We’ve got quite a fun one for you today here on RhodeIsland Movie Corner. In what will ultimately be the last singular-focusedinstallment of our DreamWorks Retrospectives series before we move on to thebulk of the studio’s filmography, we’ll be exploring the unique time incinematic history when DreamWorks Animation briefly dabbled in the process ofmaking traditionally animated films. Yes, it may be surprising for some of youto learn that the studio that helped spearhead the rise of computer animation tothe point where it won the first-ever Oscar for Best Animated Feature alsoproduced a couple of traditionally animated films in the late 90s and early2000s. As we’ll soon see, however, there is, unfortunately, a significantreason as to why this was only just a ‘brief’ part of their history. As itturns out, DreamWorks and their fellow computer animation catalysts over at Pixarwere a bit TOO good at revolutionizing animated films; as a result,traditionally animated films started to be seen as obsolete and, thus, began tounderperform financially. Pixar’s parent company Disney experienced a few flopssuch as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet and DreamWorks’own traditionally animated films suffered as well to the point where, after oneflop too many, CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg promptly made it clear that the studiowould only make computer animated films from here on out. Nevertheless, thefilms that we’ll be looking at today have managed to spawn their own uniquecult followings over the years, which will make it genuinely interesting to seehow well they hold up. And so, without further ado, Rhode Island Movie Corner invitesyou to travel back to a time full of biblical heroes, smooth-talking conartists, and the fantastical adventures of one of the most famous seafarers inall of fiction as it presents its retrospective on DreamWorks Animation’s traditionallyanimated films.
THE PRINCE OFEGYPT (1998)
Today’s story begins with a film that is not only arguablythe most successful of DreamWorks’ traditionally animated films, but one thatmany would consider to be up there amongst the studio’s best, The Prince ofEgypt, an animated retelling of one of the most famous stories from theBible, the Book of Exodus. For the unfamiliar, it is the story of Moses, aHebrew man who, as a newborn child, was sent away by his family so that hecould be saved from an Egyptian-enforced genocide against all Hebrew newborns.Ultimately taken in by the Royal Family, Moses grows up to become a Prince ofEgypt but, upon realizing his true heritage and the full extent of the horrors thathave been waged against his people, becomes God’s chosen prophet to save hispeople from their oppression, even if it means going against the Pharaoh, hisadoptive brother Rameses. As noted earlier, the Book of Exodus is one of themost well-known biblical narratives; as such, it has been translated to thescreen many times before, including, most famously, the 1956 epic The TenCommandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Charlton Heston asMoses and Yul Brynner as Rameses. It was a story that DreamWorks CEO JeffreyKatzenberg had wanted to adapt into an animated film for years; unfortunatelyfor him, any attempts to do so when he was Walt Disney Studios’ chairman werepromptly shut down by Disney’s then-CEO Michael Eisner. It wasn’t until heformed DreamWorks alongside Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in 1994 that asuggestion from Spielberg finally let the project see the light of day as thefirst official project of DreamWorks’ animation division under the direction ofthe trio of Brenda Chapman, the first woman to direct a studio-backed animatedfilm who would later go on to co-direct Pixar’s Brave, Steve Hickner, aformer Disney animator who worked for Spielberg’s short-lived animation studioAmblimation, and Simon Wells, a fellow Amblimation alum who also happens to bethe great-grandson of famous author H.G. Wells.
Despite a few hubbubs with its scheduled release date due tothe controversies surrounding DreamWorks’s other animated release of the year, Antz,The Prince of Egypt opened to solid critical and commercial success uponits release in December of 1998, earning over $218 million worldwide andnetting positive reviews from critics. Since then, though, it has become evenmore beloved, namely for being a much different kind of project compared towhat DreamWorks Animation would start to make after the success of Shrekin 2001. Yes, despite being an animated film full of musical numbers and a fewinstances of comic relief (namely by way of Pharaoh Rameses’ devious advisorsHotep and Huy), The Prince of Egypt treats its source material asseriously as possible. As a result, it is an emotionally driven drama that’snot afraid to go to some truly dark narrative places, and at the center of thisepic plot is the biggest source of its emotional heft; a tragic tale of two brotherstorn apart by fate. On one side, you have Moses, the reluctant yet dedicatedleader of his people, and on the other, his brother Rameses who, despite hismercilessly cruel attitude toward the Hebrews, is still just a man burdenedwith intensely harsh expectations to be a strong ruler for Egypt and, toparaphrase his father, not be the “one weak link [that] will break the chain ofa mighty dynasty”. This great material is all handled brilliantly by anall-star voice cast headlined by Val Kilmer as Moses (who also serves as theuncredited voice of God, thus resulting in a uniquely softer take on the Almightycompared to other biblical adaptations) and Ralph Fiennes’ chillingly powerfulturn as Rameses.
