The Ultimate DreamWorks Animation Film Guide: 2020 - 2024
Created | Updated Aug 16, 2024
1998-2004 |
2005-2009 |
2010-2014 |
2015-2019 |
2020-2024
Since 2016 DreamWorks Animation has been owned by NBC Universal. Although the studio's founder Jeffrey Katzenberg remained head of DreamWorks New Media, the studio was now controlled by Illumination Entertainment's CEO Chris Meledandri. NBC Universal hoped that the popularity of DreamWorks Animation particularly in China would be beneficial especially as they were constructing a Universal Studios theme park in Beijing.
Also mentioned is whether the films pass the Bechdel Test. This can be summarised as whether the film involves two or more female characters who have a conversation together that does not focus on men in general or specific male characters.
38. Trolls World Tour (2020)
| Director | Walt Dohrn |
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| Plot | Trolls belong to different tribes depending on what their musical tastes are. Queen Poppy, ruler of the Pop Trolls, learns of the existence of other types of trolls who have different musical tastes when Barb, Queen of the Hard Rock Trolls, plans to forcefully unite the six musical tribes of trolls (Classical, Country, Funk Pop, Rock and Techno, although Jazz, Reggaeton, K-Pop and Yodeling are mentioned) under Rock. She will do this by capturing six magical musical strings, with one string held by each musical tribe. Can Queen Poppy and Branch unite the tribes against Barb, and should music bring people together, or should differences be encouraged? |
| Length | 87 minutes |
| Setting | Troll World including Symphonyville, Lonesome Flats, Vibe City and Volcano Rock City |
| Inspiration | Troll dolls |
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| Music | Including
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| Bechdel Test | Pass |
| Logo | Celebrating 25th Anniversary DreamWorks Animation Also a scrapbook version of the logo with a rock guitar playing fisher boy |
Originally intended to be released in April 2020 in time for Easter, its release was affected by the Covid-19 outbreak which had closed cinemas worldwide. The film attracted controversy when Universal Pictures announced they would stream the film online on a pay-per-view basis and not release it in cinemas. This led to many cinema chains across the US and Odeon in the UK boycotting Universal films and announced they had no intention of releasing further Universal films in their cinemas in the near future, although in July it was announced that cinemas and Universal had reached a deal in which Universal films would be released in cinemas for a much shorter time than other films as long as they pursued a policy of releasing films online simultaneously with in cinemas. The film became the most successful digital-rental film that Universal have released, setting new records for films purchased to watch for one day only. The stars also were reported as pursuing legal action against Universal for loss of income as by the film bypassing cinemas they were not entitled to get box office bonuses. Following this, Trolls World Tour was only the seventh most successful animated film in 2020 at the box office1.
Director Walt Dohrn replaced Jeffrey Tambor as King Peppy, with Tambor having been accused of sexual misconduct in 2017 and 2018.
39. The Croods: A New Age (2020)
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This was the most successful English-language animated film of 2020 and third most successful overall, after Japan's Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Movie: Mugen Train and China's Beijing Enlight Pictures' Jiang Ziya: Legend Of Deification. This was the first time since 1987 that a country other than America has had the highest-grossing animated film of the year and the first time ever that the top two were non-American. 2020 was also the first year since 2005 for there not to be at least one animated film make over $600 million.
40. Spirit Untamed (2021)
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41. The Boss Baby 2: Family Business (2021)
| Director | Tom McGrath |
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| Plot | Tim Templeton has grown up, married and had two daughters of his own while his younger brother Ted has become a highly successful, but inaccessible, business man. After discovering his infant daughter Tina works for BabyCorp and, along with Ted, take a medicine that turns them back into babies in order to help expose dodgy goings on in Tabitha's school to discover what the school's founder, Dr Erwin Armstrong, is up to. |
| Length | 107 minutes |
| Setting | 21st-Century USA |
| Inspiration | The books by Marla Frazee, The Boss Baby (2010) & The Bossier Baby (2016) |
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| Music | Composed by Hans Zimmer
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| Bechdel Test | Pass |
| Logo | The fisher boy is part of a baby mobile |
This is at time of writing DreamWorks Animation's longest film, with 'Boss' often spelt as 'BO$$' in the marketing campaign. The film was released in July 2021. While it was still on release its star, Alec Baldwin, shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during the filming of a film, Rust, that he was both starring in and producing. The BabyCorp logo is now pink, as the new Boss Baby is Tim's daughter rather than his brother.
