Original and smart!

Rating: Null/10 (17 October 2002)

Disney has often followed on a set of "guidelines" to making all of their films work: a beautiful princess in some kind of peril (ie: Sleeping Beauty is under a spell to make her sleep, Snow White ate the poisoned apple, Cinderella wants to go the ball, etc.). These films often work on some level, but originality is often lacking in fairy tales, which always come from some source. Plus, they teach lessons that don't exactly behoove the viewer, often the impressionable young child (lessons in infatuation--what fairy tale didn't have some prince with a superiority complex wanting to be king, and spotting a beautiful girl from across the room, and saying "She's the one."???? You NEVER see Prince Wonderful courting Lovely Lady around, do you? Ok, ok, I'll get off my soapbox now. "Shrek" completely goes against the grain in terms of fairy tale concepts by adding a whole new twist to the genre, and the result is nothing short of spectacular.
Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) is an ugly green ogre living in a ramshackle house in the swamp by himself, without a care in the world. When Lord Farquaad (voice of John Lithgow) banishes all "fairy tale creatures" from the land, Donkey (voice of Eddie Murphy), who talks too much, escapes from his owner and the clutches of the people who are taking him away, and goes to Shrek's swamp and begs Shrek to take him in, and Shrek unwillingly does just that. When all the fairy tale creatures are dumped on his property, Shrek complains to Farquaad. Farquaad, a diminuitive lord with a superiority complex, wants to be king, and after consulting his magic mirror, he sees the woman he would like to have for his bride, and tells Shrek that he will remove the fairy tale creatures from his property if Shrek can bring him his future bride, Princess Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz).
This movie is probably one of the funniest animated movies I've seen in a long time. I'm a Disney fan, but I've strayed from their "fairy tale" pictures due to a lack of interest, and have geared my interest to different (and original) animated stories. This one is truly original in every way, even though it recycles familiar fairy tale characters (the 7 dwarfs, Pinochio, Cinderella, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, etc), but in a humorous way. The actors themselves (Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow) are great in their parts, and the supporting voices and characters are what makes this film great. There are so many inside jokes that this movie would tend to fly right over a child's head. there are also alot of sight gags that the viewer would easily miss the first time around.
I don't have one absolute favorite scene, because this whole movie was hysterically funny and smart. However, some of them stand out in mind. The "gingerbread man" was classic, with the famous cookie lying on a cookie pan, legs broken off, with a glass of milk next to him. His "tourture" was getting dipped in the milk and the threat of his buttons getting ripped off. When Farquaad tells him to confess, Gingerbread Man screams "Eat me!" and spits. Another great scene was the "Merry Men" singing their song, which turns into the suspended-motion scene from "The Matrix" with Fiona lifting into the air in the "karate-kick" motion, the action freezes, the angle rotates, and Fiona kicks two Merry Men at the same time. The part with the magic mirror was also hillarious. I like how the mirror was honest with Farquaad, informing him that "he really wasn't a king, and this isn't a kingdom," to which Farquaad gestures to Thelonious as to what happens to a "lying" mirror (Thelonious punches a small handheld mirror), and the mirror counteracts "...but you can be king," and shows three different women, "Dating Game" style. The scene at Farquaad's amusement park was hillarious, especially with the "It's a Small World"-esque puppets singing.
This was a great film, complete with a great cast, and is a fun story. This definitely breaks all those rules that fairy tales tend to set (and believe me, rules were made to be broken). I am anxiously awaiting the sequel in 2004, and highly recommend this to everyone and their 5th cousin once removed (LOL! just kidding). This is a great story of romance and wonder, and it is sure to be a hit for years to come.
Donkey: Hi, Princess. Fiona: It talks! Shrek: Yeah, it's getting him to shutup that's the trick!
Ok, maybe I'll take this as advice. See "Shrek," you won't regret it!!