Pixar and Dreamworks: A Comparison

[Wraith]

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=ighqpz&s=3

[TheKeck]

Eh, I think Dreamworks is more like this: We have hired famous actors X, Y, and Z. Let's make them voice animals.

[BlackPete]

Hey now, I liked Kung Fu Panda! And I was sure that I'd hate it because of the celebrity voice actors.

Having said that, I agree that Dreamworks is definitely a hit 'n' miss type of company whereas Pixar just keeps banging out high quality movies. Even their worst movie is still light years beyond the rest of Hollywood.

[Urizen]

I know it's difficult to imagine, but there was a time before Shrek 2 and Shrek 3, and we only understood the Shrek universe through Shrek 1. Shrek 1 was awesome.

Also, Kung Fu Panda is pretty damn good. The action and fight choreography are better than anything even Pixar has done - which disappointed me in that respect when it came to The Incredibles.

Pixar's consistency, and refusal to become complacent make them head and shoulders above probably any studio in the world, but it's silly to suggest no one has ever come close to even equaling them in anything, ever. As far as animals go, Pixar has done fish, rats and bugs.

[Ink Asylum]

I think what Dreamworks movies need to move away from are the dozens of lame self-aware jokes, fourth wall breaks, and lame stock phrases they use to make their characters seem hip and snarky. It's pretty much what that comic is mocking, and it's keeping their films from becoming as powerful and amazing as Pixar's.

Pixar isn't innocent of such antics, but they do it a lot rarely, and their worst offenses were from earlier films. Many of their recent films have left those types of gags behind. Wall-E is almost free of that kind of cheap humor. In fact, it's so noticeable in its absence that the one time they used such a line really stands out as unnecessary. It's during the scene where the ship is tilted and a bunch of babies are sliding down. One character says to another, "Get ready to have some kids!" and it's such a lame pun in an otherwise brilliant movie that it was like nails on a chalkboard.

Up is the same way. There are plenty of jokes, but they're natural and work in the dialog of the film. Again, there's one point where they go a little two far, with the dogs flying planes, but outside of that the rest of the movie is very natural, unforced humor.

[TheKeck]

I will also admit that I liked Shrek and Kung Fu Panda. The hyberbole has some truth to it, though.

[Suave Peanut]

Hah! I love this graphic every time I see it.

[KamaItachi]

For the record, I really liked Ants, even more than A Bug's Life. It was more of a Woody Allen movie than a Dreamworks CGI one anyway. The first Shrek was actually pretty good too, when they kept the story and jokes more about a Disney film gone wrong than pop-culture references. Overall through, Pixar are head an shoulders above pretty much any other animation studios.

[Widgetcraft]

Originally Posted by BlackPete

Hey now, I liked Kung Fu Panda

I hated that movie, sooo much... My girlfriend at the time made me see it. I tried giving it an honest chance (I think we had seen Wall-E like a week before), but it was a total mess of bad pacing and flat jokes. I'm not one of those Jack Black haters either, I expected to at least get a laugh from his shinanigans... but nothing came.

Anyhow, yes, I hate Dreamworks movies with the exception of the first Ice Age and the Skrat shorts.

EDIT: Oh, and those wacky spy/mercenary penguins...

Pixar is just win, in my book. I think they might be the only Western animation studio to move me emotionally.

[Voodoo]

When Dreamworks can make a movie as moving as UP, please do let me know. While Dreamworks is a very good studio, Pixar is an extremely awesome studio. The difficulty to connect someone to an animated object is extremely difficult and UP was able to accomplish this feat in its first 15 minutes.

Oh... Wall-E. Just sayin'.

[Ink Asylum]

I took four different people to see Wall-E in theaters at four different showings and I cried each time at the end. I would never expect that from a Dreamworks film.

[Ravenlock]

As someone who loves and really misses doing theatre - and who uses his compsci degree to completely non-artistic ends (partly because I have zero 3D or animation skill) - watching a Pixar movie makes me ache a little inside.

It's so painfully clear that every single person who works on those movies is an artist, in the best sense of the word. They make the kind of art a lot of people who get into live films aspire to make (and rarely do). And so far they manage to top themselves almost every time they try something new.

I don't know what they put in the water over there, but I hope they keep drinking it.

[Suave Peanut]

I cried four times during Up. I hesitate to watch it again, though I do love it so.

[Mike Kelehan]

What's the worst Pixar movie? Probably Bug's Life or Cars. Take that, and compare it to the best Dreamworks CG movie. I'd still go Pixar. Hell, they turned Toy Story 2 from a straight-to-DVD afterthought into a sequel that was arguably better than the first. I'd argue it. And not only is the humor stronger, but the best Pixar movies are some of the few things that can give me man tears*. The last shot in Monsters Inc. gets me every time.

*man tears - when your face feels like it's crying, but no actual liquid escapes, because we're not wired to cry about anything other than women

[Superman's Dead]

Sigged.

*sniffle*

[BLeeP]

Hey, a CG animation topic where no one gets the studios and their products mixed up with the exception of giving Dreamworks props for Ice Age (which is Fox). Anyway, I've always been most amused by the fact that Pixar comes up with a film, talks about it, and then one of the other companies makes a film concerning subject matter that is vaguely similar but nowhere near the same level.

[TheEpicOfTyler]

Pixar is making films. Everyone else is making cartoons.

[Wraith]

Originally Posted by Suave Peanut

Hah! I love this graphic every time I see it.

Now that I've searched, I see that this image has been around for a while (at least March 09). But today was the first I'd seen it.

[Widgetcraft]

Originally Posted by Katslover

Hey, a CG animation topic where no one gets the studios and their products mixed up with the exception of giving Dreamworks props for Ice Age (which is Fox).

Really? Then fuck Dreamworks. The only decent thing they did was those penguins.

[Shjinta]

Wow.. the only thing I enjoyed from Pixar was Toy Story, everything else made me question why they got so much acclaim.