Top class contemporary animated comc fairy tale spin!

Rating: 10/10 (28 August 2002)

This is a brilliant comic animated fairy tale, with terrific sight gags, rich detailing, and a light twisted sense of humor. This is professional contemporary entertainment as its most wonderfully creative best. The voice characterizations are superb, especially the leads of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, John Lithgow & Cameron Diaz. The graphic work is breathtaking and the storyline is a wonderfully new interpretation of some classic tales.
The big question now is why is animated storytelling doing so well? I think the reason is that it hasn't yet been subjected to the rigorous critical scrutiny (so far) that professional live-action storytelling has become. I personally think that live action (especially drama) is so ruthlessly dissected and analysed, that you get the impression the characters can't move an inch without some "expert" trying to read some deep symbolic significance into it. And I get the feeling to a certain extent that this is hampering the creative work that great storytelling can do.
With the fresh new computer-animated films however, this is not such a problem (yet!). The form is so free and innovative that the characters can "break the rules" and get away with it. (They can even overplay to the hilt and display some rich parody and it actually works--which live-action isn't allowed to get away with anymore.)
Maybe in a year or so some dramatic scholar is going to write a big dissertation on how animated films "should" play, and will probably kill off all the fun and personality out of the storytelling. Until then, perhaps we should enjoy these stories while they last.