A note on the accent

Rating: Null/10 (5 February 2002)

I love this movie. I remembered enjoying it greatly when I saw it in the theatres (despite whining children -- who in the world brings children to a midnight showing anyway! Or to violent R-rated fare such as Training Day or Black Hawk Down, but that's another story) and after just watching it again on DVD, it holds up completely. Eddie Murphy had me cracking up completely (EVERYBODY LOVES PARFAIT!).
In response to some people's complaints about Mike Meyers' scottish accent in this movie, if you thought it was a bad accent, that's because it wasn't supposed to be a pure scottish accent. In an interview with Meyers that I saw at the time of the release of the movie, he explains the accent. At first Shrek had a pretty basic Canadian accent (I would expect elongated O's, aye's and hosers), but he didn't think that the accent worked. The accent that is heard in the movie is meant to be a predominantly Scottish accent with some Canadian undertones...I believe Meyers described it as a scotsman who has lived much of his life in Canada.
Just a little tidbit of info for anyone who cares to know.