Whacked out and fun

Rating: 9/10 (12 June 2001)

This movie has been getting rave reviews and doing phenomenal numbers at the box office for weeks now. I wasn't really sure why as the commercials for it weren't showing a whole lot. Until recently I wasn't sure I was going to see this movie but on whim, I decided to go and now I know why it's been doing so well. This movie is charming, funny and well told.
Shrek (Mike Myers) is a giant green ogre that lives by himself in a swamp. He likes his privacy and is thrown into a fit of despair when all the forest's fairy tail creatures show up at his place. They're there because the evil Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) sent them there after he banished them all from his land. Having his privacy intruded by all these creatures and by a particularly annoying fast talking donkey (Eddie Murphy), he sets off for Farquaad's castle to rectify the problem. And so begins a journey of adventure, love and self-discovery for not only Shrek but also the princess he rescues, Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz).
I've read some other reviews and there are those that think this movie was over hyped, insensitive to short people and just not very good. I think if you look hard enough you will find almost anything to pick apart. If it's not short people, then it's big fat bald people or the abuse that a donkey takes so I'm not going to put a lot of stock in those who pick things like these out. Look at any Saturday morning cartoon and you'll probably see far worse things. It's a Hollywood movie so put your issues and beliefs aside and enjoy it for what it was, a fun summer movie.
The animation was incredible. Animation technology has been advancing at lightning speeds and we saw some of it here. Toy Story 1 & 2 were incredibly well done but Shrek seemed to be a bit better in the emotions department. The character of Shrek exhibited a lot of emotions that I haven't really seen before and the donkey must have been an animator's dream to create. Talk about artistic freedom and as a result, a thoroughly entertaining character. You really do feel a sense of connection with these characters because of how well they were able to exhibit emotions. In some ways I thought that the evil Lord wasn't quite evil enough. I thought that he could have been a bit more menacing but I guess there are some restrictions considering the movie was meant for children. I loved the spoofs they did. I've seen them before in other movies like `Scary Movie' but it was kind of funny to see it in an animation. The real world and fantasy world seemed to have merged with these spoofs and it really created a sense of summer fun.
To be quite honest I didn't see many things that I didn't like or thought were weaknesses and judging by the dollars it's doing, a lot of others think the same way. If you want to see a sweet, charming and very funny movie, see Shrek. And guys, this is a great date movie. She'll love it and think you're the `Shrek' of her heart.