viewed Peabody and Sherman as the least entertaining part of Rocky and Bullwinkle and every attempt to repackage Rocky and Bullwinkle was lame. No way I'm watching this.

How to Train Your Dragon 2: The first movie in the franchise was a masterpiece. This movie was only okay. Though it's possible that I had some franchise fatigue because I watched several episodes of the How to Train Your Dragon television series.

The Penguins of Madagascar: After watching a couple episodes of their mediocre television series, I wasn't going to pay money to watch this movie.

Home: Based on the previews, I thought this movie was geared towards very small children, so I opted not to watch this.

Kung Fu Panda 3: Not as good as the other two movies in the franchise, but still worth watching. Even worth watching twice.

Trolls: Based on the previews, I thought this movie was geared towards very small children, so I opted not to watch this.

The Boss Baby: This movie looked unfunny relying on the same gag over and over again, so I did not watch it. Though I would consider getting high with the creators of this movie, they clearly have the strongest acid ever created. Much like Bee Movie, I believe Wisecrack's analysis is better than the movie ever could be.

Also, whatever little faith I had left in the Oscar selection committee was destroyed by this movie's nomination.

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie: Based on the previews, I thought this movie was geared towards very small children, so I opted not to watch this.

How to Train your Dragon 3: I'm don't really care if Toothless gets a girlfriend or not, but $5 movie Tuesday is sort of a ritual of mine, so I'm probably going to see it.


Now to answer the actual questions!

Favorite Character: Po. Kung Fu Panda is the only Dreamworks Franchise that has a 100% success rate as far as I'm concerned and while I like Dustin Hoffman, Jack Black is the driving force behind the movie's success.

EDIT: I just looked up the cast of the Kung Fu Panda animated series and I found out Jack Black didn't voice Po. Mick Wingert (never heard of him) can do Po's voice so well I was fooled. So I guess I like the character whoever is voicing him. James Hong and Lucy Liu are the only voice actors that are in both the movie and the show. Dustin Hoffman is the only omission from the show that I really miss.

Favorite Villain: Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2

Favorite Movie: Shrek 2.

Favorite Song: "I Need a Hero" from Shrek 2. I have never seen a scene in a movie where the music and action is so well in sync.

Favorite Scene: "I Need a Hero" from Shrek 2. I have never seen a scene in a movie where the music and action is so well in sync. I have rarely seen a movie juggle humorous and serious undertones this artfully.

Despised Character: The Fiercesome Five hold this title collectively. The five characters were virtually interchangeable. They had so few lines and such a mild impact on the story, they could have easily been replaced by ONE character.

It was a waste of money to big name actors and Seth Rogan to play these five bit characters. I like Jackie Chan for his stuntwork and his exaggerated facial expressions, not his voice. David Cross best work is in a separate genre. Angelie Jolie is famous for her appearance, not her voice. Lucy Liu has a voice I can listen to all day, but her character by being nice to Po actually counteracted the main story of the first movie and her character's animation was the most boring.

Despised Villain: The villain from How to Train Your Dragon 2 was so one dimensional and boring, I forgot his name and face. I'll take an annoying villain over a boring villain any day.

Despised Movie: Shrek the Third. It took a while for the franchise to bleed to death, but this movie struck the mortal wound. It failed on almost every level.

Despised Song: The entire soundtrack of Shrek the Third, but if I have to pick one, it would "Live and Let Die." The scene was a clustermahrlect of mishmashed tone and the only thing this song had to do with the scene was the word "die." Given that Shrek 2 had a flawless soundtrack, Shrek the Third's soundtrack was inexecusable. To quote Mr. Plinkett. "You may not have noticed it, but your brain did."

Despised Scene: The climax of Shrek the Third. Compared to the epic scale of the previous two movies, ruining Prince Charming's crappy play just lacks punch.


Dreamworks is a company with many great movies, great characters, and great scenes and Dreamworks made a lot of subpar movies, boring movies, boring characters, and boring scenes.

I think Boss Baby, Peabody and Sherman, and The Turbo and most of the other movies I skipped were really stupid ideas, but I don't despise anything of them.

