simple, elegant, laugh-to-tears comedy

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 2001)

I thought this was a great send-up of Disney-esque fairy tales and popular culture, all set in the often trite, overused mythical land of knights, dragons, and ogres. Two things that really made this movie work for me was the superb use of the latest CGI technology (rendering light & shadow, facial expressions, grass, fabric, hair, etc.) as well as the exceptional match-up of Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy as a comedy team. They bounce off each other really well; I understand that the director used their improvs beyond the script to give their characters extra charm and life, and their casual off-the-cuff chatter really works!
The spoofs are fast and relentless (The Matrix, Babe, WWF wrestling, Jurassic Park, etc.) and had me laughing so hard I would miss the next lines of dialogue... and despite the fact that the story was tied up in a neat little package in the end (c'mon, what fairy tale doesn't, hmmm?), I found it very, very amusing and would suggest this movie to anyone wanting a good escapist storyline. I suggest going to it with an open mind and just go along for the ride; also, it's one of the few I would recommend seeing on the big screen, as I fear it would lose a lot of the colors and fine details on the home tube.
As far as bringing kids to it, the toilet jokes are few and far between, and it has its share of "eww, gross" maggot and earwax gags, but let's give our children some credit, they're a lot smarter than we think... and I think it holds an appeal to the under-13 crowd as well.