2001 / 90 Minutes / PG
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz

I was won over by this movie about the time that a character described Snow White as “living with 7 men, but she’s not easy”. That was when I realized that this is not your father’s fairy tale movie. And this is, by no means, a pansied-out, sanitized-for-your protection Disney cartoon of a movie. No, my friends, this is an entirely different sort of beast.

“Shrek” is the story of a flatulent, ill-tempered and entirely ugly green ogre named Shrek who inhabits his the swamp at the edge of the forest where all the fairy tales take place. He likes his solitude and keeps pretty much to himself. He enjoys the occasional slug, a mud shower and scaring away any knights that come looking for him.

Suddenly, one day, his precious swamp is overrun by fairy tale creatures. The three little pigs, the seven dwarves, a couple witches, Tinkerball and, worst of all, a talking Donkey with the voice of Eddie Murphy. Shrek is understandably pissed off and discovers that the ill-tempered Lord Farquaad (try saying that one ten times fast without turning it into a profanity) has been ejecting the fairy tale citizens from their forest in order to make the joint hospitable for people like himself. He is a very short man, whose temper matches his stature (John Lithgow does a magnificent job providing his voice). Shrek goes to see the Lord and makes a deal with the man: he will remove the annoyances from Shrek’s swamp and return it to normal if Shrek rescues a princess from a castle guarded by a fire-breathing dragon and brings her back to marry him. Shrek accepts the deal, aided by Donkey (whether he wants to be or not). Along the way, much to his own chagrin, Shrek discovers that he has a heart and that it might have been stolen by the fair Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz).

Bottom line: “Shrek” is enchanting and hilarious. Like “Chicken Run” last year, this movie is one of those few animated films that a grown man can walk into without a child and not feel ashamed. It is full of shrewd jokes (most of them at the expense of the Magic Kingdom and all its affiliates) that will appeal to both youngsters and adults alike. Like the Snow White line, or when Shrek arrives at Farquaad’s castle to find it complete with concession stands and turnstiles. Cameron Diaz, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and John Lithgow all provide sterling vocal support and the story has a magical quality as well as a bitter edge. There were one or two too many fart jokes for my taste, however, and the film does have a slight lag to it in one or two minute moments, but it’s still rollicking entertainment and, by far, the funniest film I have seen this year.

And the computer animation is utterly gorgeous. One shot of a castle surrounded by a lake of lava, for example, literally made my jaw drop. It was that well done. The characters have facial expressions that bring them unflinchingly to life. It’s so well animated, in fact, that you don’t even think about it. Within two minutes, you forget you’re even watching an animated film. Another bit of greatness: the movie has some great twists and inspired little touches. It is, in fact, brilliant in many ways. It has a heart and it has a brain. You will find yourself caring about the plight of the characters and laughing at the inside jokes. The best of both worlds!

If you want a good time at the movies, you can’t do much better right now than “Shrek”. It is, after all, a movie that manages to poke fun at Robin Hood, the French and “The Matrix” not only in the same film, but in the same SCENE. That truly is something to see.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 18th, 2001 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Dale's Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.