I don't despise bad movies, I just don't like them. I despise bad things in otherwise good movies. That's why all my despised things are connected to Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, or Kung Fu Panda.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Antz. I liked Antz. Even though the movie was rushed, it didn't seem rushed. A Bug's Life was better, but both movies were watchable. I do not think either movie is worth rewatching.

Never seen Antz myself, although I do like A Bug’s Life.

Prince of Egypt Wasn't interested in what I thought was an animated remake of The Ten Commandments without Charlton Heston. My understanding is music fiends are really fond of the soundtrack. I might watch this some time.

Never seen The Ten Commandments, but yes, the soundtrack is great.

The Road to El Dorado. Didn't watch it. The previews were not enticing. The reviews were not good. This movie lost a lot of money and almost sank Dreamworks.

Never seen this one either.

Chicken Run. Liked it a lot. Liked it even more after I watched The Great Escape and saw the parallels. This is worth a few rewatches.

Yeah Chicken Run is great.

Shrek. Liked this movie a lot. This is what really put Dreamworks on the map. Shrek is worth many rewatches.

Agreed 100%

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. After befriending someone who was a horse fanatic and insisted on watching the Man from Snowy River multiple times on VHS, I didn't feel like paying money to watch another movie about horses.

I saw this one once and thought it was pretty good, but am unsure if it’s worth a rewatch.

Sinbad: Legends of the Seven Seas. I wasn't even aware this movie was made until I looked up a complete list of Dreamworks movies. I hear only bad things about this.

This was certainly the most forgettable one I’ve seen.

Shrek 2: This is my third favorite sequel of all time behind the Dark Knight and The Empire Strikes Back.

And it’s my second after KFP2.

A Shark's Tale: One consquence of watching Shrek 2 multiple times was being exposed to lots of advertisements for A Shark's Tale. The more I saw the promos the less I wanted to watch this. Never saw it. A Youtube film critic I respect (not as good as Mr. Plinkett, but he's good) really dumps on this movie comparing all bad things in any movie to A Shark's Tale or Big Hero 6. I look foward to his upcoming review of this with much anticipation.

Shark Tale I see as largely mediocre, but I suggest you still watch it and form your own opinion rather than using that of a so-called critic who thinks they know everything about films just because they’ve got a mickey-mouse Film Studies degree.

Also I’m sure Plinkett is the b@stard who first started all the hate for The Phantom Menace. That’s reason enough for me to loathe him with every ounce of my being.

Wallace and Grommit: The Curse fo the Wererabbit: I didn't like this movie. I don't despise it, but I thought it was slightly cornball and slightly boring.

I’m sad to hear you say this because I love Wallace and Gromit, especially the Curse of the Were Rabbit. However I think it’s a film that appeals more to British viewers because there are loads of little British gags that American viewers just wouldn’t get - obviously even though Dreamworks funded the production of Curse of the Were Rabbit, they must have interfered very little in production, otherwise it’s likely that all these British-isms wouldn’t have made it into the final film. Certainly I think it was enjoyed much more over here than in the US because of this.

Madagascar: Good movie, not a great movie, but I enjoyed it.

Over the Hedge: The promos, made the film look cliched and dull, so I didn't watch it.

I honestly think Over the Hedge is actually a lot funnier than Madagascar. I mean I love Ben Stiller’s comedy routines as much as the next man, but when compared to other films he’s starred in like Night at the Museum and Meet the Parents, Madagascar is very flat. In fact the best part of Madagascar for me was the crack team of Penguins, and they then disappeared halfway through in their quest to reach Antarctica.

Flushed Away: A movie with literal toliet humor, created by the creators of Wallace and Grommit? I didn't even consider watching this one.

Flushed Away again is a highly underrated film in my opinion, but like Curse of the Were Rabbit it appeals more to British viewers I think. Also the only actual toilet humour really is the whole idea of being flushed down the toilet into an underground rat version of London in the sewers. There aren’t any references to excretory matter anywhere.

Shrek the Third: Attempted murder of a franchise!

I honestly thought that Forever After was worse and that Shrek the Third was largely enjoyable except for the Worcestershire Academy sequence.