This was the fourth most-sueccessful animated film of the year, after Illumination's Sing 2, Dinsey's Encanto and Toho's Jujutsu Kaisen 0.
42. The Bad Guys (2022)
| Director | Pierre Perifel |
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| Plot | A group of carnivorous animals have spent all their lives stereotyped as being bad guys and so play on that image by hosting a succession of thefts. After an encounter with the city's new governor, Diane Foxington, the gang's leader, Mr Wolf, starts questioning whether they can be more than villains. After being captured by the police he proposes that the gang undergo a rehabilitation course lead by the city's philanthropist Professor Marmalade, while telling the gang secretly plan to merely make people think they have reformed before committing a heist of a valuable trophy. Is Mr Wolf really a bad guy or good boy after all, and who is the real villain? |
| Length | 100 minutes |
| Setting | World populated by humans and anthropomorphic animals |
| Inspiration | The Bad Guys book series by Aaron Blabey (2015+) |
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| Music | Score by Daniel Pemberton, who co-wrote songs:
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| Bechdel Test | Pass |
| Logo | Mr Wolf climbs up to the moon and sits on it |
The book series' character of Mr Tarantula aka 'Legs' has been renamed Ms Tarantula aka Webs for this film. The film was the third biggest box office success for a 2022 animated film, after Minions: The Rise of Gru and Puss In Boots: The Last Wish.
43. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
| Director | Joel Crawford with Januel Mercado |
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| Plot | After arrogantly waking, and defeating, the Sleeping Giant of Del Mar, Puss in Boots is killed. He learns he has used eight of his nine lives and the next time he dies, it will be fatal. Soon after he encountering a sinister, black-hooded wolf who easily outmatches him, making Puss scared for his life for the first time. He flees, and hides in the home of a cat woman. Shortly afterwards he encounters Goldilocks and the Three Bears, who want to steal the map to the remains of a magical Wishing Star which can grant one wish. The map is owned by Big Jack Horner, who has grown-up with a successful pie business and collects magical objects. Also after the Wishing Star is Puss's former fiancé Kitty Softpaws, who Puss left at the altar. Aided by a stray dog they nickname Perrito, Puss and Kitty decide to work together. Who will get to the Wishing Star and have their wish granted? |
| Length | 102 minutes |
| Setting | Central Americanesque fairytale kingdom |
| Inspiration | Traditional Fairytale Character combined with Zorro |
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| Music | Composed by Heitor Pereira, song 'Fearless Hero' by Heitor Pereira, Dan Navarro and Paul Fisher |
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| Bechdel Test | Pass |
| Logo | New logo showing the fisher boy encountering various DreamWorks Animation characters |
There are numerous similarities between this film and The Amazing Maurice, which was released earlier in 2022. Both involve anthropomorphic animals in a fantasy world with cats planning on a final score, only to encounter the personification of Death and discuss the number of lives that they have left. This film was the second most successful 2022 animated film, after Minions: The Rise of Gru.
44. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023)
| Director | Kirk DeMicco |
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| Plot | Fifteen-year-old Ruby Gillman lives with her family in Oceanside, trying to fit in despite being a kraken, telling everyone that she is Canadian. After being forbidden to go to the Prom by her mum, Ruby saves her love interest Connor after he falls into the sea by jumping in after him, only to turn into a giant kraken. Connor believes he was saved by the school's new girl Chelsea Van Der Zee while Ruby tries to hide in the library as her transformation continues. Soon Ruby learns that her grandmother is the warrior queen of the Kraken and had won a war against the mermaids, with her mother hiding the mermaids' weapon the Trident of Oceanus somewhere only a giant kraken can hide it. Upset that she has been lied to all her life and left unaware of the true nature of her kraken heritage, she befriends Chelsea when she reveals that she is a mermaid. |
| Length | 91 minutes |
| Setting | Oceanside, generic American seaside town, and Kraken kingdom beneath the sea |
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| Music | Soundtrack by Stephanie Economou, songs:
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| Bechdel Test | Pass |
| Logo | The fisher boy encountering various DreamWorks Animation characters with the reflection turning into jellyfish |
This film bombed at the box office, making back only half its production cost. It isn't a bad film, but it is a very generic one telling a story that had previously been better told by Pixar with Luca and Turning Red. Instead of Turning Red's tale of a young teen girl who loves maths and has a domineering mother (who has her own mother issues), and is forbidden from attending a concert with her friends shortly after discovering boys and turning into a giant panda whenever she gets emotional, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a film of a young teen girl who loves maths and has a domineering mother (who has her own mother issues), and is forbidden from attending prom with her friends shortly after discovering boys and turning into a giant kraken whenever she gets emotional. Timed to be released at the same time as Disney's live action The Little Mermaid, the film seems in some places a remake of dreadful sequel The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, only with mermaids as the villains and multi-tentacled creatures the heroines.
45. Trolls Band Together (2024)
| Director | Walt Dohrn |
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| Plot | Poppy learns that as a child, Branch used to be in a popular family boyband called BroZone until clashing egos prevented them from singing in perfect harmony and the band split up. Branch was abandoned to be raised by his grandmother. At Bridget and Gristle's wedding, Branch is told by his oldest brother John Dory that their brother Floyd has been kidnapped. The kidnappers are Velvet and Veneer, two Mount Rageon teenagers who are extracting Floyd's talent to become famous stars themselves, in a process that will kill Floyd. The only way to rescue Floyd from his diamond prison is by singing in Perfect Family Harmony, so Branch must travel to bring his brothers back together. |
| Length | 91 minutes |
| Setting | World populated by Trolls |
| Inspiration | Thomas Dam's Troll dolls |
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| Bechdel Test | Pass |
| Logo | The Fisher Boy flies on the crescent moon passing several DreamWorks Animation characters, leading to a scrapbook version of the logo |
This film contains numerous references to 90s and 2000s boy bands, with *NSYNC releasing a new song for this film and cameoing at the end. This was the ninth most successful animated film of 20232. It also contains some sequences inspired by Yellow Submarine and Fantasia.
46. Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)
| Director | Mike Mitchell |
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| Plot | Master Shifu tells Po that his time as Dragon Warrior is ending and he should let someone else have a turn, while becoming Spiritual Leader instead. Po refuses to appoint a successor, but then encounters a fox called Zhen trying to steal from the Jade Palace. Po catches Zhen but when he learns that Tai Lung has seemingly come back from the dead, Zhen tells him that it was a sorceress called the Chameleon, and only she can help Po find her. The Chameleon plans to use her powers to steal the Kung Fu from dead Kung Fu masters. Po and Zhen travel to Juniper City, unaware that Po's fathers are following as they are both worried about him. Can Po trust Zhen, and will he be able to find a suitable successor for the role of Dragon Warrior? |
| Length | 94 minutes |
| Setting | Valley of Peace and Juniper City, in a mediæval China populated by anthropomorphic animals |
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| Music | Composed by Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro |
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| Bechdel Test | Pass |
Announced as the first film in a new Kung Fu Panda trilogy, many characters from the first three films do not appear, such as Master Ogwai. Many characters have no lines so that the actors do not appear, such as is the case with the Furious Five and many of the villains from Po's past who have been summoned from the dead, including Kai from Kung Fu Panda 3. Curiously the Chameleon has also summoned Lord Shen to steal his Kung Fu, even though Shen had gained his power through having cannon rather than learning Kung Fu.
