Howdy! This is PhantomStrider.
Ah, DreamWorks. The last creative stronghold to stand against the 200 ton steamroller
that is Disney and Pixar!
I personally enjoy their movies, when they're not doing... this.
♪ Da da dadadada circus! Da da dadadada afro!
Or this.
Just a little (beatboxing) old school!
But while DreamWorks sometimes used to pander or just give Disney and Pixar's whimsy the big middle finger,
they've really come to establish their own personal, unique identity over the years,
separate of Pixar or Disney.
And this identity includes sequels.
A lot of sequels.
And so many pop songs!
I'd play you some as an example, but YouTube would probably block them.
I'm not as big a fan of DreamWorks as I am of Pixar,
but in the last two decades, they've contributed so much to quality animation.
So let's check out what I consider the top 3 best and worst DreamWorks movies.
And obviously, even the worst of DreamWorks movies are considered childhood classics to many people.
And the bar is really high for them.
Anyway, on to the countdown.
If Shrek 2 was the equivalent to a beautifully cooked rotisserie chicken,
Shrek 3 is the equivalent to a moldy sack of potatoes.
I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, Fiona.
In comparison to its prequels, the writing and pacing on Shrek the Third is a joke.
It's more like what you'd see in a DVD-only Christmas special spinoff of the movie.
The dialogue is so poor on this one that it honestly feels like an insult to the characters we've grown to love.
The king John Cleese is given the most insulting death scene I've ever seen in a family movie.
(high-pitched wheezing)
I feel like on paper, Shrek the Third's story would've seemed like a good idea.
Shrek having to hunt down the next king in line while also having to deal with fatherhood.
"You're gonna love my dad. He's a real ogre."
Nobody said it was gonna be easy. But at least you got us to help you out.
Plus at the same time, Fiona has usurp an uprising from all the fairy tale villains you can imagine.
But unfortunately, what we got in execution was an awkward, clumsy,
sloppily-written and slowly-paced B-grade movie.
I can't quite tell who this was aimed at. The colors are too drowned out,
and the scenes are too slowly-paced to be aimed at kids.
But the jokes and writing are too dull to be aimed at adults.
And there's just some supremely awkward moments like this.
Euck.
Moments like this are scattered throughout the movie, and they're just gross, weird, and unpleasant.
But this one's at the start of the list because, frankly, I like the finale.
I think it's really cool how King Arthur settles the whole battle just using diplomacy.
It's the kind of ending I'd expect Steven Universe to have, and I was pretty impressed by it.
But overall, Shrek the Third was an unfortunate, clumsy, awkward mess.
And I certainly won't be watching it again.
Ah, back in the day, when a movie studio could make a 2D animation
and more than two people would show up to watch it.
Ah, good days. Well, not really.
Even if just in spectacle alone, Prince of Egypt is so memorable!
♪ You're playing with the big boys now
It's brutal, it's eerie, it's artistic, and it gives a surprisingly honest retelling of the story of Moses.
I appreciate that DreamWorks painted an honest picture of the Old Testament Christian God.
...And smite all the firstborn.
And the picture? Well, he was kind of evil.
(thunder)
Do you hear something?
The crazy part is, I originally saw this movie when I was 9.
And I still remember some of the scenes of this movie perfectly!
The growing sibling tension between Moses and Pharaoh.
I do not know this god.
Neither will I let your people go.
Ramses, please, you must listen.
I will not be the weak link!
The dark, mysterious magics of the Egyptians and the big guy!
There was no secret, underlying incentive to sell toys here.
Just an earnest effort to retell the original Christan text in a dramatic, honest, harrowing, and epic way.
Honestly, the only thing that bothers me about this movie is something I can't blame DreamWorks for.
And that's the story itself.
I guess I can blame ancient scribers 2,000 years ago?
I mean, when Pharaoh doesn't let Moses' people go, the big guy turns rivers to blood.
Blood!
Covers innocent people in boils, mass-murders the cows,
'cause, I don't know, maybe they were gloating. God hates gloaters.
Commits genocide on innocent children, and covers the city in locusts.
Yeah, whatever, God. Get the insects to fight your stupid battles for ya.
The big guy apparently works in mysterious, inefficient, and breathtakingly cruel ways.
You know what? I think we're done talking about this subject, haha.
My hands are in the air like I just do not care!
We've reviewed a lot of movies and cartoons in the past that took risks and failed horribly.
But what if there was a movie that took zero risks? Like, none?
Like, you'd take more of a risk walking out your bedroom door than Home did.
Frankly, it's the most homogenized, safely corporate Happy Meal of a movie DreamWorks has ever put out.
Aagh! The colors! It's so sickly bright!
How is this family-friendly?
