Disney Animation has been a part of many people’s early lives for over 75 years. Very few people believed that Walt Disney would succeed with his first feature length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but he did, and his company created a new way of thinking about animated movies. For decades after, the animation department at The Walt Disney Company kept big hit after big hit coming, with a decline in success in the mid-70s. But starting with The Little Mermaid in 1989, the Disney Renaissance brought us some of the greatest animated movies (and arguably best movies in general) ever. And now, with successes like Tangled, Frozen, and Big Hero 6, Disney animation has arguably entered a second Renaissance, creating movies that can please old and new Disney fans alike.
But in the late 90s, a new animation studio started to challenge Disney’s reign as the undisputed king of animated films: DreamWorks. It took a little while, but now some people will argue that DreamWorks has reached the same caliber as Disney animated films. Movies like Antz, Shrek (and its sequels), the How to Train Your Dragon films, the Madagascar movies, and others, are receiving much of the same praise as Disney animated films.
This, of course, begs an obvious question. Which studio is better: DreamWorks Animation or Disney Animation?
Disney films have a way of being for both children and adults, ensuring that kids who grew up with these films will watch them with their own children, thus continuing the cycle and maintaining a steady audience and fanbase for its properties. I watched The Lion King and Toy Story growing up, so you know that I’m going to show those to my kids when I’m older. I feel that way about some DreamWorks films as well, but not as many, and not until I have kids who are a little older.
One of the differences between Disney and DreamWorks movies is that Disney is made with young children and their parents in mind, while Dreamworks often feels like something you would watch with a kid who is too old for Disney but still young enough to prefer and appreciate animated movies. I remember watching Shrek when I was a kid and not understanding many of the subtle jokes and adult references. I liked Shrek, but I didn’t appreciate it until I was older and could understand the subtle humor. I remember watching How to Train Your Dragon and its sequel a year ago, and I really liked both movies. However, I thought about how I was as a child, and realized that all of the battles, destruction, and other aspects of these movies would have scared me into turning them off. Now, one could argue that that is more of a problem with me than with the movie, but it does seem that several DreamWorks movies are made with slightly older children in mind than Disney movies.
That isn’t to say that there are no Disney films for older kids, nor does that mean that there are no DreamWorks films meant for younger kids. It just so happens that the general divide between these two animation giants appears to be a slight age difference in their target audiences.
Does this mean that Disney absolutely dominates over DreamWorks? By no means. I’ve found that DreamWorks animated films have a unique advantage over Disney films: the absence of a formula. For the most part, Disney films, even non-Princess ones, are set in a similar style to one another, whether in terms of storytelling or animation. This limits them in some ways because it makes it more difficult for them to deviate from their brand. DreamWorks films, on the other hand, have a bit more flexibility with the stories they tell and the worlds they create. That’s why one year they can release something like Bee Movie and a few years later come out with How to Train Your Dragon or Kung Fu Panda. And that variety stems from their relative age to Disney: Disney has been in business for almost a century, and DreamWorks has only been around since 1994. DreamWorks is only one year older than I am, while Disney is older than my grandparents.
So, getting back to the original question: which studio is the better studio? In the grand scheme of things, I have to say Disney, simply because I grew up with their films and those films are more suited for younger kids and families. But Disney’s superiority in the animated movie world could be called into question as DreamWorks continues to grow and put out movies, many of which are of a high quality often associated with Disney films. When I look at both animation giants, I see two companies trying to make meaningful animated movies that will thrill and delight children of all ages, and hopefully leaving enough of an impact that those kids will come back for more when they have kids of their own.