On the technical side of things, the film’s mix of 2-D and3-D animation produces some incredibly beautiful imagery, especially when itcomes to its utterly captivating recreations of some of the most prominentmoments from Exodus (the burning bush, the Plagues, the parting of the Red Sea,etc.). Then there’s the film’s incredible soundtrack, which applies to both itsscore and musical numbers. The score, courtesy of the legendary Hans Zimmer, deliversa wonderful assortment of somber emotional beats and epic orchestral pieces,while the songs, courtesy of future Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, doan excellent job of being more than just your typical big, flashy musicalnumbers. Instead, they feel like natural complements to their correspondingsequences, whether it’s the poignant ballad ‘When You Believe’ that’s tied tothe moment where Moses leads his people out of Egypt (and was also the winnerof that year’s Oscar for Best Original Song) or the epic dueling duet betweenMoses and Rameses that plays over ‘The Plagues’. With all this in mind, it’seasy to see why The Prince of Egypt has evolved into being not only oneof the best films to come out of DreamWorks Animation but also one of the mostacclaimed animated films of its time. Buoyed by a strong sense of emotionalmaturity that’s an appropriate fit for its biblical source material, this is afilm that works regardless of one’s religious beliefs as its top-notchanimation and strong voice cast that brings its deeply layered characters tolife produces a powerful viewing experience that can legitimately give TheTen Commandments a run for its money as the best film adaptation of the Bookof Exodus.
Rating: 5/5!
THE ROAD TO ELDORADO (2000)
Historical settings would turn out to be a recurring factorin DreamWorks’ traditionally animated films as evident from the second of theseendeavors, The Road to El Dorado, directed by the duo of Eric ‘Bibo’Bergeron, a French-born animator who got his start working on France’s Asterixseries, and Don Paul, a longtime animation visual effect artist who hadpreviously worked on several Disney and Don Bluth productions. Set in 1519amidst Hernán Cortés’ journey to the New World,the film follows a pair of charismatic con artists named Miguel and Tulio whocome across a map to the mythical lost city of gold, El Dorado. Against allodds, the two manage to reach their destination, where they end up partaking intheir most daunting con yet when the people of El Dorado mistakenly believethem to be gods. But unlike The Prince of Egypt and DreamWorks’ otheranimated release of 2000, the Aardman-produced smash hit that was ChickenRun, The Road to El Dorado ended up being quite a major bust for thestudio. On a hefty $95 million budget, the film only made a little over $76million at the box office and only managed to garner mixed reviews at best fromcritics. Not only that, but in the years since its release, many of thoseinvolved with the film, ranging from Will Finn, one of the film’s originaldirectors alongside future Simpsons Movie director David Silvermanbefore the two left the project in 1998 due to creative differences with thestudio, to screenwriters Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio have expressed theirdisappointment with the film due to its chaotic production. Reportedly, thefilm underwent several tonal changes throughout its production,originally starting out as a more dramatic picture like The Prince of Egypt beforeJeffrey Katzenberg opted to turn it into a buddy comedy inspired by Bob Hopeand Bing Crosby’s Road to… films.
Admittedly, a lot of the signs of this film’s variousproduction problems are apparent in the final product, such as the widelydebated issue about the film’s target demographic given that it features someof the most risqué adult jokes to ever come out of a film intended for youngeraudiences. But aside from that, one could also argue that this is one of thosefilms that would be rather impossible to redo today unless some significantnarrative changes were made since it does rely on a few heavily dated tropessuch as the infamous ‘white savior’ narrative or the fact that the film’sfemale lead Chel sadly ends up getting downgraded into being a love interestfor Tulio. But when it comes to the main reason why many consider this to be acult classic, it's a simple answer; Miguel and Tulio. Simply put, these two area fantastic comedic duo and Kevin Kline (Tulio) and Kenneth Branagh (Miguel)have phenomenal onscreen chemistry, undoubtedly helped by the fact that theygot to record their lines together rather than separately as is usually thecase in animation. And while I can’t say that this film’s animation hasparticularly aged that well, it does, at least, boast a nice vibrant colorpalette and this is then all paired with some fun songs courtesy of the one andonly Elton John and his Lion King collaborator Tim Rice. As a result, TheRoad to El Dorado is a solidly entertaining comedic adventure that, whileundoubtedly showing its age in many places, still works thanks to its hilariouslead duo.
