A Great Animated Film With Sometimes Almost Cynical Humor

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2002)

I'm a Pixar fan and I really like Toy Story and A Bug's Life, probably more for the animation than anything else these films offer (although they do offer more than just that).
That alone got me interested in Shrek which is also a computer animated movie albeit not from Pixar but from PDI. I haven't seen Antz, the last CGI offering from PDI, so I can't comment on any progress they might have made compared to that but let me compare the animation in Shrek to TS and ABL:
First of all, the animation in Shrek is excellent, especially that of the main characters. I think that the Donkey is probably the overall highlight here but the lifelike rendition of the human(oid) characters deserves special mention as well.
The overall _impression_ the animation in this movie makes, however, falls short of Pixar's efforts. It is hard to make out exactly what is lacking but let me just say that there seems to be not quite as much detail especially in the background and also a generally less "fluid" feel to the whole affair.
I remember being both painfully (for betrayed desire for technical savviness) and fondly (for nostalgia) reminded of Commodore C64 games by a background character in the ending. He was looping through the same 60 frames of hand-clapping and head-nodding mechanically for what seemed like an unbearably long time. I can't help but think that in a Pixar movie the same character, although barely seen in the background, would have been a merrily applauding individual with a personality and whole story to tell from his own point of view.
But of course this is not a graphics demo but above all a wickedly funny and at times rather clever movie. Maybe I found it funnier than some of you because I was so totally unprepared for the cynical humor this movie keeps lashing out at you with. I mean, I've seen mainstream animated films with witty gags but some of the stuff in here really caught me off guard. Remember the scene when Princess Fiona sings to the blue bird?
The explosion of the bird followed by the nest and the deadpan shot of the fried eggs is almost Pythonesquely hilarious in its unexpectedness.
I kept rewinding to it and it totally left me in tears from laughing so hard at a scene like this being casually thrown into a movie that seems so innocent from the outside.
Yes, the ending is predictable, and yes there seems to be an odd prevalence of toilet humor but this is still an entertaining movie with a number of insanely funny lines and gags.
And adding to my comments about the animation: While Shrek doesn't quite reach Pixar's level this is some serious eye candy for any CGI/rendering enthusiast and has some of the best _individual character_ computer animations ever converted from bits to celluloid.
7/10