These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
YMMV: Dreamworks Animation
Dork Age: The dark, dark times after they made their first big hit with Shrek and still copied Pixar - the absolute nadir of this trend was the abysmal Shark Tale. The worst part is that everyone else copied them - even Disney got into the act with the abysmal Chicken Little.
Ensemble Darkhorse: Got a supporting role that becomes popular with fans? He's getting his own franchise. No questions.
Growing the Beard: The general opinion of Dreamworks has gone from "Wannabe Disney/Pixar" to "Actually pretty darn good" after they stopped rehashing the Shrek formula and made better films such as Kung Fu Panda, Mega Mind, Kung Fu Panda 2, and most of all, How to Train Your Dragon. The studio has been largely shifting to less pop culture reference humor to more story centered work in their best films.
Hate Dumb: Even after Dreamworks grew the beard, there are still some people who just won't forgive them for the "Shrek formula" period. Yes it's mostly Disney/Pixarbias, but it doesn't make it less annoying.
Underdogs Never Lose: For some fans, DA has an appealing underdog cache as a scrappy studio that has learned its lessons about the value of cinematic storytelling excellence on top of good marketing being the key to survive and thrive in a situation where any flop could make the company go under.
Visual Effects of Awesome: If not in story quality, Dreamworks definitely matches up to Pixar in this department.
Win Back The Crowd: The Kung Fu Panda sequence of Master Oogway's death up till Po's despairing confession to Master Shifu about his deep self-loathing that the old Red Panda feels helpless to counter. In that sequence, Dreamworks Animation showed that it had recovered from its post-Shrek 2 creative nadir that drove away its partner, Aardman Animations, and learned how to make stories with profound emotional depth with a skill rivaling Pixar. That in turn made the blistering wuxia action to follow all the more powerful with that you have grown to care about these characters.
