no love for this movie?

none.

Yeah, same here. Saw it in IMAX 3D and still thought it was mediocre at best. Full of the usual Dreamworks Cheap Laughs and lowest common denominator story-lines. The San Francisco action sequence was pretty cool, though.

you guys are heartless bastards. i thought it was great. you'll all burn in hell for this.

pretty sure these movies are designed for young children

no shit. it's an animated movie.

Animated movies should only be for kids then?

Where did i say that? Just because a movie is made for kids doesn't mean an adult can't enjoy it, but the majority of animated movies are intended for family viewing. Not specifically for kids, but the content is generally pretty universal and inoffensive so that it reaches the widest audience possible.

There are lots of movies out that may be designed for youngsters, but are plenty enjoyable for big boys. Pixar does an excellent job pleasing both audiences, Dreamworks is ok but sometimes I feel like they use great film actors who aren't made for voice-overs (although Shrek remains as one my favorite movies ever).

I'd like to see more animated films. Having no creative boundaries can lead to excellent filmmaking.

And at the same time, I think that having creative boundaries leads to excellent filmmaking, especially in terms of story and character. (see original SW trilogy vs prequels, for example)

I agree with points above about this "being for kids." I think that's a bullshit argument that forgives a lack of quality. Early Disney and today's Pixar films, for example, are "for kids" but they're incredibly good, many of them timeless classics even. The majority of Dreamworks' animated movies date themselves quickly through an over-reliance on pop-culture references and cheap gags instead of focusing on story and character. The original Shrek isn't bad and Kung Fu Panda was pretty good, but Monsters vs Aliens is a fun concept that used 3D to breath a little life into a one-dimensional movie.

I thought it was really good... I went with a friend and his two kids, so the infectiousness they brought to it probably helped.

I know what you mean. Bear in mind that you are only talking mainly the american market though. Japanese anime have a long track record of animated movies targetted specifically at adults and we've seen in the last two years some good adult animated movies coming from elsewhere like persepolis or waltz with bashir.

In any case, on the topic: I have not seen this one yet, but the last few Dreamworks stuff i've seen were seriously shitty. Pixar makes animated movies targetted at a general audience too, but at least they are creative and try to tell a well written story. Like someone mentionned above, Dreamworks just go for cheap laughs and the most basic-cliched storyline.

Well my original response was to Dev whom i'm assuming was referring to american made 3d animated movies from Pixar/Dreamworks/Sony/etc when he said "these movies". I'm aware that there are plenty of adult animated flicks out there too.



There's a definite hierarchy of these production companies in terms of quality wherein Pixar clearly does the best work. They are years ahead of their contemporaries in terms of technology and talent, not to mention the actual art of making a film. Dreamworks usually makes pretty good movies and i don't think they rely on cheap laughs any more than any other animated film. I will say that i thought this was one of their better movies (and they've had some stinkers lately).