Best Movies Made By Dreamworks

For a short period of time in the 2000s, Dreamworks was the biggest animation powerhouse on Earth. Pixar was more refined; with its pop culture references and elements of parody, Dreamworks was the people’s studio. The company was founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Over two decades, the studio churned out box office hits on a regular basis before being overtaken by Illumination Entertainment.

Katzenberg’s stint with the company is particularly notable, as the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios was the best equipped to shape Disney’s fresh-faced rival. During this time, Dreamworks produced some of its best work – but the 2020s didn’t spell the end for the studio as it mounted a massive comeback. Here are the best Dreamworks films, ranked.

10

Madagascar

Madagascar didn’t fare as well with critics as some of Dreamworks’ other features, but it clearly resonated with its audience. It might just be because of King Julien’s rendition of the Reel 2 Reel classic I Like To Move It, but this film had children grooving and parents groaning worldwide in 2005.

Telling the tale of four unwitting zoo escapees – Alex the lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the hippo and Melman the giraffe – Madagascar had a phenomenal voice cast and a breezy plot. It also taught us what a fossa is.

9

How To Train Your Dragon

Dreamworks’ output tends to be family-friendly, comedy-focused and light on plot. This wasn’t the case for How to Train Your Dragon, which had a genuinely absorbing coming-of-age story. It stars an underdog protagonist and his unlikely pet dragon.

The cast and crew of How to Train Your Dragon imbued the film with a pathos that is sorely missing from most computer-animated fare. Rather than going for cheap laughs, the film taps into the same animations as shounen anime: we root for the hero because if the underdog triumphs, it means we can, too.

8

Shrek

This is the film that made Dreamworks an established studio: it smashed aside Pixar’s preachy output with a story that was irreverent, hilarious and packed with pop culture references.

Shrek is immortal: the character will go down in history alongside Goku as one of the great heroes of modern fiction. Sounds absurd, doesn’t it? But that’s where the heart of the film lies: we judge this protagonist for his appearance, yet only by experiencing his story can we uncover his true depths. That’s so many words to say that ogres have layers.

7

The Prince Of Egypt

The Prince of Egypt was part of Dreamworks’ early output, before Shrek had turned the studio into a CGI powerhouse. A project of this ambition threatened to sink the studio: it had a very large budget for a traditionally animated feature, and it was handling sensitive subject matter – namely, the life of Moses. The film could easily have gone wrong, but it turned out to be a tactful adaptation that proved animated movies were just as capable of telling epic stories as live-action films.

Even today, this movie is a marvel to look at. The animation is smooth and crisp, and the cinematography is beautiful. It also serves as a refreshingly serious entry in Dreamworks’ animated canon, which is almost entirely dominated by comedies.

6

Kung Fu Panda 2

The first Kung Fu Panda was a respectable debut for the unlikely martial arts student. The sequel was even better. Kung Fu Panda 2 took the emotional core of the first film and turned it up to 11. This film has edge-of-your-seat action sequences, but its true mastery lies in the quiet moments.

Where the first film was a story about self-acceptance, Kung Fu Panda 2 is a journey of self-actualization. Po comes to terms with his tragic past and achieves inner peace, facing down a villain who had brought him more grief than Tai Lung ever did.

5

Shrek 2

The DVD selection menu of Shrek 2 alone is funnier than most of Dreamworks’ output during the company’s low point. That’s nothing to say of the movie itself, which is a masterfully crafted and beautifully animated reflection on married life.

Following the events of the first film, Shrek and Fiona are now married, but their happily ever after is something they have to fight for again. Shrek 2’s message on beauty and perception is worthy of celebration. In an age where celebrity worship was still in fashion, Shrek 2 did a world of good in its portrayal of the love between its leading couple.

4

Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron

Animal protagonists feature heavily in animated movies; fables have always had family-friendly appeal. Contrary to most such films, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron does not anthropomorphize its protagonist. Instead, the horse’s thoughts and feelings are conveyed through narration.

A traditionally-animated feature, Spirit was Dreamworks’ penultimate 2D outing. The story was treated with deliberate seriousness; it never compromises its beauty for some cheap laughs. Its story, focusing on a captured horse in 19th-century America, tempers its idealism with a matter-of-fact depiction of the era’s attitudes.

3

Megamind

It’s not uncommon in animated movies to find yourself wishing for the villain to win. Megamind gives you that: the titular antagonist beats the stock good guy. The real movie starts when you see where he goes from there. It took a decade for Megamind to catch up with its audience.

The film wasn’t well-received on release, but the people who grew up watching it gave it a second lease on life through memes. This allowed Megamind to be re-evaluated and appreciated for the masterpiece it is. And then Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate came out and spoiled all the fun.

2

The Road To El Dorado

The Road To El Dorado’s story isn’t new or original. It’s been done many times before, and in the case of The Hidden Fortress, more spectacularly so. But it’s never been told in as jubilant a fashion. The Road To El Dorado is a feel-good movie that makes us appreciate our friends just a little bit more.

The Road To El Dorado wasn’t a big commercial success, but proved indelible to its audience. Over two decades later, it continues to be championed as one of Dreamworks’ underappreciated classics.

1

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

In many ways, the plot of Puss In Boots: The Last Wish parallels the story of Dreamworks itself. The animation studio was once king of the hill, beating out even Pixar in popularity. Yet its squandered its goodwill, making mistake after mistake, until many had given up on it.

But just like Puss, the studio managed to reinvent itself. Through this film’s stellar animation and emotional story, Dreamworks reclaimed the throne for a short time – reminding us that even if it often stumbles, this cat has a few more lives. Puss In Boots is one of the best films of the 2020s: its aging, humbled protagonist breaks free of the Shrek shackles to tell a story all of his own.