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I went in to the movie theatre thinking that I would see a good movie. Boy, was I wrong. It was a GREAT movie! When I first saw the trailer for Shrek, I promised myself that I would go see it, since the premise was interesting: from what I could see, the filmmakers had tried to cram every single fairy tale ever told into a single story. But it turns out that first-time directors Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson have done much more than that. Simply put, Shrek is an extremely well animated hilarious movie with a wonderful lesson to be learned: one shouldn't judge others by their appearance. However, there is another thing I learned from this film: computer animation is making leaps and bounds. Disney had already started enhancing traditional animated movies such as Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin in 1991 and 1992 (respectively), and Disney and Pixar's mind-blowing Toy Story took that art to another level in 1995. In 1998, moviegoers were blessed by the friendly rivalry of Disney-Pixar's A Bug's Life and DreamWorks-PDI's Antz (of which I preferred the latter). In 2000, Disney released Dinosaur, and thus proved that it could fly solo in the computer-animation field. But in 2001 – so far – DreamWorks SKG and Pacific Data Images (PDI) have raised the bar to yet another level with Shrek. There is at least one movie that could be up for the challenge and that is Columbia-TriStar's Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
The animation in Shrek is not only beautiful, but it has a quality which is seldom reached in these films: it feels natural. Well ...most of the time. Indeed, the animators have decided to make only some of the characters look and feel as natural as possible. Such is the case for Shrek (as "natural" as an ogre gets anyway), Donkey (the close-ups of his hair are just amazing) and, most of all, Princess Fiona. Voiced by Cameron Diaz (Being John Malkovich, There's Something About Mary, Charlie's Angels), Princess Fiona is so life-like that I often forgot that she was animated! The animators must have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours observing people move, because Fiona's movements looked so natural I could hardly believe my eyes. The most amazing thing about her however is her facial expressions, which were painstakingly detailed and precise.
The other characters, such as Lord Farquaad, voiced by John Lithgow ("Third Rock From The Sun", Terms of Endearment, The World According to Garp), are well animated too, but they have been relegated to a "cartoonish" status, which works well in the movie, since it differentiates the "good guys" and the "bad guys" (or secondary-characters). The attention to detail was not only found in characters, but in other aspects as well, such as the scenery. There is one scene where Shrek and Donkey are crossing a large sunflower field and the sun's position is not only respected by the flowers, but also by all the shadows created by the characters and the plants.
The only thing about the animation that I didn't like was the representation of fire, which has yet to be mastered by anyone. Whenever fire is shown, it feels like one of those cheesy scenery screens, which were used for car scenes in old movies. It just doesn't feel right. The good news about this is that this is the biggest "fault" I found in the movie. Not bad! Let's move on to the story itself. Shrek is based on the book of the same name by William Steig. Steig, who was 83 when the book was first published in 1990, began his career as a children's books author at 61, after an illustrious career as an illustrator for The New Yorker. While the screenwriters have slightly modified the story of Shrek, the movie still conveys the same message: Don't judge a book by its cover.
While that message is a wonderful lesson for kids, I was somewhat concerned about the numerous jokes and references that were of a sexual nature. However, I discussed this with a friend and we agreed that these jokes would probably fly over the kids' heads. This is great news for parents, since it means that they can safely go see Shrek with their children AND enjoy the movie as adults. The numerous writers (6 writers and screenwriters) have done a tremendous job with the dialogue, which is witty and hilarious. In fact, I pretty much laughed from the beginning of the movie right through the end, expect for a few dramatic scenes here and there. [SPOILER ALERT: THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH REVEALS TWO JOKES FROM THE MOVIE.]
As for the actors, I have nothing but compliments. Mike Myers (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Wayne's World, 54) couldn't have done a better job. The Scottish accent he chose to use not only helps us forget that Myers is behind Shrek, but it also provides comedic relief. Myers had experience with this accent, since he had used it before in his secondary role as the Scottish father in So I Married an Axe Murderer (including a scene that makes this below-average movie worth renting). Cameron Diaz also managed to blend perfectly into her character, choosing to act in a very subtle way (I hope this compliment will make up for the grief I gave her for Charlie's Angels).
On the opposite end, Eddie Murphy (Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Doctor Dolittle) decided to act "over the top" and, thankfully, it worked wonders for the Donkey character. Last but not least, John Lithgow defends himself well against this all-star cast as the short and greedy Lord Farquaad, who would like to marry the princess only to become King. There a only a few scenes with Farquaad, but the character is strong enough to hold his terrain. So, before all the mind-numbing blockbusters come out in the next few weeks, I strongly suggest you go see Shrek. It will most likely be the movie to which you will compare all others this summer. Reviewed on May 23, 2001 |
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This page was last updated on: Sunday, 21-Mar-2004 16:24:10 CST © 1998-2004 Luc-Rock Paquin. All Rights Reserved. All movie images © by their respective owners. Used with permission. Before "borrowing" something from my site, please ask me. "Reel Canadian Movie Critic" logo by FranclyGraphic.com. 
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