Dreamworks, The Croods, and Animation Styles

 



Since I've been praising animation for all of my past posts, I thought it would be nice to switch it up a little and talk about some ... less amazing things. These are all my personal opinions, so keep that in mind. 

Listen, I adored Dreamworks' animation style, specifically with their CG-animated ones. Whether it was Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, or Monsters Vs. Aliens, they all had this more gritty look to it. Not the oversaturated, big-eyed, kiddie vibe you get from other animation studios (not to put any of them down for it, every studio has its own style). I just like that Dreamworks had a more original look to their films. Emphasis on had. My example for this would be The Croods series, although you can definitely see this type of change in the How To Train Your Dragon trilogy and the more recent movies as well. 

The first picture is from the first The Croods movie. Now for context, the Croods are a family of cavemen and the aesthetic of the first movie reflects that. You can see the dirt and grain on the characters, their hair, their skin, everything. They have features that range from sharp to soft and rough to smooth. It's colorful but still realistic enough to match the aesthetic of a caveman-like time period. 

Now the second picture. It is drastically different. Their hair is smoother and cleaner. You can hardly see any dirt or rough textures on their skin anymore. Everything has been smoothed out and oversaturated and it all feels so ... kiddish. I understand that these movies are generally directed toward younger audiences, but I feel so robbed. I loved Dreamworks' old gritty, realistic style. There was nothing wrong with it and I don't think they only did it that way because of the limits of CG animation at the time. It just looked so cool but now they've changed it and it's honestly really disappointing. 

 I pretty much grew up on the older Dreamworks movies so this might just be my bias but personally, their movies haven't been hitting home lately. They just don't invoke the same feeling as their older ones did and I think the change in their animation style was just the cherry on top of the disaster sundae. 

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