DreamWorks Animation SKG

[Chaos Warp]

What's this about? There last meh movie was probably Monsters vs. Aliens. They make good shit all the time.

See Turbo.

The Croods, which was freaking awesome.

Huh. Never saw The Croods so I can`t really judge. 

[Nepenthe]

Wow, we're judging their entire output on a movie that hasn't been released yet.

You also admit to not seeing their last movie, much less even being aware of it since you had to ask the question, meaning you've displayed a serious lack of knowledge on their recent library and made a negative judgement call anyway.

I'm kinda flabbergasted.

[Chaos Warp]

Wow, we're judging their entire output on a movie that hasn't been released yet.

You also admit to not seeing their last movie, much less even being aware of it since you had to ask the question, meaning you've displayed a serious lack of knowledge on their recent library and made a negative judgement call anyway.

I'm kinda flabbergasted.

I knew about The Croods, I just didn't know it was their latest. That's why I made that call. 

[KHCast]

I saw this on a website, and the title was "How to train your Dragon 2 trailer! Hiccup is sexy!" I was scared to click it. Nonetheless YESS!

[Nepenthe]

I knew about The Croods, I just didn't know it was their latest. That's why I made that call.

Even assuming Turbo was their latest movie, you are still refusing to take into account: The Croods, Rise of the Guardians, Madagascar 3, Kung Fu Panda 2, etc. Point being, they more than not make good movies, so your comment was misguided.

[Chaos Warp]

Even assuming Turbo was their latest movie, you are still refusing to take into account: The Croods, Rise of the Guardians, Madagascar 3, Kung Fu Panda 2, etc. Point being, they more than not make good movies, so your comment was misguided.

 

 

I didn't really like Rise Of The Guardians or Madagascar 3 so opinion wise that leaves 1 good movie (to me), 2 not so good movies and one I never saw. So if we're talking about opinions then my original statement still stands. 

[Wraith]

 

 

A shot of Hiccup and Astrid's redesigns for How to Train Your Dragon 2. 

Dayum.

[KHCast]

DAMN they look really awesome all grown up! Like wow.0_0

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

I never knew Dreamworks made so many films. Now to think of it I watched Antz, The Prince of Egypt, Monsters vs. Aliens, all Shrek films, Chicken Run and Shark Tale. Which an exception of Shrek and Monsters (because I played the game and then wanted to watch the film) I thought Dreamworks was going downhill after watching...Over the Hedge. Over the Hedge was so boring that 13 minutes in to the film I just quit.

 

Then Kung Fu Panda 2 happened. Which was a superb movie that made me wanted to watch the first one. It's funny this thread revived when I just picked up Madagascar 2 days ago. It's the only major Dreamworks franchise I ignored until recently. Watched all 3 films and I don't know why I ignored them in the first place. I guess the title 'Madagascar' has lost its meaning from the second film, but you know - so did Ice Age.

[Johnny Boy]

Loving those redesigns, and since the guys at dreamworks said that the sequels might explore dragons from different cultures, does anybody think we might see some Chinese Dragons?

Edited July 12, 2013 by Johnny Boy

[Sean]

Astrid looks kinda weird but Hiccup makes me swoon

Dragons 2 is gonna rock so hard, that teaser got me hyped but I'm gonna go on a media blackout on it from this point on. I'd love to go into the movie totally surprised and unknowing of what's to come, just like I had with the first film.

[Mogtaki]

Hiccup is scarily close to doing the Dreamworks eyebrow in that picture.

 

Pleeeaaaase don't make him do the eyebrow thing...

[LATER BUDDY]

Oh my gawwwwdddd

 

That trailer was intense, and super reminiscent of one of my favorite scenes from the last movie, which was the soundtrack part called "Test Drive." Could tell from the start that Hiccup looked a bit older, but as soon as he took his helmet off, I found my self questioning my sexuality for a second LOL.

 

REALLY hope this movie lives up to my expectations since I don't think I could settle for anything less than the original movie brought me. I hope the older cast makes excuse to maybe make the plot a bit more serious as well, since some of the most heart wrenching moments of the last film were pretty serious, for me anyways.