Rating: 4/5
SPIRIT: STALLIONOF THE CIMARRON (2002)
Prince of Egypt story artists Kelly Asbury and LornaCook would team up to direct DreamWorks’ next traditionally animated feature, Spirit:Stallion of the Cimarron. Set across the untamed vistas of the Americanfrontier in the 19th century, the film follows the titular Mustangas he finds himself separated from his herd when he is captured by members ofthe United States Cavalry. Eventually bonding with a young Lakota man named LittleCreek and his mare Rain, Spirit begins his long journey to not only escape fromhis cruel captors but to also protect his home from the Cavalry’s attempts to takecontrol of the land. The film did relatively well with critics upon its releaseon Memorial Day Weekend in 2002 and even managed to garner an Oscar nominationfor Best Animated Feature. And while its $122.6 million haul was seen asunderwhelming (unlike The Road to El Dorado, however, it did, at least,surpass its $80 million budget), it would eventually go on to spawn a computer-animated TV spin-off in 2017, Spirit Riding Free, which would then go onto spawn a feature film adaptation in 2021, Spirit Untamed. This wasalso notably the first of the films we’re covering today that I did see intheaters; in fact, I still remember going to see this with my mom at our localdrive-in. However, I will also fully admit that one of the main reasons why Istill remember that showing is because, all throughout the film, I frequentlytook a glance over at the film that my brother and dad were watching on theadjacent screen… which, for the record, was Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man film.That, folks, should give you an idea of just how big of a deal thatfilm was at the time.
But what about the film that I was supposed tobe seeing that night? Well, for starters, of all of DreamWorks’ traditionallyanimated films, this may potentially be the one that has arguably aged the bestwhen it comes to its animation thanks to some incredibly beautiful visuals thatwonderfully highlight the natural beauty of its Old West setting. And unlike alot of animated films centered on animals, this film makes the wise decision tohave its animal protagonists remain silent throughout, thus resulting in it nothaving to rely on a celebrity voice cast; something that, admittedly, is quitecommonplace in DreamWorks films. Matt Damon does provide some reflective narrationin the role of Spirit, but thankfully it’s not overused that much even ifDamon’s narration is almost entirely made up of matter-of-fact statements. Instead,the film lets its visuals speak for themselves, for the most part, all whilebeing accompanied by a solid soundtrack. That said, though, this statementapplies more to the rousing score by Hans Zimmer (in his third appearance intoday’s retrospective; he also did the score for Road to El Dorado)rather than the songs by Bryan Adams. To be clear, Adams’ songs aren’t ‘bad’,but whereas songs like the main theme ‘Here I Am’ and ‘I Will Always Return’ arepleasantly tranquil tunes, the more rock-heavy tunes like ‘You Can’t Take Me’and ‘Get Off My Back’ (AKA the ones that weren’t co-written by Hans Zimmer) feela bit out of place or even a little unnecessary. In other words, this isbasically the equivalent of those who aren’t fans of the songs that PhilCollins wrote for Tarzan and Brother Bear… it’s just that I thinkthat Collins’ songs, as polarizing as they are, were integrated into theirrespective films much more efficiently.
My history with Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron canbest be described as complicated at best. While I did own this film on DVD, Ididn’t rewatch it as much as I did with the likes of other DreamWorks films atthe time such as the first two Shrek films and Madagascar. And,of course, as I noted earlier, when I saw this in theaters... I was largelypreoccupied with the era-defining superhero film that was playing next door. Despiteall this, however, having now rewatched this film for the first time in yearsto give it the full attention that it deserves, I was pleasantly reminded ofhow quite arguably the best thing that this film has going for it nowadays ishow effortlessly cute it is, which I do mean in a positive manner. Animallovers will undoubtedly find a lot to love about this film, not only because ofall the immensely satisfying instances where the clever Spirit gets to overcomeany of the obstacles that are thrown at him by his cruel oppressors, but becausethe film’s non-reliance on a voice cast helps to complement the simple yet satisfyingexperience of watching its animal protagonists in their natural environment. Assuch, the film is admittedly less successful at all this when it tries to incorporatesome narration and songs into its proceedings that frequently run the risk ofbeing utterly superfluous, but that doesn’t stop Spirit: Stallion of theCimarron from being a beautifully animated addition to the DreamWorks canon.