Now you may be saying to yourself, "What are you talking about, Josh?
Of course this movie is insufferably family-friendly."
But the key word there is 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺-friendly.
This is the first 𝘬𝘪𝘥-friendly movie DreamWorks has made.
See, the key point in a family-friendly movie is that mom and dad can sit down with their children at the movies
and not feel like their brains are about to be smothered in mind-numbing, non-toxic Play-Doh for 90 minutes.
The entire movie can pretty much be summed up in one scene.
That's Home. A deflated but colorful balloon.
It's so sickly peaceful that anyone over the age of 10 will be pillow-smothered to death by the 5-minute mark,
entertaining only to those children at the rock bottom level of Piaget's cognitive development scale.
I mean, the idea of using an alien race to forcefully invade Earth,
turn the entire human race into refugees in the name of running from bloodthirsty alien predators
probably sounds like a good idea on paper.
Now watch it turn into something so saccharine and safe that even 4 Kids is cringing.
As for the story, well, have you ever wondered what it would be like if Sheldon
played a big alien purple dweeb?
Ahhh! And do not drink the lemonade!
Yet somehow they turned him into the equivalent of 50 layers of foam rubber.
That sly intricate subtext we've come to expect from DreamWorks movies is nowhere to be seen.
Leaving nothing even remotely gripping for the parents.
Only a cotton-candy flavored corporately-safe Play-Doh movie.
At no time in this movie will you feel tension, any emotion stirred in you beyond a... huh.
There's no risk. No one ever feels in any sort of danger.
In all fairness, there's nothing inherently wrong with Home's message.
It's just a standard message about friendship and being human and there's nothing wrong with that.
Shrek 2 is definitely among my absolute favorite DreamWorks movies.
What's interesting is it's actually about something you don't often see in fairy tale movies.
After happily ever after, when Fiona and Shrek get married and meet Fiona's parents.
And I know everyone's already said it, but hats off to Fiona and Shrek as a couple. They're lovely.
What I like is their relationship actually feels organic with challenges they each overcome
under the foundation that they love one another.
It's really beautiful, and it remains the best part of human or Shrek movies.
I feel like Shrek 2 smoothed out all the wrinkles that I didn't like about the original Shrek.
Donkey isn't too overbearing, Puss in Boots takes just enough of the spotlight to be enjoyable,
and I can really empathize with Shrek's personal plight.
Shrek 2 feels like a more adult take on the traditional fantasy world.
But not as juvenile as Shrek 1, because we're seeing real problems like marriage difficulties,
the kind you'd see in a real married couple.
I've made changes for you, Shrek.Think about that.
That's real smooth, Shrek.
"I'm an ogre! Aaaargh!"
I love the settings, I love the Fairy Godmother, the perfect pacing,
and I love that hint of adulthood in the writing that isn't nearly as obnoxious or juvenile as the original Shrek.
And just a hint of... lust.
Like most DreamWorks movies, it has an obligatory... 10 different pop songs?
But to their credit, most of them actually fit and work.
And it aged pretty well.
One of my favorite scenes is Shrek and Donkey getting arrested by the police. It's just brilliant.
(sirens) It's time for the men in steel to teach these madcap mammals their devil-may-mare attitudes just won't fly.
Why're you grabbing me? Ow! Police brutality! Police brutality!
And the epicness and intensity of when Shrek invades the ball at the end.
Gee, some of these Shrek movies have done good finales.
This is easily among the most epic finales I've seen in DreamWorks movies. It's just perfect.
The dialogue's witty, each character delivers perfectly,
the CG is just at that point in technology where it's lost that cheap look
but has that nice bloom sophistication to it,
hell, it even has John Cleese and Julie Andrews.
I couldn't ask for more from DreamWorks.
Shrek 2 is probably the most perfect fairy tale parody I've ever seen.
Look, it's celebrity voices with fish!
Will Smith, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Renee Zellweger, Jack Black,
and all of them are phoning it in.
They were given these roles not because they were suited to the characters,
but because DreamWorks wanted their names alone to get people into the theater seats.
Hell, the first two minutes of the into is dedicated to showing you the celebrity voice actor names.
There is barely any dialogue in this movie that delivers the plot in a meaningful way.
It doesn't serve any purpose apart from making non-inebriated adults roll their eyes.
Lookin' good, ladies.
Hey, Oscar!
Dance wit' me, momma! Let me see it!
♪ Tomorrow I'll be rich! C'mon Ang!
I don't mind the celebrity voices. It's just that they're all phoning it in like a million-dollar game show question.
It's just this endless barrage of lousy puns and jokes
all lining up one after the other to slap you in the face with a wet fish.
But honestly, I could've put all that aside except for one big problem.
