DreamWorks stuff

So I'm sure plenty of you here probably remember the review series I did last year for Disney's 100th. Well I had so much fun with that that I decided to do another one... and it coincidentally happens that this year is the 30th anniversary of DreamWorks SKG, so I figured, hey, why not?

Day 1: Antz!

The studio's first film, and only the third fully computer-animated film ever made (the first two being Toy Story, of course, and a lesser-known Brazillian animated film called Cassiopeia).

This film is rather infamous for its production history; namely, whether or not it was an intentional ripoff of A Bug's Life out of spite by Katzenberg towards Pixar. There's plenty of evidence to suggest either side; what I think is most likely is that Katzenberg heard about the early ideas for A Bug's Life while at Disney and thought the idea of an animated film about ants was a good idea, but beyond that the two films are very different, so I wouldn't say it could be considered a ripoff, merely just a borrowed concept. As a film by itself... this is rather good. It's definitely a lot Darker and Edgier than A Bug's Life, with themes like war, death, political corruption, worker revolts, seeking individualism within the apathetic masses, plenty of swearing and mild sexual themes... this is definitely not a typical kids' movie like you might expect. The visuals, while a bit dated, are still rather good. While the texures are quite rubbery, the actual animation is nice, the lighting and color choices make for a uniquely bleak and oppressive atmosphere to reflect the environment of the ant hill, and the character designs are nicely sharp and rough to create a unique look, especially compared to A Bugs' Life's mostly softer and cartoony vibe. The crowd shots are especially amazing for 1998 CGI, seeing thousands of ants together like that is something even Pixar struggled to do. The characters are largely one-note based on the archetypes of the actors playing them, but they're well-written to serve the story, just not all that memorable beyond just being "Woody Allen Ant", "Sylvester Stallone Ant", "Jennifer Lopez Ant", "Danny Glover Ant", etcetera. Gene Hackman's evil Social Darwinist general is probably the most overtly complex of the bunch, but even he isn't all too much to write home about. The weird exception to the "actor archetype" angle is Christopher Walken as his Number Two, though. You'd think from that casting that he'd be the comedic sidekick, but no, he's played oddly straight within the story... contrasting with Walken's signature offbeat delivery. The use of humans is also pretty neat, leading to some fun action setpieces via a Humans Are Cthulhu depiction. Overall, like A Bug's Life, Antz is a good early film in an iconic studio's library, but not one that particularly stands out compared to their other output. Which one is better, in my opinion? I honestly couldn't say, like I said, they're much more different than the shared general premise would suggest. Next up is a film where Katzenberg shows how DreamWorks can play in a Disneyesque ballpark but still definitely put their own unique spin on things.

I have a soft spot for Antz, as I owned a VHS copy of it when I was a teenager - with a Spanish dub, as it was bought by my parents for me to practice my Spanish. The main character was called "Zeta" (which is how you would read out the letter Z) and was voiced by Jon Crespo. I still recall some of the lines from the movie, like "Claro, Zeta, tú eres insignificante" (said to Z by his therapist at the start of the movie).

Edited by Snicka on Apr 18th 2024 at 11:42:29 AM

My favorite bits in Shark Tale:

1. The record-player skipping (which randomly plays "Baby Got Back" for some reason when the octopus tries to fix it)
2. The octopus trying to order pizza and accidentally joining in on Lino's threatening phone call to Oscar
3. Sykes realizing that Oscar isn't a "sharkslayer", and remembering that he told Lino, the HEAD SHARK, to shut up earlier

I will never ever understand the hate boner people have for Shark Tale. It's such an hilarious movie and it lowkey gave Jack Black AND Angelina Jolie a connection to Dream Works which would later result in Kung Fu Panda

It because Finding Nemo is a million times better and it feels like Sharktail is a poor imitation

And also Oscar is a Hate Sink that isn't funny. That's mostly why I don't like it.

Uhhhh... I dont think the movie intended for us to hate Oscar, so he CANT be a Hate Sink. I think the closest would be saying he's The Scrappy but the trope prevents Main Characters from qualifying for that trope.

The main reason, I think, it's because it represents to many people the studio's overuse of Celebrity Voice Actors. Every major character is not only voiced by a major star, but the characters are designed to look like them, which many feel sends them down the Uncanny Valley.

1. Generic "be yourself" plot

2. Will Smith and Angelina Jolie were both very overexposed at the time

3. Timing making it look like a Finding Nemo ripoff even though they're both very different

4. Oscar is unlikable

5. Uncanny Valley

Edited by PhiSat on Apr 19th 2024 at 12:09:42 PM

I do think a lot of the backturn against Shark Tale may come from Oscar being a way less endearing protagonist than they might have intended.

Like, Dreamworks has a strong history of selfish protags who become better people, but I think with Oscar what happened was his better/sympathetic traits didn't get as much play as guys like Shrek or Tulio + Miguel, so people didn't really like him, and since he's the focus character it colored the way people saw the movie.

Jack Black is by far the best part of that film. Maybe it would've worked better if his character was the protag instead.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Apr 19th 2024 at 11:26:29 AM

I'm...sorry, guys?

Huh. Come to think. I wonder if Jack Black bringing so much heart to Lenny might have been what inspired Dreamworks to bring him in as Po later.

Now that you mention it, what was the deal with that? Shrek kept turning back into a jerk at the beginning of each new movie.

I dont get this, what is this supposed to mean? Dont feel bad though, I am really dumb.

Shrek dealt with different problems in each movie.

• 1: How to not be a monster like everyone thinks he is.
• 2: How to deal with Fiona's racist family.
• 3: How to rule a kingdom briefly before segueing to how to prepare for fatherhood.
• 4: How to get back to the glory days and then realizing that that’s a bad idea.

There is admittedly a degree to which the various different plots sometimes felt like excuses to get Shrek back to being a jerk again.

Especially towards the end. By the third and fourth movies they were kind of hurting to find reasons to get Shrek out of his happy life and back to being a grumpy but lovable asshole.

All I did was mention my favorite moments in a movie, I didn't mean to turn it into a heated discussion...

Dont feel bad, you did NOTHING wrong.

Happens all the time. Not your fault in the slightest.

I mean, I was kinda hoping you guys would at least chuckle at the moments I brought up.

I loved them actually and did chuckle IRL, but forgot to put that here. I loved your post.

I honestly had no idea Jack Black was in Shark Tale,I'm guessing he was a shark?

The gay shark who disguised as a dolphin.

I can make that joke I am gay.

Jack Black AND Angelina Jolie. Kung Fu Panda wasn't their first Dreamworks film together.

I still don't get how it got an award.