Overall Rating
  Awesome: 65.36%
Worth A Look: 19.79%
Just Average: 6.25%
Pretty Crappy: 4.43%
Sucks: 4.17%
10 reviews, 324 user ratings
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| Shrek |
by Scott Weinberg
"Shrek-tacular!"
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Once every few years, you get to sit through a movie and simply love every second. Being that I'm a tough guy to please (and a miserable jerk, too), it surprised me a lot to find myself smiling every 3 minutes while watching Shrek. This is a movie that is at the same time sweet, sarcastic, clever, silly, funny, touching and simply amazing to look at. It's Mother Goose meets Merrie Melodies, and I can't imagine seeing another movie this entertaining for a long time.Imagine all your favorite Fairy Tale characters dropped into a Mad Magazine parody. Add a healthy dose of subtle yet decidedly adult humor and healthy portions of bodily function gags to keep the kiddies giggling. You could also throw in a handful of gifted and entertaining performers such as Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, John Lithgow and Cameron Diaz. Sounds interesting so far, huh? But I haven't even mentioned to best part: Shrek is CGI moviemaking at its most magical. As much as I hate to say it, this movie makes Toy Story seem antiquated by comparison.
See, Hollywood doesn't really know what to do with all this cool computer technology. That's why you keep seeing the same old stupid CGI trickery in movies as varied as The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. But Shrek changes all that. Dreamworks has out-Disneyed Disney, and they've done it with their own unique charm. Shrek marks the third attempt at a CGI feature from Dreamworks (The Prince of Egypt and Antz were the first two) and it's safe to say that this one is a runaway success. Rarely has an animated feature been this gorgeous to look at.
Shrek (Mike Myers) is a rough, grumpy (and all-around icky) ogre who lives all alone in his beloved swamp. But this isn't an ogre who's searching for new friends. Shrek rather enjoys being alone, since his favorite activities include making candles from his ear wax and farting for fish! (It makes more sense in the movie.) But Shrek's blissful isolation comes to an abrupt end when the evil (and ridiculously short) Prince Farquaad imprisons all the forest's Fairy Tale creatures right on the ogre's front step!
One morning, Shrek awakens to find his swamp overrun by the entire cast of Mother Goose's bedtime tales: Pinocchio, The Gingerbread Man (who is absolutely delicious in a small role and gets the movie's funniest line), Goldilocks and The Three Bears, The Big Bad Wolf, The Seven Dwarves (towing behind them Snow White's unconscious body!), Cinderella, Tinkerbell and about 20 others. The creatures inform Shrek how they came to be in his front yard, and off the infuriated ogre goes to the castle Of Dulac to complain to the Prince.
On the way Shrek meets an obnoxious Donkey (Eddie Murphy) to act as a guide and the two slowly become begrudging buddies. (Several of the film's best moments are simply dialogue exchanges between Shrek and Donkey.) After the two eventually get to Dulac and tangle with the Prince's guards, they are offered a bargain from Prince Farquarr: Rescue the fair Princess Fiona from a distant (and dragon-infested) castle and return her to Dulac in exchange for Shrek's swamp. (Most of this takes place in the first act, so I'm not giving anything away and I'm not exposing any more plot!)
With an acidic wit and in-jokes to spare, Shrek will delight fans of comedies as well as animation aficionados. Jeffrey Katzenberg (the "K" in Dreamworks SKG) used to be a head honcho at Disney before he was essentially shown the door by Michael Eisner. Katzenberg was so broken up over it that he promptly teamed up with David Geffen and Steven Spielberg to make their own movie studio. And based on several of the clever jabs at the Mouse Factory littered throughout Shrek's screenplay, Jeff is having a grand time poking fun at his old employer.
What's most enjoyable about this movie is how it so cleverly incorporates such universally adored (and public domain, yet) characters into an all-new, yet wholly appropriate, environment. Who ever thought they'd live to see Cinderella and Snow White battling over a bride's garter belt? It's a stroke of genius to present the audience with some all-new appearances from characters that have previously been solely Disney's domain. (Contrary to popular belief, Disney did not invent such characters as Snow White and Pinocchio! The Mouse Factory has simply cornered the market on these icons these past forty years!)
As a kid's movie, Shrek is the best thing to come along in a long time. Yes, there are ample doses of fart gags and loud belches, but this is a movie about an ogre, after all. It certainly seems more acceptable for such behavior from an ogre than from Tom Green! Yet it's these doses of childish humor that elevate Shrek above the Disney formula. (Can anyone out there picture The Little Mermaid letting loose with a nice fart? Didn't think so.) And like it or not, people: Farts are funny. Especially to kids. And adults like me. What makes the gross-out gags in Shrek so tolerable (and even enjoyable) is that they're presented in such an earnest and child-like fashion that it makes it tough not to laugh.
That's not to say that Shrek is full of these gags, but they are fairly obvious. Just as prevalent are the subtle and deliriously witty double entendres and gags geared for the adults. Let's remember that 45-year olds are just as familiar with these Fairy Tale characters as their kids are, if not more so. Particularly funny are Shrek's tangle with Robin Hood, Donkey's reaction to the giant Dragon and especially the finale, which will send you out of the theater with some spring in your step and tears of laughter on your cheeks.
But the most impressive feat accomplished by Shrek is simply the way it uses movie technology in the right way. CGI affords filmmakers the opportunity to create literally anything. Why then have most CGI displays been nothing more than gee-whiz sequences used to pad out movies that are mediocre at best? Because a lot of directors feel that the computer effects can take the place of a script. But in the case of Shrek, the screenplay and voice performances are easily the equal of the amazing technical display.
Mike Myers is sweet and likeable as Shrek, although he does seem to impart a little more of his "Fat Bastard" character than was intended. Cameron Diaz is picture perfect as the not-so-helpless Fiona and John Lithgow hams it up beautifully as the diminutive Farquaad. The standout of the cast is Eddie Murphy as the sidekick Donkey. As he has proved throughout his career, Murphy knows how to spit out a punchline, and he steals nearly every scene he's in.
Every year, critics worldwide bash expensive yet creatively bankrupt movies year round for being nothing but soulless husks; products intended to highlight the latest in "flashy lights and explosions", while minor things like script and logic simply vanish into thin air. But working from the groundwork laid by (Disney's) Pixar studio in their Toy Story films, Dreamworks has snatched the ball away from Disney with this irrepressable and addicting little adventure.You'll be hard pressed to find a more entertaining, colorful or flat out funny movie this summer than Shrek. As a "cartoon", it's simply revolutionary. As a comedy, it delivers the goods consistently. As a kid's film, it's adequately sweet and moralistic. As a movie in full, Shrek is one of the best movies of 2001 and quite possibly one of the most entertaining films I've ever seen.
link directly to this review at http://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=3880&reviewer=128
originally posted: 05/07/01 22:42:25
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Trilogy Starters: For more in the Trilogy Starters series, click here.
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USA
18-May-2001 (PG)
UK
N/A
Australia
21-Jun-2001
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