Fascinating and amusing summer fare

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 2001)

Shrek is the 2nd animated film from the PDI/Dreamworks team which before brought the public Antz. While that was directed towards adults, now we have this- Shrek (by the way, a little inside joke is that Shrek is yiddish for fright). A new comedy for kids and adults. And surprisingly, it works for both.
While the film brings a unconventional (with a conventional formula) story in the mix, it's best parts are with the animation skills by the people at PDI, but also with the voice talents: Myers brings a keen type of Fat Bastard voice in Shrek (some lines also sound like they came from Austin Powers movies); Murphy shows that if he starts to run out of good movies, he can always go to voice overs; Lithgow has not been this good in years and Diaz may be annoying at times but is cute throughout. As is the film which is so far the most workable (as I would call it such) in the summer regime and my first real recommendation for this season. A