 

However, film aside, I'm looking forward to the soundtrack the most. Powell is my favorite composer and always get all the feels with his animated film scores, How to Train Your Dragon being one of the top examples, <3. I don't know if my eyes can handle another "forbidden friendship" D;!

[SilentDoom]

How to Train Your Dragon 2 Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSeLIHSqFAE

 

To quote from the video "THIS IS AMAZING"

 

Also another shot of Hiccup:

 

Edited July 17, 2013 by SiLeNtDo0m

[SuperStingray]

I just saw Turbo.  Much like Pokemon, it's entertaining only until you start thinking too hard about the moral.  If you're looking for a decent summertime family movie with an entertaining cast and lighthearted fun, it delivers, but the story is basically one deus ex machina after another.  Be sure to tell your kids when its over that inhaling a ton of nitrous oxide is NOT how you're supposed to "follow your dreams."

Edited July 18, 2013 by Stingray 64

[Nepenthe]

Yeah, I saw one review where they said it can be misconstrued as an endorsement for PEDs, so I'm thinking:

Turbo loses his powers at some point and has to dunk himself back in some nitrous oxide in time for the big race. They even kinda hint at it in the new trailer when one of the snails asks him, "What if you wake up and your powers are gone?"

Regardless, I didn't think it was going to be a massive failure, but just like you said: light, fun entertainment that's competent enough to save itself from the depths that things like Alpha and Omega sunk to.

[Emperor Robrainiac]

Turbo really gives me the feeling of Cars meets Ratatoullie meets a Bug's Life.

 

I don't think it looks like a bad movie at all, but at the same time, I dunno if it's something I'd be interested in.

 

I am looking forward to HtTYD 2 though!

[Mogtaki]

Turbo? A summertime film?

 

It's not even out here in the UK until October. I don't understand why Dreamworks do this but it's bloody annoying. While I have heard that Turbo is a film you either like or don't like, I'm still going to get pissed off at Dreamworks for releasing films when they're just about to appear on DVD in the US.

 

Do they want to encourage us to pirate films, or something?

[Nepenthe]

^ DreamWorks is hardly the only studio culpable in setting different international release dates. It's an industry habit overall; one that probably had a reason for existing before the digital age and is slow in being shook off.

 

But the elephant in the room is: Who the hell is pirating Turbo? xP

 

Anyway, an interesting news story has cropped up concerning from comments from Brenda Chapman, the co-director of Brave who recently returned to DreamWorks:

 

Yesterday’s New York Times delivered a glowing profile of DreamWorks chief creative officer Bill Damaschke. The pieces describes how CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg is relinquishing oversight of creative matters to Damaschke, who for his part is trying to make the studio more creator-friendly.

 

It reads like your typical puff piece until it gets to the part about Brenda Chapman. The article reveals that Chapman, who co-directed the first DreamWorks film The Prince of Egypt before jumping to Pixar where she made Brave, has recently returned to DreamWorks. First, Chapman explains why she left DreamWorks:

 

“I left in part because I felt like I was being asked to do the same story over and over. I look at the movies DreamWorks is doing now, and I see the exact opposite happening.”

Then, it gets juicy when she places the blame for her removal as director of Brave squarely on the shoulders of John Lasseter:

 

She was pushed out of Pixar after clashing with that studio’s chief creative officer, John Lasseter. Although she could have joined another studio, she said she chose to return to Glendale in part because of Mr. Damaschke, who started at DreamWorks Animation in 1995 as a production assistant on The Prince of Egypt.

 

“As Jeffrey has gained experience and age, and DreamWorks has grown, he has stepped back and allowed other people to run creative,” Ms. Chapman said. “At Pixar, it’s all John’s show.” She added of DreamWorks Animation, “you can butt heads here and not be punished for it, unlike at another place I could name.”

