Scans_Daily

What makes you think Dreamworks would go there while Disney or Pixar would not?

To refresh my memory and make sure I was not biased by my uncertain memory I looked up the last five years of movies from them.

Disney:
Meet the Robinsons, Bolt, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Winnie the Pooh

Pixar:
Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, Toy Story 3, Cars 2

Dreamworks:
Over the Hedge, Flushed Away, Shrek the Third, Bee Movie, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Monsters vs Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek Forever After, Megamind, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots

I suspect you are right about Cars 2 having weak storytelling, though I have not seen it and I doubt I will ever bother watching it. However I think there is not a trend line there, yet. As my old math teacher said, "Two points to make a line, three to check yourself, and four because Saxon (the text book writer) is a wienie."

On the specific issue of GLBT characters, I doubt any of these companies will go there in the next decade. Someone will before I die in 2049, provided I live to the statistically average age for someone of my gender, but nothing soon. And the going there will be of the fairly mild gay/lesbian/transgendered/implied different best friend of the protagonist.