A Bee Movie: I used to like Seinfeld's show. At this point I was bored with Seinfeld's show and I didn't want to watch a whole movie powered by Jerry Seinfeld's jokes. But apparently Wisecrack.com showed this movie has a lot of nuanced social commentary exposing the flaws in both pure capitalism and pure communism and ending with a regulated capitalist system. I'm pretty sure Wisecrack's commentary is more entertaining than the movie would be.

This one was largely forgettable in my view.

Kung Fu Panda: Good job Dreamworks, you are not just a one franchise wonder! You have TWO viable franchises.

Perfect film this one.

Madagascar 2: This movie was quite boring in my opinion trying and failing to ride on the coattails of Madagascar.

Never watched it because the first one was mediocre in itself.

Monsters vs. Aliens: I liked it. I don't think it has much rewatch value though.

Never seen it, and to me the ‘monsters’ just look too goofy to be taken seriously - less monsters and more Victorian Freak Show articles.

How to Train Your Dragon: This is the third strong franchise Dreamworks made. I like it, but I don't think it has as much re-watch value as Shrek and Kung Fu Panda.

Agreed here, and because I read the arguably more entertaining books first I feel that it is a bit overrated, but it’s still good.

Shrek Forever After: This movie was better than Shrek the Third, but not by enough...not by nearly enough. At least it grows the franchise and continues Shrek's character arc. The jokes were lousy though. I don't think I laughed once.

Forever After just had a different feel in my view to the previous three, in fact I largely avoided watching Forever after for a long while and treated Shrek as a trilogy, and when I came to watch Forever after I didn’t think it was as good as the previous three.

Megamind: Awesome. This is Dreamworks best standalone movie.

I‘ve never watched Megamind and to me it looks bad, but maybe I should see it. At least it looks better than Despicable Me.

Kung Fu Panda 2: Much like Shrek 2, this was not a perfect movie, but it was a perfect sequel. I can watch this movie over and over.

Honestly I think Kung Fu Panda 2 was better than the first one, and I loved the first one.

Puss in Boots: The Shrek franchise disappointed me twice in a row, but I enjoyed Shrek 2 SO MUCH that I was willing to give the franchise ONE MORE shot. Again, I didn't laugh once during this movie. I certainly wasn't moved.

I enjoyed Puss’ spin-off film but I’m unsure if it has rewatch value.

Madagascar 3: Madagascar 2 was so lackluster I wasn't going to give the franchise another chance.

Same

Rise of the Guardians: It looked too campy for me to want to try it.

The Croods: Enjoyed this movie but I don't think this has much rewatch value.

In my view it’s the other way round - I enjoyed Rise of the Guardians while the Croods looks far too campy.

The Turbo: I was already tired about "You can do anything you put your mind to" movies. A racing snail is just too campy for me outside of the Neverending Story that is. No way I'm watching this.

Never seen this either but I thought it looked better than stuff like The Croods and Megamind.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman: I viewed Peabody and Sherman as the least entertaining part of Rocky and Bullwinkle and every attempt to repackage Rocky and Bullwinkle was lame. No way I'm watching this.

I skirted around this one like the plague because it just looked so bad.

How to Train Your Dragon 2: The first movie in the franchise was a masterpiece. This movie was only okay. Though it's possible that I had some franchise fatigue because I watched several episodes of the How to Train Your Dragon television series.

This one I still enjoyed, and it was nice to see Hiccup find his mother, but again the whole thing was inaccurate to the books so that spoilt it a little.

The Penguins of Madagascar: After watching a couple episodes of their mediocre television series, I wasn't going to pay money to watch this movie.

Never seen the TV series, but I thought the penguins were the best characters, so maybe their film is worth watching.

Kung Fu Panda 3: Not as good as the other two movies in the franchise, but still worth watching. Even worth watching twice.

Agreed. It wasn’t as good as 1 and 2 but still funny and enjoyable.

The Boss Baby: This movie looked unfunny relying on the same gag over and over again, so I did not watch it. Though I would consider getting high with the creators of this movie, they clearly have the strongest acid ever created. Much like Bee Movie, I believe Wisecrack's analysis is better than the movie ever could be.

Also, whatever little faith I had left in the Oscar selection committee was destroyed by this movie's nomination.

