Toon Zone Talkback - Media Profits: "Shrek" Lifts DreamWorks; Studio Shifts 2010 Release Schedule

Glad to see Shrek The Third was a success. I know people think they're beating a dead horse with Shrek, but I think the movies are still very enjoyable, and I look forward to Shrek Goes Fourth. Heh, nice title. I wonder what they have planned this time around.

Oh boy, a sequel to Madagascar, possibly the ugliest CG movie since the craze took off.
 
ANOTHER sequel to Shrek, and now Madagascar? Uuuuuuuugh...

Can DreamWorks Animation get any more redundant? A few years back, I used to be excited whenever DreamWorks announced a new animated feature, but nowadays, whenever I see their logo on a poster or trailer, I just groan.

At first, when they were making stuff like Antz and the first Shrek, I thought they'd be an awesome company to turn the animation industry on its head. Cut to some years later, and every DreamWorks CG feature turns out to be the same damn thing. It's so boring and overrated that Sony has been doing a better job than them. And all of their ideas that are potentially interesting and not another sequel or Pixar-stolen concept keep getting delayed. What does that tell you?

DreamWorks, please do us a favor and hire some people who can actually come up with good ideas (the cynical writing style was okay the first few times, but it lost its perks). I thought you were doing us a favor; you're continually proving me wrong down this path. Put your tired franchises on the backburner and focus on the more original stuff like MasterMind and the dragon movie. Don't those sound more interesting?
 
Whatever it is, I hope it's better in execution than Shrek 3. I love the Donkey, and I love the Puss in Boots... but if all they're going to do is bicker a hundred times in this one too, I'll pass.

Anyway, I have to say I dug Madagascar. I really enjoyed their first attempt at stylized animation. Not perfect, and they did a lot lot better with Over the Hedge, but at least it wasn't as ugly as some of the humans in Shrek. I don't like how realistic humans look in CGI, myself. That's why I can't even get through 5 minutes of that "Jane and the Dragon" show.
 
Meh, redundancy. This is why Pixar is at the top of the game.

Nothing at all against Shrek but its being milked too far now, and they're apparently still stuck on the talking animal schtick. I'm hoping they beat the odds and Shrek 4 turns out better than 3, as it was generally a step down from the first two in my view.
 
As long as it keeps Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and Antonio Banderas off sleeping in the street, then they're all for maintaining the cycle.

Not cool. Not cool at all.
 
Or at least with the 3rd one. I still wish they'd make a film about the Shrek Babies growing up, and having to move far away from their parents, and having to deal with anti-Ogre sentiment that they weren't accustomed to when they were younger.
 
That's a lot of Shrek movies. I kind of want to see his kids. I still don't think that Madagascar needs a sequel. I want to know what those other movies are going to be about.
 
Only thing I'm looking forward to in the Madagascar sequal is the second 2 PEZ despensers they reportedly made. I went crazy looking for the Penguin that was pictured on the box, and they just didn't make it.
 
BO performance= Just as great, sometimes better. Shrek 3 out performed Ratataoullie by quite a bit this year. That doesn't mean that they're better conceptually or anything like that. It just means just as many or more people are willing to see Dreamwork's films. Besides, Kids love Shrek. Even I admit he's got a charm to him. But then I don't want a Pixar vs Dreamworks debate.
 
HEH! I almost let that slide by me. I will say the best thing Dreamworks animation ever did was the cartoon series Toonsylvania. I enjoyed most of their stuff to date... but they REALLY need to go a different direction that Celebrity Cast, popculture reference, poo jokes, lather rinse repeat ad nauseum to make anything interresting lately.

Personally, I'm not going to even bother with any more Shrek films. it's like they want to make an animated series, but were afraid that they couldn't afford everyone to reprise their roles. At this point, a TV series is the way to go. They've pretty much exhausted everything in the third film. The random use of "Live and Let Die" at the king's funeral procession points it out. They're going to run out of random pop hits to build out a soundtrack. Let's hope they do. Writing an original song (or not having music in the product at all) won't kill them.
 
Makes me wonder about what they might call the fifth movie. Didn't the person who creted the first Shrek movie not want there to be sequels.
 
Back
Top