I found its high energy level and unyielding cleverness a little self-defeating in the end, but, otherwise, it’s a blast.
Tools:
Recommend review to a friend »
Well, here it is, and DreamWorks make a big splash about it in their two-disc Special Edition set. Seems understandable. "Shrek" was the monster hit of the summer of 2001 and probably has fans lining up at video stores to get their hands on it at this minute. Whether you´ll take to the film (assuming you haven´t already) may depend on how much you like animated cartoons. Or how much you don´t like them.
"Shrek" works in a devious way as a kind of anti-animation, doing as much to demolish the traditional Disney approach to cartoons as anything ever has. I found its high energy level and unyielding cleverness a little self-defeating in the end, but, otherwise, it´s a blast.
First, it´s computer animated, so maybe comparing it to older, pre "Toy Story" Disney would be unfair. Let´s just say it´s very up-to-date, with figures that are three-dimensional and highly textured. Next, it´s very hip. I´ve said before in these pages that I try to avoid reviews of films before I have a chance to watch them for myself on DVD, but, of course, that´s impossible to do entirely. In the case of "Shrek," my students (high school) were telling me for months that "´Shrek´ was "really cool," "totally awesome," a film they all "loved." Well, now that I´ve had a chance to see it, too, I´d have to say, "Shrek" is really cool and totally awesome; I loved it. Maybe I didn´t love it as much as I did "Toy Story 2," which has more heart, but "Shrek" takes that heart, cuts it out, slow roasts it, and serves it up as a buffet for ravenous viewers. Delicious.
The movie´s basic gambit is to draw on all the conventions of children´s cartoons and fairy tales and turn them upside down in about as irreverent a manner possible within the bounds of a PG-13 rated film. This is begun in grand style by setting the story in a long-ago land where the evil (and puny) Lord Farquaad (voice characterized by John Lithgow) is rounding up and deporting all the fairy-tale creatures in his kingdom. They´re being "relocated," as he calls it, to improve the neighborhood, thereby touching on racism and bigotry right off. Gepeto sells out his puppet, Pinocchio, the bears and Red Riding Hood are herded together, and Tinker Bell, the Gingerbread Man, and the Wicked Witch are carted off, along with the Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the dwarfs, and every goblin, gnome, and pixie in the land. They´re all kicked out to the swamp. Shrek´s swamp.
Shrek is a huge, green ogre, who doesn´t exactly take to all these new critters squatting on his property. Shrek looks mean but has the proverbial heart of gold. "Sometimes things are more than they appear," he says. He is voiced by Mike Myers, who has shown a remarkable talent for creating new personas in each of his films. Here he recycles his Scottish accent from the second "Austin Powers" movie, and except for what I thought were occasional lapses in dialect, he does a more than credible job. In fact, I thought at first the voice was being done by Robbie Coltrane; in any case, Myers leaves a distinct impression with the viewer, something not every actor can do with voice alone.
However, even Myers is upstaged by Eddie Murphy as the talking, wise-ass ass, Shrek´s comical sidekick known only as the "Donkey." I daresay, Murphy´s nonstop chatter ("Yeah, getting him to shut up´s the thing") and constant smart remarks are what a lot of viewers will probably remember most about the film long after its plot and secondary figures have faded into obscurity. Unlike some of Murphy´s equally caustic comedic contemporaries, he still has the knack of being able to make his characters appear irksome and obnoxious yet lovable and endearing at the same time.
Anyway, Shrek is annoyed by all these newcomers and goes off to Lord Farquaad to try and get his swamp back and regain some peace and quiet. Farquaad, meanwhile, has more schemes of his own. Not only does he want to rule the most orderly community in the world, he wants to rule it as a real king, not a mere "Lord." So he consults his Magic Mirror, which tells him he must marry a princess to become a king. And the most likely candidate for such a marriageable arrangement is the Princess Fiona, voiced by Cameron Diaz. Trouble is, she´s imprisoned in a castle surrounded by molten lava and guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. Now, here´s the deal Farquaad makes with Shrek: If Shrek can rescue the Princess and bring her back for Farquaad to marry, Shrek can have his swamp back in peace. Thus, the adventure begins, with Shrek and Donkey off to rescue the beautiful Princess Fiona.
You can see that the plot resembles, in part at least, a traditional fairy tale. But along the way, almost everything you´ve ever read or seen about bold knights and daring rescues is turned inside out. For one thing, a moderate degree of grossness is the order of the day. Mild bathroom humor abounds, flatulence jokes, that sort of thing. Kids will especially love bits like Shrek pulling earwax from his ear to fashion a candle. For adults, matters can sometimes seem a bit too juvenile, but one can see it´s all in good fun, and nothing is ever outrageously insulting or outright crude.
I laughed a lot at this movie. I particularly liked the parody of Mel Brooks´s own parody, "Men in Tights," about halfway through the story, and a brief tribute to "Crouching Tiger." But remember I said a moment ago that "almost" everything about traditional fairy tales is tossed on its head. I wish the movie had maintained its comfortable digs and prods until the very end, but, instead, it concludes with a wholly satisfying yet vexingly conventional fairy-tale finish. I have no idea how the movie might have ended any other way, but I felt a tinge of regret that its charming irreverence had let up at the last.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]8863[/release]