DreamWorks' The Wild Robot stands far above their recent films, highlighting how disappointing it is when they don't live up to their potential.

Peter Brown’s middle-grade book, about an intelligent robot living in the wilderness, had been sitting on the shelf at DreamWorks Animation for a bit. No one had quite figured it out. Then Sanders, the man behind beloved animated features from “Lilo & Stitch” to “How to Train Your Dragon,” came along.

That beginning encapsulates the perception of DreamWorks Animation in a nutshell — as the decidedly less ambitious, less artful cousin to Pixar. And it’s hard to say that reputation is totally unearned.