A Fun Family Film

Rating: 9/10 (19 May 2008)

Shrek is fun movie that the whole family can enjoy. It takes fairy tales that people would have learn as a child and puts a twist on them and has many cultural references for children and adults. The story of the film is Shrek is an ogre living a peaceful in his swamp. However, this was going to be shattered when the evil Lord Farquaad starts rounding up fairy tale creatures and forces them onto his home. Shrek being annoyed decides to go to Farquaad's castle with the very annoying Donkey and get his swamp back. Farquaad has ambitions to be a king and to do this he needs to marry a princess. He tell Shrek that if the ogre saves Princess Fiona then he would get his swamp back. However, after saving the princess he starts to fall in love with her.
Firstly the story is fun and fresh. It was the best animated film in 2001 by a small margin above Monsters Inc. Both would have been very deserving for winning an Oscar for that year. It does have homages to famous family films such as Snow White and show many fairy tales from Pinocchio, to the Three Little Pigs, to Three Blind Mice. It also has wider cultures references, such as the music used and moments such as Princess Fiona fighting Robin Hood and his Merry Men and moment copied from the Matrix. The movie was well written with some very good jokes and scenes. One scene I enjoyed was when the Gingerbread man was tortured by Lord Farquaad. The animated itself was also brilliant. The creature actually looked real and gives Pixar a run for its money. In an age where many studios make CGI films to make quick money its nice to see that this film was made with effort. This is a great film and the second is just a good, but Shrek the Third was a real let down.