The Lean Green Laugh Machine

Rating: 10/10 (2 June 2001)

We've all become critics of the critics. The modern man understands that a purely objective rating system makes it impossible to critique a film based upon multiple reviews. One reviewer may rave about a Bruckheimer film, while others pan it as a patriotic farce. Yet another may speak wonders of an indie flick, while the mainstream critics find it too obscure and outlandish.
It's rare to find a film like Shrek - especially in the new millennium's ultra-diverse Hollywood: movies catering towards one demographic's tastes seldom find themselves accepted by another. Films that have the ability to transcend barriers are one-in-a-million...and Shrek seems to have done just that.
Marketed as a "fun-for-the-while-family" flick, this isn't just another Disney bore that uses familiar B-actors with grating voices (see: any Olsen twins movie) just to keep the parents awake. It's not another political or metaphorical film, where the theme is targeted at an adult audience, and the kiddies are kept involved with a child-friendly plotline (see: South Park). No - Shrek is a truly unique film in that it is able to be both mature and childish at the same time (a Groucho Marx-esque trait) and, even more remarkably, succeeds at both ventures.
Kids will love the crazy animations, the goofy songs, the funny fight scenes, and the fast pace. Adults chuckle heartily at the Disney-parody, the underlying theme of prejudice and reality, and Donkey's rants (as funny as those in Eddie Murphy's "Delirious" stand-up routine)... and at the funny fights scenes.
To really appreciate this diversity, simply watch the people entering the theater: you'll see kids, parents and grandparents, and even teens, too.
But to appreciate the film, watch the people as they leave: the smiling faces on all generations of people who appreciate the wonder and magic of this instant classic.
See it today - and then again tomorrow.