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Pixar vs. DreamWorks


coastermaniac

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Pixar FTW so far, but Dreamworks is coming up in the race by releasing good movies like How to Train Your Dragon and MegaMind.

 

---Dreamworks has released a few bad films, and by bad, I mean because of the story:

 

Madagascar- The story was waaaaaay too underdeveloped, and they didn't really know which character the story should be about (Marty or Alex). The sequel however felt like Dreamworks was saying "This is the way we really meant for the movie to be like... Sorry about that first one...".

 

Shark Tale- *cough*ghettonemo*cough* - Not a bad story, but wasn't too creative either.

 

Shrek the Third- Worst. Shrek. Story. EVER. I personally like to call it "a beautiful mess". The graphics and character were awesome, but it was like Dreamworks didn't know what to do with it all.

 

---Dreamworks' Undecicive Titles:

 

~Shark Tale was originally going to be Called "A Sharks' Tale"

 

~Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa was going to be called "Madagascar: the Crate Escape"

 

~Shrek Forever After (The Final Chapter) was going to be called "Shrek 4", or "Shrek the Forth", or "Shrek Goes Forth"

 

~And MegaMind was going to be called "Oober Man"

 

Pixar... everything awesomesauce, having Cars be their weakest film (yet it is getting a sequel)...

Edited by Sheep-O-Matic
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^

I think the reason more people like Pixar is not only because of their excellent story telling, but because Pixar made the very first 3D animated movie that was ever in theaters (Toy Story). After that, Dreamworks decided to follow them, and the rest are wannabes... (the people who made Igor, Hoodwinked, Valliant, and other crappy films. And, yes, the Disney comany itself has even tried to do what pixar does, and it was just... no... Meet The Robinsons, Bolt, Chicken Little.)

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I thought that How to train your dragon was pretty bad. "The dragons are really kittens and the adults are too stubborn to notice!" Precocious wise-talking teen hero, and it all culminates in a pointless boss battle? I know its for children, but there are children's movies I do like.

Disney animation has been good, and Sony's 'Cloudy with a chance of meatballs' was excellent. So I guess dreamworks is just the bottom of the barrel in my eyes, maybe alongside Fox animation.

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Let's do a side by side comparison.

 

Pixar: I've seen every Pixar movie except for Ratatouille and and Wall-E. I like every Pixar movie except A Bug's Life and Cars (which, IMO, is totally not deserving of a sequel). Toy Story 3, my favorite Pixar movie, was my second favorite movie of 2010 and is one of my top 25 movies. I have found every Pixar movie to be entertaining, and most of them are movies I wouldn't mind seeing again, but the bottom two listed here are ones I don't care to ever see again (not because they were necessarily bad, but because they just don't appeal to me enough).

 

DreamWorks: I've seen every DreamWorks movie released up until Over the Hedge except for Spirit, but I have not seen any beyond that point, although I have seen portions of Shrek 4. Of those, the only ones I really liked were the first two Shrek movies (with the original being my favorite DreamWorks movie) and Wallace & Gromit. Most of the other ones were roughly equivalent to the bottom two Pixar movies I listed above. Shark Tale, which is the worst DreamWorks movie out of the ones I have seen, is the only one that I didn't at least find entertaining.

 

The Bottom Line: In general, I can summarize this in the following way...Pixar's movies are generally really good, and are definitely worth watching. They are also movies that are still entertaining after multiple viewings (up to a certain extent). DreamWorks movies aren't necessarily bad, but they are only really worth watching once. DreamWorks movies are generally kids' movies, while Pixar's are usually family movies.

 

In short, Pixar is better. But DreamWorks isn't bad, just not as good.

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I think this sums it up.

Why does that fish remind me of OJ Loc of GTA: San Andreas fame?

 

I'm not a huge movie goer, but from what I have seen, here's what I think:

Dreamworks:

- The original Shrek was funny. I the characters were great, the storyline was good, and it was funny, once you got past the toilet humor. I think that it would have been fine without its subsequent sequels, but that's just me.

- Shark Tale was mediocre. Everything from Will Smith's character (who, again, looks like a certain Grand Theft Auto character) to the plot and everything in between was just bad. Sure I might have smiled once or twice but really, this movie was nothing to write home about.

- I actually want to see Antz. From what I read it has a more "adult" (adult in the sense a more complex, not the other way) storyline than A Bug's Life.

- Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, and Bee Movie (Cedar Fair naming, amirite?) don't interest me.

 

Pixar:

- Toy Story 1 was a masterpiece. TS2 was also damn good but I don't think it was as good as TS1. Haven't seen TS3 (would love to) but from what I read it's as good as TS1 if not better.

- Monsters Inc; another great movie. What needs to be said?

- Let's not forget two other great movies; Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Both really good movies that made me laugh, and in the end, make me feel satisfied with watching those movies.

- That said, there were a few bad apples. A Bug's Life honestly was not that good. I just couldn't connect to it, and if anything, follows the same movie plot many other movies, animated or not, do. X character lives in A society. X character gets exiled from A society to live off in another world. A society has some kind of downturn (pillage, famine, drought, etc). X character comes back to save A society and is then revered as a hero. It's for this reason why I didn't like ABL. Sure, T(oy) S(tory) might have had something similar, but it was written a lot better than ABL, and again, made me satisfied. A Bug's Life did not.