Rating: 4/5
SINBAD: LEGEND OFTHE SEVEN SEAS (2003)
Finally, we have Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas,directed by the duo of Tim Johnson, co-director of DreamWorks’ firstofficially-released endeavor Antz, and Patrick Gilmore, who was known morefor his work as a video game producer who worked on several games based onDisney’s animated films and a few Spielberg-backed productions such as the LostWorld: Jurassic Park video game and the Medal of Honor series. Based,of course, around the famous mariner of Arabian folktales, Sinbad the Sailor,the film follows the swashbuckling rogue as he journeys to the dangerous realmknown as Tartarus to retrieve a mythical artifact known as the Book of Peacewhen it is stolen from the city of Syracuse, thus putting Sinbad in a time-sensitivesituation when his old friend Proteus takes responsibility for its abduction. However,as we’ve hinted at throughout this entire retrospective, this film ended uphaving the unfortunate distinction of being the one that was most responsiblefor the end of DreamWorks’ era of traditionally animated films. Sure, it had a relativelymodest budget of only $60 million compared to the more expensive Road to ElDorado and Spirit, and it did end up performing more like the latterrather than the former by at least making its budget back. But with a final totalof only $80 million at the worldwide box office, this led to one of the heftiestfinancial write-downs that any film studio had ever experienced at the time,with DreamWorks being hit with a loss of over $125 million. The studio nearlywent bankrupt as a result and CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg effectively shuttered any furtherplans to make a traditionally animated film.
But just like The Road to El Dorado, this is a filmthat has managed to amass its own unique cult following over the years, andlike Spirit, I am one of those who did see this in theaters. This timearound, I remember this particular screening due to thetheater I went to handing out free copies of an interactive CD-ROM that toldthe story of the then newly opened Shrek 4-D, with the back of the CDcase featuring a big teaser ad for the upcoming Shrek 2 and a smaller adfor the other DreamWorks Animation release of 2004, Shark Tale, backwhen it was known as Sharkslayer. But I’m getting off-track here; Sinbad:Legend of the Seven Seas, above all else, does succeed in being a solidlythrilling seafaring adventure full of fun action sequences and solid visualsthat wholeheartedly emphasize the fantastical elements of its premise and setting.That said, though, the film’s animation can, admittedly, be a bit hit-or-missat times, mainly due to the blending of traditional and computer animation thatwas apparent in all of DreamWorks’ traditionally animated films. In otherwords, a good chunk of the film’s computer animation hasn’t exactly aged thatwell, whether it’s most of the mythical monsters that Sinbad and company faceoff with or even something as simple as having its characters (both primary ANDsecondary) be portrayed by 3-D models whenever they’re far off in thebackground. At the same time, though, the film’s primarily bluish color palettehelps to give it some enjoyably atmospheric vibes.
Ultimately, though, this film’s biggest shortcoming is theoverall portrayal of its titular hero, Sinbad. Part of this is due to one ofthe biggest controversies surrounding the film in that many felt that it underplayedthe character’s Arabian heritage (quite arguably to the point of whitewashing) which,apparently, was due in part to the aftermath of 9/11. But aside from that, despitebeing voiced by Brad Pitt, Pitt’s well-established screen presence and charismais impeded by the fact that Sinbad is a generally unlikable protagonist formost of the film’s first half because of his selfish tendencies to the pointwhere he seems almost entirely unwilling to save his friend Proteus from hisimpending execution. At the very least, he does shed that persona as the filmgoes on, especially thanks to his various interactions with his love interest,Proteus’ fiancé Marina (voiced by Catherine Zeta-Jones), who tags along withhim and his crew and is immediately established as being just as capable as heis (and quite arguably even better in some of the most critical areas) when itcomes to sailing the open sea. The film also features an incredibly memorableantagonist in Eris, the sinisterly seductive Goddess of Discord and Chaos voicedby Michelle Pfieffer in her second appearance in a traditionally animatedDreamWorks film after playing Moses’ wife Tzipporah in The Prince of Egypt.And so, with all this in mind, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is afilm that’s certainly more than what its reputation of being ‘the film thatflopped so hard it killed DreamWorks’ traditionally animated output’ may imply.Sure, there are a few parts about it that haven’t aged all that well (includingthe fact that it doesn’t give us much of a reason to like our main protagonist atfirst), but at the end of the day, it does do its job in being a goodold-fashioned swashbuckling adventure full of fantastical sights.
Rating: 4/5
That concludes today’sretrospective on DreamWorks’ short-lived run of traditionally animatedfeatures. It was quite fun to go back and rewatch these; I may not have as muchof a history with them as I do with the likes of Shrek, Madagascar,and Kung Fu Panda, but at least when it comes to the latter two filmsthat we discussed today, Spirit and Sinbad, I still fondlyremember going to see them both when they were in theaters and it’s clear thatI’m not the only one who enjoyed these underrated gems of the studio’sextensive filmography back in the day. On that note, as I noted in today’sintro, this will be the last singular-focused DreamWorks Retrospective that I’mgoing to do; from this point on, I’m just going to run through the rest of thestudio’s filmography. Full disclosure, though, we’re going to be taking a briefbreak and move on to other projects before we return to our DreamWorks Retrospectivesseries. That said, though, when we do eventually continue our journey throughthis studio’s cinematic resume, it goes without saying that we’ve still got awhole bunch of interesting films to talk about.
