A rare thing: a parody with heart

Rating: Null/10 (2 January 2002)

Ogres, we are told by the title character in "Shrek," are like onions: they both have layers. The same might be said for the movie itself, which delights on so many levels that it achieves that highest ambition of "family" movies--appealing to all ages at once.
On its most basic level, "Shrek" is a flat-out comedy, taking shots at anything even remotely within range. A good portion of the ammo is devoted to potshots at Jeffery Katzenberg's previous employer Disney: the villian, reportedly modeled after Michael Eisner, is a diminutive megalomaniac aptly named Lord Farquaad, and his kingdom of Duloc can best be described as the Magic Kingdom if it had been designed by George Orwell. There is the standard dose of pop-culture and film references, balanced with a helping of meaner gross-out humor (the fact that Shrek makes candles from his own earwax is stomach-turning enough, but the question of what he uses for the wick doesn't bear examining).
The jokes provide laughs enough, but the true secret to the film's humor is more subtle. Much like "The Princess Bride" before it, "Shrek" is a cunning satire on the conventions in fairy-tales--and, by extention, the films inspired by them. Much has been said of the "formula" employed by Disney and its imitators, and "Shrek" uses every opportunity to overturn the elements of the tried-and-occasionaly-true design. Shrek, like many recent animated heros, is an outcast; unlike them, he doesn't pine for acceptance by society but has concluded he's much better off outside of it. Indeed, his motivation for going on his quest is to rid his home of the fairytale creatures Farquaad has unceremoniously deported to the area. The object of said quest, a comely red-haired princess named Fiona, has the spunk characteristic of the post-modern Disney heroines but balances it with the "someday my prince will come" mentality of earlier protagonists. Her philosophy of the way things are "supposed" to be blinds her, signifying the danger of taking fairytale conventions too seriously. Best of all is Shrek's sidekick, a locquacious jackass known only as Donkey. Voiced by Eddie Murphy, Donkey is a stand-in for every anthropomorphized supporting player shoehorned into these films for the sake of comic relief. Such characters often attempt to be cute but come off as obnoxious; here, Murphy acheives the opposite result as a deliberately obnoxious character who manages to become endearing.
And here is the core of Shrek's appeal, for despite the caustic views toward fairy-tale archetypes the film (again in the manner of "Princess Bride") somehow manages to find the charm and spirit which makes those archetypes so appealing to begin with. By making Shrek's and Fiona's obstacles internal instead of external, their characters become more fleshed out and their journey all the more touching. And when the inevitible "Beauty and the Beast" romance arrives, it is presented with a twist that adds new resonance to the concept. And in the end, the movie leaves us with the cheerful warmth that can only be provided by a happy ending--even an unconventional one.