Nothing But Fun

Rating: Null/10 (25 June 2001)

It does not surprise me that "Shrek" has had such across-the-board support from parents and kids. More than most animated films I have seen, this one truly lives up to the durable cliche "fun for the whole family". It's packed to the gills with gross-out sight gags and wild slapstick that will keep the little ones in stitches, while the adults will roar at the film's one-liners, cynical take on the fairy tale, and dead-on ridiculing of the Disney money machine.
Shrek (voiced with a rich Scots burr by Mike Myers) is a foul-tempered ogre who lives in a mucky swamp. He scares away anyone who sets foot in his boggy home, but all his bluster is just a shield for loneliness; he believes his ugliness has doomed him to a life of solitude. That all ends, however, when a passel of fairy tale characters, banished from the kingdom by the evil Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow), set up camp in his swamp. Desperate to get his swamp back, Shrek journeys to Farquaad's surprisingly theme-park-esque kingdom to confront him. Instead of his swamp, he is given a mission to slay a dragon and rescue the beautiful Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), who the diminutive lord wishes to take for his bride. Shrek and his talking donkey, Donkey (Eddie Murphy), rescue the princess, but on the way back to Farquaadland, things get complicated when ol' Shrek starts feeling those butterflies for Fiona...
This endearing fractured-fairy-tale narrative sets us up for countless beautifully delivered gags that send up the conventions and characters of children's stories. A Robin Hood character and his men prove to be a little more merry than they probably need to be. A gingerbread man is subject to unspeakable tortures, right down to having his legs washed down with a glass of cold milk. An epic battle between Shrek and Farquaad's knights is a slam-bang WWF-style extravaganza. It's all so silly that you can't help but giggle in delight.
The film saves its best gags for its send-up of the Walt Disney animation ethos, the studio's co-opting of sometimes prickly fairy tale characters and investing of them with a marketable, kid-friendly aura. Here, the same characters we have loved in Disney pictures are edgy, quarrelsome types, and the hero is not your typical square-jawed Disney type, but a lumpy, bumpy, green-scaled lug. With bad teeth. Oh, and there's an out-of-nowhere swipe at "It's a Small World" that alone is worth the price of admission.
Still, if all this film had going for it was sarcastic humor, I don't think it would have become the blockbuster it is. There are, I think, three major secrets to "Shrek"'s success. First, the animation is amazing, taking computer-generated imagery to new heights of realism and tactility. The backgrounds are flawless in their verisimilitude, and the characters look as rich and full-bodied as anyone in live-action films.
Second, the story is a genuinely sweet one. Shrek may look like a beastie, but underneath, he just wants to be loved. Kids can sometimes be mean to other kids just because they look or sound different, so the moral of a film like "Shrek" is a truly useful one for them to learn. Not only does the film show that Shrek just wants love, but that he DESERVES it, in spite of his obvious, uh, grossness.
Third, the vocal talent really gives their all to these characters, making them as well-rounded as the animation. Myers is blustery and bluff as Shrek. Cameron Diaz, who I often find a bit overbearing in live-action films, here is actually a very funny and endearing presence. Lithgow by now can do plummy English villains in his sleep, but he still has fun with Farquaad, and Eddie Murphy gets some of the biggest laughs of the film as the talking donkey ("The trick is getting him to shut up").
I have a lot of friends who have an irrational and unfortunate prejudice against animated films, somehow believing them less legitimate films than live-action. These are the same friends who queue up for teeniebopper junk like "Josie and the Pussycats", and I feel sorry for them. I urge anyone who hasn't had a chance to check out "Shrek" to give it a look. Believe me, it's not just for kids. And for anyone who has seen it, I have just one word:
Parfait.