darkSpyro

Time for a discussion out of boredom! Who here loves Dreamworks as much as I do?

im glad that i can quietly hear all-star playing as he talks.

What a coincidence I finished this when you posted.

He's about right, though I think Dreamworks' reputation leans more heavily on the financial side than he implies. Things like KFP and HTTYD prove that there's people in Dreamworks that really want to make something good, but whatever corporation had a hold on them (currently Universal) was more interested in making average family fare that won't offend anyone while being just interesting looking enough to bring families in to shut their kids up.

Universal is definitely going to take this approach with Dreamworks in the same way it does for Illumination. Secret Life of Pets was a perfectly average and serviceable movie that didn't challenge anything but was decent enough to be a fine way to spend an afternoon and sell merchandise, even if it won't ever touch what Walt Disney is currently doing. Dreamworks announcing Shrek 5 right after the sale to Universal just confirms this.

Being artistically different is definitely a plus for critics and the more artistic minded, but it's never been a guaranteed profit. See Laika.

Yeah, I'm happy that Dreamworks seems to now have a permanent home at Universal and I think it could fair well, I do worry for them now that I've watched this vid. They do seem to have a big focus on money over quality in this situation I worry that Universal will say "Make it harmless and not challenging for viewers, simple enough for kids to enjoy and make money." I doubt HTTYD and the KFP movies will take a hit from it but Shrek concerns me. The first two Shrek movies are great films and legit comedy greats, but based on Illimination's films, while enjoyable and look great, they're nothing that is HTTYD level in quality. This is how a lot of Animated films outside of Disney, Pixar, Laika and hopefully still Dreamworks are. Harmless kids films and nothing more.


Another thing that has me concerned is Chis Meledandri, the head hancho of Illumination. I was watching Channel Fredirator's 107 facts about Sing and it talks about how Illumination's films often have a budget of 70 to 75 million, cheaper than most other animated movies where it can, and often is, over 100 million. This really stuck with me as it makes it look like they don't have a passion for the movie their making. I'm sure they do, but its not to the degree of other rival animation studios. I worry he'll bring that frugal philosophy over to Dreamworks and really hurt the quality of the films.

I'm not going to act like I know everything there is about studios and budgeting but in the case of Disney/Pixar, that budget can also be inflated due to R&D. For Finding Dory Pixar went through a lot of development and trouble to create Hank, and Disney went to ridiculous lengths to get ideal water physics for Moana.

I could be wrong but I don't imagine Illumination's films to be doing that much in innovation.

Quote: CAV

I'm not going to act like I know everything there is about studios and budgeting but in the case of Disney/Pixar, that budget can also be inflated due to R&D. For Finding Dory Pixar went through a lot of development and trouble to create Hank, and Disney went to ridiculous lengths to get ideal water physics for Moana.

I could be wrong but I don't imagine Illumination's films to be doing that much in innovation.

That's one of the reasons I'm concerned. They never innovate and play it safe. I have heard of Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks putting money into making new technology for animated films, while I have never heard anything like that from Illumination.

The only what ruined video that is good is the Saturday Morining Cartoons one since that´s a sad fate to that block, what Dreamworks tries to be a little experimental? Like it´s not even ruined and the whole Universal deal it doesn´t mean the end of the company but with the budget issue, people can do good films with a small budget and it looks fine. I think critics are a little too pickey.

Quote: KeybasHedKey

The only what ruined video that is good is the Saturday Morining Cartoons one since that´s a sad fate to that block, what Dreamworks tries to be a little experimental? Like it´s not even ruined and the whole Universal deal it doesn´t mean the end of the company but with the budget issue, people can do good films with a small budget and it looks fine. I think critics are a little too pickey.

what.

Quote: KeybasHedKey

The only what ruined video that is good is the Saturday Morining Cartoons one since that´s a sad fate to that block, what Dreamworks tries to be a little experimental? Like it´s not even ruined and the whole Universal deal it doesn´t mean the end of the company but with the budget issue, people can do good films with a small budget and it looks fine. I think critics are a little too pickey.

huh??

Quote: KeybasHedKey

The only what ruined video that is good is the Saturday Morining Cartoons one since that´s a sad fate to that block, what Dreamworks tries to be a little experimental? Like it´s not even ruined and the whole Universal deal it doesn´t mean the end of the company but with the budget issue, people can do good films with a small budget and it looks fine. I think critics are a little too pickey.

That depends on what you consider a small budget.

Sausage Party and Norm of the North both had really small budgets for animation at under $20 mil, but the former underpaid and overworked their animators and the latter looks like a straight-to-Netflix film that somehow got a theatrical release.

Could Laika be considered small budget for animation since all their films are in that $60 mil range?

Or do you mean small budget for films in general even outside animation, in which case I absolutely agree.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned any of Dreamwork's netflix series. They're really good and they have I think three full series going right now? HTTYD, Puss in boots, and All hail king julien. All of which are much more interesting and entertaining than their respective movies (which is saying a lot in some cases). In each case the animation is just as good as the film it's based off of, if not better in some cases.

Possibly off topic thing, but I find it funny that the two TV series that spawned from Madagascar both have nothing to do with the main cast, and instead focus on side characters, the penguins and lemurs respectively. I guess they realized that the main cast was sorta bland, but that everyone seemed to enjoy the side characters.

Anyway I'm rambling now, I didn't watch the video. Sue me.

I hope he actually does make another video going into the detail behind the history of the company. Hearing about that stuff is always super interesting to me.

Dreamworks would be god-tier if they made another film like The Prince of Egypt. Easily top five, one of my favorite films.