One of the funniest films ever.

Rating: 8/10 (22 March 2002)

Shrek is a very, very entertaining film. There have been many attempts to take the classic fairy-tale genre and stand it on its head, going back to "Fractured Fairy Tales" on the old "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoon (and probably further, but that's the first I saw), but none succeeds so magnificently as Shrek. The film takes the classic theme of a princess trapped in a castle and guarded by a dragon, and a prince who sees her in a magic mirror and wants her for his wife--and adds an ugly, rude, yet oddly lovable ogre, sent /by/ said prince, as the hero. Add huge groups of fairy tale characters and references to classic stories, Eddie Murphy as a wise-cracking donkey--I'm sure the directors just let him talk about whatever he wanted to and just found a way to work it in--gloriously brilliant comedic lines, outlandish situations (Shrek's little wrestling exhibition is great, and the Dewlock(sp?) song kills me every time) and the fact that the plot is actually quite good in and of itself, and you have an instant classic. A few too many crude jokes bring the rating down a bit for me, but the movie is still absolutely brilliant.