Some people don't know what the true purpose of the Satire is.

Rating: 7/10 (20 May 2001)

Woa woa woa.
We have some real malice in the comments below. Ya think they'd work for disney or something. I mean don't get me wrong, Disney's done some great work over the years, but it ain't the fifties anymore, and we don't have to keep making animation in that mold. I think Dreamworks has created a very original and fresh picture here. A fantasy animation, very much for adults, moreso than for children. Everyone I've seen the film with, thought it was riotous. Hilarious bits interspersed with very real emotion, thanks to the incredible graphics. Something you simply can't achieve with animation. You can't achieve realistic, round characters with pen and ink, which I felt they succeeded with in Shrek. And if the cutting adult humor and great effects aren't enough, watch closely so you don't miss two great ongoing jokes. First, the constant and hilarious satrical parodying of fairy tales(Gingerbread man:Do you know the Muffin man, Farquaad:The muffin Man? GBM:the muffin man, Farquaad: Yes, I know the muffin man, who lives on mulburry lane?) and second, the wonderful rips at Disney, be it the massive "compensating" Dulochland, the terribly long lines, the info center which reminds us, "don't make waves and stay in line, and we'll get along just fine; Duloch is the perfect town", or even magical ending which is taken directly from Beauty and the Beast.
Many reveiewers were upset, and thought the tearing at Disney was hate driven, and it very possibly may be, but when I was watching it, I didn't feel hatred for Disney, I felt a healthy sense of outside perspective on the unbelievably silly things that people don't realize they endorse when they buy Disney. I hope Shrek does very well, despite it's "negative" messages, according to other comments, for if we had no type of editorials or parodies of the insane pop culture we buy into, there would never be any type of reform or self assessment, nor any type of consumer consciousness, and we'd simply buy whatever the big companies told us to. In that right, I think Shrek was extremely successful, and on the flaky, silly, just a Saturday night movie with friends side, I also think it was successful, as it provided more than it's fair share of laughs. Plus I found it very "layered", but not like pies or parfe, only like onions.