 

It’s not exactly news that there was some kind of a conflict between Lasseter and Chapman, but it begins a new chapter in the story when Chapman publicly claims that Lasseter’s micromanagement was the cause of her rift with Pixar. And on another note, who would have ever thought that directors like Chapman and Chris Sanders would begin migrating to DreamWorks for its liberal creative environment. In the animation world, the times they are a-changing.

 

Source

 

Not surprising how she feels about John Lasseter; I've had a bone to pick with him over how Bolt ended up, which in turn caused Chris Sanders to also leave and subsequently dish out How to Train Your Dragon. Also not surprising that Pixar is being framed as the stuffier of the two companies; we get comments from our teachers all the time about how the old guard remaining at the studio isn't all that receptive to the up-and-coming employees. All just the same, it's interesting to see someone with experience in both companies basically point out what the public's been saying about the two for awhile now.

[...]

DreamWorks has revealed some new info for their upcoming film, Home. It's set for release on November 26, 2014.

 

There hasn’t been much talk of DreamWork’s upcoming 2014 film Home (formerly Happy Smekday!), but recently there’s been quite a bit of news. In addition to casting announcements of Steve Martin and Jennifer Lopez joining Rhianna and Jim Parsons on the cast, we now got a first look at the logo and characters. The photos come from a press screening DreamWorks’ held for NATO members in Washington DC. How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Mr. Peabody & Sherman were screened and Home was briefly talked about showing these little gems of photos.

 

 

Title Treatment for DreamWorks Animation’s ‘Home’

 

The logo is quirky and a bit more exciting than the film’s boring name. The film is a space adventure about aliens who attempt to populate earth; however, the logo alone doesn’t really give audiences a good idea about what this film is about. Also, the flying car behind the logo feels very Harry Potter.

 

 

We also got to see our first look at the film’s two main characters, namely Boov the alien and Tip. The film is marketed as “not your standard post-apocalyptic-alien-invasion-buddy-comedy.” (There’s a standard?) I really like Tip’s design and even Boov, although they do come off a bit kiddish. Actually, that’s the general feeling I’m getting from Home so far based on these two simple shots: that it’s a movie for kids. Hopefully, as more marketing materials come out, the movie will surprise us and will be entertaining for both kids and adults.

 

 

Here is the official synopsis:

 

DreamWorks Animation’s “Home” is not your standard post-apocalyptic-alien-invasion-buddy-comedy. When Earth is taken over by the overly-confident Boov, an alien race in search of a new place to call home, all humans are promptly relocated (Captain Smek optimistically declares “Relocation is fun and mandatory!”), while all Boov get busy efficiently reorganizing the planet (“You’re welcome”). But when one resourceful girl, Tip, (Rihanna) manages to avoid capture, she finds herself the accidental accomplice of a banished Boov by the name of Oh (Jim Parsons). Equally stubborn and set in their ways, these two fugitives realize there’s a lot more at stake than intergalactic relations as they embark on the road trip of a lifetime. Good thing they have a flying car. Home is DreamWorks third film slated for next year. It will be released November 26, 2014.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Felix

[Sean]

The only thing that catches my eye is the fact that the main human lead is a non-white female. Not a common sight in the field.

[Nepenthe]

I had no idea this film even existed. And a black female protagonist? It's at risk for failing hard. Whoa, I don't remember ordering the daily surprise with a side of progression. I'm not sure how to feel about the plot, although I admit the whole "aliens take over and relocate humanity" angle sounds unique.

[Johnny Boy]

A black female protagonist? Well this is rather surprising, although I am a bit skeptical about casting Rihanna.

[...]

 

So yeah, this is DreamWork's first of their three films to be released in 2014, with How To Train Your Dragon 2 following in June, and Home in November. Have some images.

 

I have no knowledge of Peabody's Improbable History (which this is based on), but I must say that the art style has at least caught my eye. It looks very wacky and cartoonish, and the aesthetic in general from the images released so far just looks pleasing. Me likey.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Felix

[Celestia]

I have very little knowledge of Peabody's Improbable History, but yeah, I like the art style. I wonder how it looks in motion?