Copycat, or Common Ancestor?

I've noticed a trend....Observate.

.............Disney............Dreamworks SKG

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A Bug's Life (1998)............Antz (1998)..............

Finding Nemo (2003)............Shark Tale (2004).........

..The Wild (2006)............Madagascar (2005)

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In addition, Dreamworks Animation SKG has a movie in the works called Monsters Vs. Aliens which is centered around, you guessed it, a california girl who comes in contact with several monsters including a large, ape-like Missing Link and a short, one-eyed B.O.B. Sound like any animated Disney movies you've seen?

People I've talked to about this say that one company is copying the other, much like Leigh Scott copies every movie that makes money and ruins it and would probably be upside-down on net returns if he didn't have such a low budget to begin with. Stupidface. Wait, what was I talking about again?

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But seriously, people are so quick to point the finger and I was too at first, but while partaking in a casual debate among friends about Darwinian evolution versus intelligent design, it struck me that these movies might not be the result of idea theft, but rather a common creator.

I've done some research and here's what I've found:

• The musical director for Dreamworks Animation SKG (Karey Kirkpatrick) got his start professionally writing musical scores as an intern at Disney Animation Studios in 1987.
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• Bonnie Arnold, producer of Dreamworks' Over the Hedge, was originally recruited by Disney back in '91 to do live action. The job that moved him up from associate producer to producer producer was none other than Disney and Pixar's Toy Story in 1995.
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• Cecil Kramer, visual effects producer for Dreamworks' Flushed Away, did the exact same job at Disney Imagineering and Buena Vista Films prior to moving to Dreamworks.
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• The story artist for Dreamworks' The Prince of Egypt, animation college drop-out David Bowers, worked on Disney's Who Framed Roger Rabbit (which happens to be a collaborative project between Disney Studios and Amblin Entertainment) back in 1988, then moved to Speilberg's Amblimation. After hopping back and forth between a few more projects, he landed at Dreamworks to storyboard Dreamworks' first animated feature film, The Prince of Egypt.

Other findings:

• A little less than a month ago, Dreamworks Animation turned the title "Head of Development" over to one Alex Schwartz. I'm currently investigating the backstory on Mr. Schwartz, but it might take some time since I left my FBI starter kit at home.
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• The SKG found on the bottom of Dreamworks' logo stands for Speilberg, Katzenberg and Geffen, the founding fathers of the company.
  
  - Steven Speilberg worked with Disney Studios on the infamous Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
  
  - Jeffrey Katzenberg worked for Disney up until 1994, when he left due to a spat with Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney.
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• The broadcast rights to many of Dreamworks' films belong to ABC. Interestingly enough, ABC has been owned by Disney since 1995.

This is all well and good, but it doesn't truly prove anything. It does, however, show the undeniable link between Disney and Dreamworks. The findings above are but a fraction of a myriad of similar discoveries linking Dreamworks employees to previous Disney projects. It is true that Dreamworks only exists because of Disney, but as per the original question, it's hard to say.

There is definitely some communication between the two, but the question is, at what level?

My hypothesis: During the next 10 years, Disney will slowly begin to creep into Dreamworks' territory - starting by sitting down over a cup of tea and settling the dispute over the shared rights to the Roger Rabbit franchise - and will eventually eat the company alive for upwards of ten million dollars. Let's sit back and see what happens.

Interesting...veeeeery interesting.