Considering all the dreadful animated films released that year, it looks as if there wasn’t much choice but to nominate it. The only half-decent looking film of that list is Ferdinand, and neither it or the Boss Baby won anyway.

Home: Based on the previews, I thought this movie was geared towards very small children, so I opted not to watch this.

Trolls: Based on the previews, I thought this movie was geared towards very small children, so I opted not to watch this.

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie: Based on the previews, I thought this movie was geared towards very small children, so I opted not to watch this.

Same

How to Train your Dragon 3: I'm don't really care if Toothless gets a girlfriend or not, but $5 movie Tuesday is sort of a ritual of mine, so I'm probably going to see it.

I’ll wait until it comes out on DVD due to University commitments.

Favorite Character: Po. Kung Fu Panda is the only Dreamworks Franchise that has a 100% success rate as far as I'm concerned and while I like Dustin Hoffman, Jack Black is the driving force behind the movie's success.

EDIT: I just looked up the cast of the Kung Fu Panda animated series and I found out Jack Black didn't voice Po. Mick Wingert (never heard of him) can do Po's voice so well I was fooled. So I guess I like the character whoever is voicing him. James Hong and Lucy Liu are the only voice actors that are in both the movie and the show. Dustin Hoffman is the only omission from the show that I really miss.

Never seen Legends of Awesomeness, but I imagine like the Clone Wars Series it didn’t have nearly as big a budget as the films so it had to get cheaper actors to mimic the film characters. Still sounds worth a watch though. And yes Jack Black is brilliant as Po. In fact in many ways he is Po, like Leonard Nimoy was Spock and William Shatner is Captain Kirk.

Favorite Villain: Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2

Join the Shen fan club!

Awesome villain!

Favorite Movie: Shrek 2.

Still prefer Kung Fu Panda 2 myself but Shrek 2 is a close second.

Favorite Song: "I Need a Hero" from Shrek 2. I have never seen a scene in a movie where the music and action is so well in sync.

Agreed 110%

Favorite Scene: "I Need a Hero" from Shrek 2. I have never seen a scene in a movie where the music and action is so well in sync. I have rarely seen a movie juggle humorous and serious undertones this artfully.

The actual scene where they assault the castle I saw also a really good scene, but the Shen scenes are also great, if not better, that’s why I put a Shen scene as my choice.

Despised Character: The Fiercesome Five hold this title collectively. The five characters were virtually interchangeable. They had so few lines and such a mild impact on the story, they could have easily been replaced by ONE character.

It was a waste of money to big name actors and Seth Rogan to play these five bit characters. I like Jackie Chan for his stuntwork and his exaggerated facial expressions, not his voice. David Cross best work is in a separate genre. Angelie Jolie is famous for her appearance, not her voice. Lucy Liu has a voice I can listen to all day, but her character by being nice to Po actually counteracted the main story of the first movie and her character's animation was the most boring.

I thought Seth Rogen and David Cross were great as their respective characters, Rogen as the wisecracking Mantis and Crane as the more diplomatic sage kind of character. To be honest though, overall the Furious Five are mainly used as a plot device to represent the heroes that Po aspires to be, like children these days idolise the Avengers, and they do this job very well I’d say. I’m surprised you put them there as despised characters. I do agree Tigress and Viper are meh, but otherwise I certainly wouldn’t have put them as my despised characters. They’re still infinitely more enjoyable to watch than the losers of Worcestershire (the school in Shrek the Third not the county - I love the actual English county)

Despised Villain: The villain from How to Train Your Dragon 2 was so one dimensional and boring, I forgot his name and face. I'll take an annoying villain over a boring villain any day.

I’d agree with that (I remember the giant Thundertusk dragon more than its rider) but I still think Rumpelstiltskin is worse, not so much because he’s annoying (even though he is), but more because he just doesn’t have the evil atmosphere and is pretty weak in every way compared to the awesome bad guys like Shen and Tai Lung.

Despised Movie: Shrek the Third. It took a while for the franchise to bleed to death, but this movie struck the mortal wound. It failed on almost every level.

See above

Despised Song: The entire soundtrack of Shrek the Third, but if I have to pick one, it would "Live and Let Die." The scene was a clustermahrlect of mishmashed tone and the only thing this song had to do with the scene was the word "die." Given that Shrek 2 had a flawless soundtrack, Shrek the Third's soundtrack was inexecusable.

