Every Dreamworks Animation Movie Ranked

23. Flushed Away (2006)

Budget: $149million
Worldwide Box Office: $178.1million
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Bill Nighy, Andy Serkis, Shane Richie, Kathy Burke, John Motson

Flushed Away is a movie that seems to have been forgotten in the annuls of Dreamworks’ history, leaving a particular generation of viewers to mourn pop culture’s loss in appetite for what is a solid, claymation-inspired yet fully animated picture. Flushed Away isn’t going to blow your mind, but it’s worth a watch.

22. Trolls (2016)

Budget: $125million
Worldwide Box Office: $344.6million
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Christine Baranski, Russell Brand, Gwen Stefani, John Cleese, James Corden, Jeffrey Tambor, Ron Funches

We all remember that Justin Timberlake song, right? The one about the… oh, nevermind, let’s not get that stuck in your heads (again..). Trolls is, clearly, best remembered for its Oscar nominated original song, yet beneath that is a very fun and light-hearted movie that doesn’t require you to question your own existence but will sure cheer you up on a dreary weekend afternoon.

21. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

Budget: $80million
Worldwide Box Office: $122.6million
Starring: Matt Damon, James Cromwell, Daniel Studi, Chopper Bernet

This movie is brought to you by Bryan Adams! Not really, but the soundtrack’s almost unapologetic Bryan Adams love-fest does detract from a very beautiful animated movie that goes against the genre’s trope of talking animals to instead tell its tale through voiceover narration and snippets of human interaction. It’s a brave and at some points mesmerising Dreamworks offering that fails in the popular vote due to its obvious lack of comedic sidekicks and obnoxious but lovable lead characters.

20. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012)

Budget: $145million
Worldwide Box Office: $746.9million
Starring: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Frances McDormand, Jessica Chastain, Bryan Cranston, Martin Short

Madagascar 3 may be the only movie in the history of the movies that managed to be the best of a trilogy despite being its third instalment (not counting the Star Wars prequels of course – disagree? Let us know.) Part of this was to do with the vastly improved visuals that finally transported the creatures into their decade, and part of it was focusing on a generally more entertaining and visually pleasing premise: circus acts.

19. Megamind (2010)

Budget: $130million
Worldwide Box Office: $321.9million
Starring: Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux, JK Simmons

The story in this one is simple yet fresh, and sees Will Ferrell’s wannabe villain accidentally turn into a good guy over the course of the film, dictating some hilarious exchanges in dialogue between the movie’s central stars. With some original character design unlike much of Dreamworks’ back catalogue, and with Will Ferrell and Brad Pitt squaring off in the voice booth, Megamind was always going to be a success of sorts.

18. Over the Hedge (2006)

Budget: $80million
Worldwide Box Office: $336million
Starring: Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Nick Nolte, Thomas Haden Church, Allison Janney, Eugene Levy, Avril Lavigne, Omid Djalili

Over the Hedge never delved as deep into theories on the worldwide population crisis, feeding the hungry and solving world peace like its source material did, and the finished product suffered a little from its less deep and meaningful subject matters of suburban monstrosities such as the SUV. However, it did manage to grab a great deal of investment in its characters – voiced by the likes of Bruce Willis, Steve Carell and Nick Nolte – and thus was able to amp up its impressive action sequences, placing it very close to the middle of this list.

17. The Croods (2013)

Budget: $135million
Worldwide Box Office: $587.2million
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman

The Croods is one of the most beautiful of Dreamworks’ animated movies and that works to prop up an otherwise run of the mill outing from the studio. Choosing to animate human characters as opposed to animals, mythical creatures, monsters or aliens, didn’t help this movie stand out from the rest of the pack, but that doesn’t mean that it should be overlooked as the sweet (and financially successful) outing that it was.

Recommended for you: Warner Animation Group Movies Ranked

16. Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)

Budget: $145million
Worldwide Box Office: $275.7million
Starring: Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter, Allison Janney, Stephen Colbert, Leslie Mann

Dreamworks were so determined to make their version of the Mr. Peabody & Sherman property successful that they threw the same amount of money at it as they gave to Shrek 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3, both of which were made with the profits from their predecessors. There remains, however, no doubt that this film has one heck of a heart and is one of the better recent releases from the financially tumultuous company, with the central story being entirely worthy of investment but many of the side-elements being a little too mushy to push this film into our red-hot top fifteen.

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