"Shrek" is a brilliant masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (9 April 2002)

"Shrek" is a brilliantly written masterpiece of animation, which fully deserved its recent Oscar. The genius of the piece is due to its appeal to such a wide audience: the surface humor and plotline are simple enough to be enjoyed by young children, while there are many subtleties clearly included for adults. The casting in the film is perfect-in fact, Eddie Murphy is more perfect for the part of Donkey than for any other part I've seen him play. The film's comic gems include a scene in which Lord Farquod is interrogating the gingerbread man and ends up reciting the nursery rhyme "Do you know the Muffin Man?", Donkey's rendition of "I'm a Believer", and Donkey's attempts to sweet-talk a fire-breathing dragon, among many others. I give this film as many stars as possible and encourage everyone to see it, regardless of age. I first saw this movie dubbed in Italian with English subtitles, and even that did not take away from the film's comic brilliance.