Maybe that song wasn’t the best to play at King Harold’s funeral, but I still think it’s amusing to see a James Bond song crop up in a Shrek film. Perhaps because it’s just so random.

Despised Scene: The climax of Shrek the Third. Compared to the epic scale of the previous two movies, ruining Prince Charming's crappy play just lacks punch.

On the contrary I think it’s pretty funny to see the play exposed as the silly charade everyone except Charming sees it as already. It still has tension because Charming was effectively doing it in the style of a Roman Gladiatorial arena with Charming as the armed gladiator and Shrek as the condemned unarmed criminal that the Gladiators often used to kill in Roman arenas rather than each other because training them was expensive. Also some of the best Shrek-Charming insults are traded here (“That’s actually a really nice leotard.” “Oh, thank you.” “Do they do them in men’s sizes?”). At the very least the Worcestershire scene was more cringeworthy by a long way, if we have to pick a Shrek the Third scene.

 

[Nazqua]

:O this thread is getting bigger every second.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

:O this thread is getting bigger every second.

Film analysts require a lot of space to work

Interested in stating your views on the Dreamworks films?

 

[Scalenex]

Well Lord Agragax, we agree on all the core issues but quibble on trivial details. YAY!

There aren’t any references to excretory matter anywhere.

Unlike Shrek the Third which threw in a vomit or fart whenever the writers couldn't come up with a joke. In Shrek 1 and 2 the fart jokes actually forwarded the plot.

The actual scene where they assault the castle I saw also a really good scene, but the Shen scenes are also great, if not better, that’s why I put a Shen scene as my choice.

I do like the Shen scenes, with his soldiers, with Po, and with the goat sage. But no single Shen scene stands out. I've watched the Shrek 2 assault on the castle scene is a scene I've put on repeat. But it was Shen that made KF2 worth watching once a year since it came out.

Maybe that song wasn’t the best to play at King Harold’s funeral, but I still think it’s amusing to see a James Bond song crop up in a Shrek film. Perhaps because it’s just so random.

I forgot about the Bond movie. The song eclipsed the movie so much I thought the movie was based on the song as a cheap pop culture reference, but apparently the internet told me this song was written for the movie. I learned something today.

This one I still enjoyed, and it was nice to see Hiccup find his mother, but again the whole thing was inaccurate to the books so that spoilt it a little.

Well I certainly am a purist when it comes to changing the books not that I read this series. I just found the implementation a bit off. I guess I am turned off by runaway mothers (and runaway fathers). As for another, "You may not have noticed, but your brain did." things, I think this trope needs to die. Especially in cartoons. Cartoon characters can look like anything you want. They needed look like cliches.

These are small gripes, but How to Train Your Dragon 2 had persistent small errors.

hey’re still infinitely more enjoyable to watch than the losers of Worcestershire (the school in Shrek the Third not the county - I love the actual English county)

I enjoyed the juxtraposition of 21st century culture and medeiveal Fairy tale world buidling in Shrek 2. The highschool continued the concept. It was a good idea, it just failed in implementation.

Also some of the best Shrek-Charming insults are traded here

That was literally the only part of this movie I liked. I still think Charming was a weak villain being that he needed to be propped up by his mom. I think he might have made a good villain team with Rumplestilskin. Rumple provides the power and threat, Charming's charm smooths out Rumple's annoying rough edges. And it would have worked well with Rumple's Faustian bargain schtick. "Hey, do you want power and revenge, Charming!"

If Shrek 3 and 4 were lumped together, there might have been enough jokes and character arcs to make one good movie between the two of them.

 

[ravagekitteh]

Considering all the dreadful animated films released that year, it looks as if there wasn’t much choice but to nominate it. The only half-decent looking film of that list is Ferdinand, and neither it or the Boss Baby won anyway.

*cough* Coco *cough*

Personally, while I’ve seen quite a few Dreamworks films, I’ve never really connected with any of them enough to have real opinions on them. I’ve only ever really seen them as filler and never really paid that much attention, so I don’t really feel strongly about any of them really