DreamWorks has created plenty of successful animated franchises over the years, but there have also been one or two duds. DreamWorks often adapts popular children’s books, like The Bad Guys, Captain Underpants and How to Train Your Dragon. They also have some brilliant original ideas thrown into the mix.
How to Train Your Dragon suggests that DreamWorks may consider more live-action remakes, following the same playbook used by Disney. If this is the case, then the studio shouldn’t neglect animation. Its track record with franchises proves that it can lead the animation industry if it learns from its biggest hits.
12
Boss Baby
The Boss Baby franchise is DreamWorks’ worst and most confusing. The first movie was released in 2017, and it made $528 million despite being met with mostly negative reviews. Its 53% Rotten Tomatoes score didn’t stop it from getting an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.
After the commercial success of The Boss Baby, a sequel was released in 2021. The Boss Baby: Family Business was even less popular with critics, and it couldn’t repeat the box office success of the first movie. The franchise also includes two TV spinoffs, both with mediocre reviews.
11
Spirit
Not many people would have expected Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron to get a sequel almost two decades later, but the franchise was revived with a Netflix show and then a movie. The sequel, Spirit Untamed, uses a completely different style of animation. This is just one way that it’s barely recognizable as a follow-up to the first movie.
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is an unusual offering from DreamWorks, released before the studio shifted entirely to 3-D computer-generated animation. The content of the movie is just as unusual as its style, especially since the horses don’t communicate with one another as animals do in countless other animated movies.
10
Captain Underpants
It always seemed likely that Dav Pilkey’s wildly popular series of children’s books would get movie or TV adaptations one day. DreamWorks has produced both, starting with Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie in 2017. A Dog Man spinoff movie was released in 2025, potentially reviving the franchise.
The Captain Underpants franchise has been solid but not spectacular. It retains some of the wacky humor from Pilkey’s books, but it fails to recapture his specific brand of anarchic, rough-around-the-edges charm. Dog Man’s commercial success means that there could be more to come.
9
Trolls
Troll dolls date back to the 1950s, and there have been cartoons and other associated media since the 1990s. DreamWorks bought the rights and reimagined the characters in a jukebox fantasy musical, featuring a mix of popular songs and original hits.
All three Trolls movies have received generally positive reviews, with their Rotten Tomatoes scores ranging from 64% to 76%. There have been specials and TV shows too, proving that the franchise has consistently delivered family-friendly musical entertainment, even if none of the movies represent the peak of what DreamWorks can do.
8
Megamind
It’s difficult to properly assess the Megamind franchise, since it only consists of one great movie and one terrible sequel. 2010’s Megamind is a hilarious superhero spoof with Will Ferrell voicing the titular blue-headed protagonist, while the 2024 sequel Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate, was a heartless follow-up without Ferrell’s involvement.
Megamind vs. the Doom Sequel serves as an introduction to the spinoff TV show Megamind Rules, which was released on Peacock on the same day. It’s not comparable to the excellent original movie, as its pitiful 9% Rotten Tomatoes score indicates.
7
The Croods
2013’s The Croods was a financial success, but DreamWorks didn’t immediately rush into making a sequel. Instead, a TV show followed, although the Croods eventually returned to the big-screen for 2020’s The Croods: A New Age. The sequel reunites the star-studded cast from the original movie, which includes Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage and Ryan Reynolds.
The Croods and its sequel take place in an appealing fantasy world, brimming with color and peculiar creatures from an alternative vision of the Pliocene era. With plenty of colorful animation and some proudly silly gags, the Croods franchise is a serviceable crowdpleaser, although it lacks the spark of some other DreamWorks movies.
6
Prince Of Egypt
1998’s The Prince of Egypt is one of the very best DreamWorks movies, providing a fresh take on a Biblical tale that also appeals to non-Christians. With a remarkable ensemble cast featuring Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Sandra Bullock and more, it breathes new life into the story of Moses.
The Prince of Egypt is a thrilling Biblical epic, but even its most ardent admirers might not know about its direct-to-video prequel. Joseph: King of Dreams adapts a different story from the Bible. There are flashes of brilliance, but it’s not as impressive as its predecessor.
5
The Bad Guys
The Bad Guys is DreamWorks’ newest franchise, and it’s immediately one of their best. After two entertaining heist comedies, The Bad Guys 3 seems like a certainty, which could mean that the movies will veer even further from the Aaron Blabey books they’re inspired by.
The Bad Guys movies are fast-paced, frantic fun, but they also have plenty of heart. They also satirize the heist genre in many ways, which is part of what they offer to older audiences. A third movie hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, but The Bad Guys has all the makings of a great franchise for DreamWorks.
4
Madagascar
The Madagascar franchise seems to have wound down, with even its TV spinoffs having ended a few years ago. It started all the way back in 2015, but it managed to sustain itself because the first movie introduces so many lovable supporting characters, from the penguins to King Julien and his lemurs.
The Madagascar movies are more concerned with comedy than emotional storytelling, particularly the spinoff Penguins of Madagascar, which starts with Skipper’s team breaking into Fort Knox. This illustrates the madcap comedy of the franchise. It’s no coincidence that the main stars are all comedians.
3
Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda plays with the tropes of the wuxia genre, making them more accessible for a younger audience by adding a healthy dose of comedy. Jack Black stars as Po, the unlikely hero whose underdog story in the first movie sets him up as a unique kind of fighter.
The Kung Fu Panda franchise has three sequels, each one introducing an intriguing new villain for Po and his allies to take down. The original movie is arguably the best of the bunch, but there’s still a lot to love about the sequels. Kung Fu Panda can get surprisingly emotional at times.