- Haven't seen Up, WallE, or Cars. I've seen clips of Ratatouille and it did look really well thought out, but I have no opinion on that movie.

 

So I guess I would prefer Pixar. RCDude summed it up the best I think.

 

Also, let's not forget Ice Age (even though that's a 20th Century Fox film). While not great I thought it was a good movie, though not enough for it to get more sequels.

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^^

Okay, since you said that about Toy Story 3, I'm going to tell the truth about my opinion on it...

 

The movie wasn't bad at all, but it did lack a few things. I liked all of the new characters. but they felt sort of underdeveloped in personality. There were also a few parts of the movie that were too dark and creepy for kids. And lastly, the whole ending segment of Andy playing with his toys with the little girl made me feel a tad bit uncomfortable... And because of those reasons it sort of falls into the category of movie you'd only watch once.

 

Over all, I agree that Pixar films are made for families, and they always have a good message for the kids, while Dreamworks focuses more on the slap-stick and pop-culture jokes which for the most part can be pretty amusing, while at the same time can become tiresome.

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Pixar ... and it's not even close.

 

The ONLY Dreamworks movie that I would even pretend to put anywhere close to Pixar is Despicable Me ... oh wait, that's not Dreamworks. (kind of sad when a movie from a new studio blows out anything you've done in 10 years)

 

Seriously though, the original Shrek is the only thing that comes close.

 

How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda were at least "Entertaining", but nothing that needs to be seen more than once or twice. Monsters vs. Aliens, Shrek 2 and 3 and Bee Movie were "ok".

 

Madagascar (both movies), Over The Hedge, Flushed Away and Shrek 4 were absolutely horrid movies.

 

Shark Tale is it's own "5th layer of hell" bad.

 

As far as Pixar, there is only 1 movie that I'd consider "ok" and that's Cars. But "ok" for Pixar is still better than any of the Dreamworks movies. I enjoy Cars, and it looks simply amazing in Blu Ray. Pixar has yet to have a BAD movie and I think that says a lot for them.

 

I know a LOT of people like to give A Bugs Life grief, but it's honestly my favorite Pixar film. I don't know why, I can't tell you, I just love it.

 

There is for sure a top-tier of Pixar movies (Bugs Life, Toy Story 1, 2, 3, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc, Wall-E, Up) but even the middle tier is probably in my top 50 movies all time.

 

There is one Pixar movie that has kind of fallen for me in recent years and that's Finding Nemo. It's a great movie, beautiful to look at. But I honestly feel that this is the weakest story out of all the Pixar movies.

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Visual quality, Pixar wins, but not by much. Over the years, Dreamworks Animation has been providing stunning visuals. How To Train Your Dragon was one of the most beautiful movies, visual wise. As for overall quality, Pixar wins again. I think it's because they have such high standards for scripts whereas it seems like Dreamworks will take almost any script.

 

But it seems like there will be some new competition for the future. Disney Animation is ok. I liked Tangled, but the ones before it weren't all that good. Blue Sky is very promising, they just need to get their head out of Ice Age. Universal Studios is on the rise after Despicable Me. Sony is looking good with Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, but that was a great film following some pretty bad ones. Animal Logic makes flat out beautiful movies, they just need to make sure the scripts are just as good. But the one I'm most excited for is Rango. Paramount has not released a ground-breaking CGI movie yet. When I saw the preview, it looked like Pixar.

 

I think I'm swaying off topic, sorry about that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think Dreamworks is even starting to fall behind Disney animation studios for me. I loved Bolt. I thought it was fun enough for everyone to enjoy it, the story was funny, and although the complexity was not as high as the pixar films it was a fun kids movie with fun characters. I ADORED The Princess and the Frog. I know its not computer animation, but it was a very well told story. The songs were great, the characters were awesome, and the shadow man was awesome and very dark for the films demographic. The movie as a whole was charming, and it reminded me a lot of New Orleans Square. I heard tangled was fantastic, despite not seeing it, but none of my friends wanted to see it, so I'll rent it. Also, as of now, Winnie the Pooh looks stunning.

 

For the first time in my life the animated film I'm looking forward to least is Pixar.

 

#1. Disney Animation Studios:Winnie the Pooh(without the heffalump )

#2. Dreamworks: Kung Fu Panda 2. Loved the first one, a little anxious on this one, but IMO Kung Fu Panda is the best pixar film since shrek 1 and 2 with Despicable me falling in 4th place.

#3. Pixar:Cars 2. I agree with Tyler, needs some humans, and the fact that the cars are going to europe and theres "spy cars" just pushed it over the top... WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL THE HUMANS!!!!????

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Have you ever seen the Brave Little Toaster? That was WAY darker than Toy Story!

 

Oh god, That part with the clown and the bathtub... (shutter)

 

Yes, and YES...

 

@the ghost

 

I think the whole point of Cars is to potray EVERYONE as a car... so we can ask ourselves: "If I were a car, what kind of car would I be?"

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Have you ever seen the Brave Little Toaster? That was WAY darker than Toy Story!

 

Oh god, That part with the clown and the bathtub... (shutter)

 

Yes, and YES...

 

A few pages on TVTropes define that scene as "high octane nightmare fuel". I wonder why...

 

Okay, enough talk of that scene we all wish to erase from our memories. Pixar is CLEARLY superior to Dreamworks.

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