Each character is so shallow and profoundly stupid!
The dialogue has the depth and complexity of a truck stop porno magazine.
Like, Oscar is ridiculously empty-headed.
And even though Angie's probably the character I dislike the least,
I still face-palm myself at her blinding trust of Oscar.
Will Smith's introduction is purely him talking to the camera
saying how wonderful you should feel to see him.
I'm Oscar. You might think you know, but you have no idea.
Like, it's okay. I believe you, DreamWorks.
I'm sure Will Smith is a very cool cat. Uh... fish.
I'm sure his penthouse is dig, y'all. Am I doing that correctly?
All I can think of when I hear Will Smith's lines is,
please, please stop trying to be hip!
It's like as bad as if I tried to be hip.
Dog.
You've heard the story before. Oscar wants to be a somebody, not a nobody,
but we already know Renee Zellweger's gonna teach him that being a nobody in society doesn't matter.
By the 10-minute mark, you can guess every plot twist.
I didn't like Oscar, I just felt bad for Angie.
It's only because the mafia acts uncharacteristically nice at the end
that Oscar weasels his way out of being in trouble.
Shark Tale is the biggest stain on DreamWorks' reputation. By far.
It almost feels at the level of a Sony movie.
And that's a bad insult to DreamWorks.
And as for the honorable and dishonorable mentions,
While I thought the overall philosophy was a bit confused,
I love how this movie makes martial arts approachable to kids.
I bet a lot of kids took up martial arts because of Kung Fu Panda.
It's a quality series and one of Jack Black's best roles.
This second sequel was frankly far better than it had any right to be.
I mean when you look at it, this looks like a garbage sequel.
This isn't a best or worst, it's just a sequel I like and wanted to mention it.
A beautiful change of direction for DreamWorks that reminds me a lot of Prince of Egypt.
It's once again an earnest attempt to just tell a story with no undercurrent motives or merchandise flaunting.
Whether it was or wasn't, it never actually felt money-driven. And I like that.
Eugh. This movie is a literal definition of a cringeworthy animated movie.
Even the concept itself is kind of awkward and uncomfortable.
Was there really that big a demand for this little guy to be played by Alec Baldwin?
But to their credit, this is DreamWorks' first average movie in a decade.
I'm sorry, I just enjoy this movie too much to hate it.
Sure Jerry's phoning it in, but I just got a ton of laughs from the memes
and the concept itself is so silly.
A bee falling in love with a human woman and suing everyone.
Yeah, why not.
Culturally, the Bee Movie actually gave us something and I appreciate that.
Anyway, on to #1.
And in my opinion, the #1 best DreamWorks movie is:
Now this, this is my kind of fantasy.
What's beautiful about How to Train Your Dragon movies is when I see them.
I don't feel like DreamWorks is trying to copy anything.
It's not like anything from Disney or Pixar. It's just a completely separate story that is visually stunning,
atmospheric, and just feels like a fresh new world I've never seen before.
Ready? -(growls)
The main character, Hiccup, feels like a unique protagonist
that doesn't fit any teenage stereotype I've ever seen.
He's diplomatic, brave, and emotional.
Yet still feels flawed, inexperienced, and believable enough to be relatable.
He's not the overly-brash teen stereotype.
Even in dangerous situations, Hiccup's always looking for the best in everyone.
And I like that about him. He almost reminds me of a more gritty Steven.
Watching these movies brought up questions for me.
It makes me think about the inherent loyalties between a man and a beast.
The line between instincts and humanity, and how much trust can we truly put in our companions?
Snap out of it!
Dad, No!
I actually feel immersed in the fantasy in these movies.
For a moment, you're in a far-off viking world, flying in the sky.
For a brief moment, I'm not sitting uncomfortably in a theater seat
wishing I hadn't drunk a large diet soda.
And jeebus, that scenery!
The rushing of the wind! The breathtaking sense of speed and the beautiful skies!
This movie did immersion and atmosphere perfectly!
How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2 were my absolute favorite DreamWorks movies.
And I personally consider them the greatest achievements of DreamWorks.
And honestly in recent years, DreamWorks is dominating the Netflix market
with shows like Dragons, Troll Hunter, and Voltron.
What I admire about DreamWorks movies is they've never been about perfectly tied-up endings.
Its movies are about realistic, human compromises, and I respect that so much.
In the ending, the hero might not be blissfully joyful, but simply content.
And that really shows the sophistication of what DreamWorks has tried to bring us over the years.
The new DreamWorks is nothing like Disney or Pixar,
and I'm really glad we still have them around to give us something different.
And if you think I missed a particularly bad or good DreamWorks movie,
feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments.
And as always, thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.