Everybody

Rating: 9/10 (3 August 2001)

Actually, there is nothing to criticise about this movie. It couldn't care less about any existing conventions or unwritten laws. Dreamworks Pictures presents a sarcastic parody of Disney's pictures, some kind of an inside fight between the two companies, but the movie hasn't much of an inside joke. There is mainly one winner in this discordance: the audience. We enjoy the playfulness of the screenplay, the cuteness of the characters, who are ugly but sweet (which was impossible before: in cartoons the good and nice and likable ones had to be beautiful) and their hilarious expressions of their faces: a real actor  I have to admit it  couldn't have done better. Only this movie and 'The Simpsons', my favourite TV series, have chosen to use the possibilities animation offers in such a sophisticated way and with such inventitiveness.
Lots of anachronisms, concerning music, set-decoration and dialogue give you a wonderfully relieved feeling, and of course, you are laughing all the time. And they are not trying to get everything out of one joke, but present the next one just a few seconds later. Rarely have I laughed so freely so often during 85 minutes.
Everybody is going to like this movie: adults of any educational level, and children equally. Maybe the very little kids shouldn't watch 'Shrek' yet but wait till they are older. They might not get some of the really sarcastic gags, which would be a pity. But of course, there are enough jokes everybody is able to enjoy, and some of them are predictable at last  not many. It's fine that Hollywood is gaining some self-irony through its numberous inner disputes.