| Shrek |
| 2001, DreamWorks. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson. Starring Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Rated PG for much crude humor and some mild language. |
| Grade: B+ |
| Review by Anthony |
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| Very funny computer-animated movie that is somewhat of a fairy tale spoof. Shrek is a big, green ogre who lives alone. One day, he saves a talking donkey (who never has a name other than just "Donkey"). All Shrek wants is to be left alone, but Donkey has different ideas. Shrek's swamp is suddenly invaded by fairy tale creatures, forced to leave their homes by Lord Farquaad. Lord Farquaad also needs to marry a princess in order to be king; so he makes a deal with Shrek: Shrek can have his swamp back, free of intruders, if he can rescue the Princess Fiona from a tower guarded by a dragon and bring her back to Farquaad. And so, Shrek and Donkey set out together to save the princess. Unfortunately, Shrek has far more than its share of crude humor. In fact, it contains just about every type of crude humor imaginable (including flatulence humor, excretion humor, posterior-kissing humor, and even a little risque humor). Consequently, I would not recommend it for very young children. However, the movie more than compensates for this negative factor. It still has lots of laughs despite its crudeness. This is due in no small part to Eddie Murphy in his role as Donkey. Whether he was rambling about parfaits, cut deep by Shrek, or even just sleeping, he kept me laughing hard and often throughout the movie. The movie is also very funny in its ability to satirize. It mainly spoofs fairy tales like Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs, and Snow White; but it also spoofs movies (The Matrix, Babe, etc.) and even WWF. All of these moments are very comical (especially the Matrix bit) and added to the movie's humor. Shrek also has a nice little message to it. (WARNING: I'm about to give away the ending. If you have not yet seen Shrek, you may want to skip this paragraph.) When my mom was in the middle of watching this movie, she said that Shrek must turn into a handsome prince in the end. This was a good guess, but actually the exact opposite happens. The princess turns into an ugly ogre. Upon the princess's confusion over this occurence ("Why aren't I beautiful?"), Shrek replies, "But you are beautiful." Rather than using the typical tactic of relying upon good looks for the main characters' attraction, the film-makers commendably made this about more than just loving someone because of how they look. Finally, the computer animation in Shrek is excellent. When it first came out, it was the most realistic animation yet (even beating the Pixar movies). Since then, it has become second in animation to Final Fantasy:The Spirits Within only. Shrek is a good, funny family movie. It may not be for the very young, but it is still very good for those old enough for it. |