I first saw this screened over the lunch hour at DreamWorks several years ago. We were all amazed that this even existed - the originally movie being many years released by this point. I think all the employees were also so excited to see something that captured the creative process behind our movies. It's always a struggle to describe to folks outside the industry how these things work - the last minute changes, the moments when the film comes together, the amazing number of people that it takes to get this off the ground.
As I prep my next semester of animation classes, I make this required viewing. One of the best aspects of this documentary is how much time it focuses on getting the story right. Usually these behind the scenes videos are all about the technology, or the hollywood voice talent. But for us boots on the ground, all that is for nothing without a solid story. All the tech in the world won't matter if you don't care about the characters. It will also impact your enjoyment of working on the movie - when everyone is working on a common goal, it will be one of the most fun jobs in the world. When everyone is scrambling to catch up to insane last minute story changes, and entire sequences are getting cut left and right, it will show in the crew.
I applaud co-director Dean DeBois took the time to record the process as it was happening, and props to DreamWorks for letting them assemble it all together into an insightful documentary.
