Refreshingly anarchic animated comedy(may contain MILD SPOILERS)

Rating: 8/10 (9 August 2003)

Shrek is a film which delights in making fun of the classic fairy tale's rites of passage with dollops of satire and a surprising amount of black comedy and (of course) a nice, sweet underlying message about beauty on the inside and never judging a book by its cover etc. etc.
Shrek works so well because it is not specifically aimed at either adults or children and provides plenty of entertainment for both with the usual (rather crude) humour about flatulence, belching and so on to amuse kids and plenty of sly in-jokes and jabs at Disney that will raise a smile from adults.
The plot of Shrek revolves around the eponymous title character who just happens to be a large green ogre.A loner with an inferiority complex, a stroppy attitude and bad breath, shrek certainly isn't the archetypal hero of a fairy tale, but none the less (or perhaps because of) he ends up being one of the more lovable creatures ever to be animated. Unbeknownst to Shrek however is the fact that times are decidedly turbulent for fairy tale creatures who are being systematically rounded up and evicted by the diminutive Lord Farquaad and unfortunately for shrek his swamp is the area they've been relocated to. Not content to share his home with Pinocchio, the three little pigs, tinkerbell and countless others, Shrek, accompanied by a talking donkey named er.. Donkey, sets out to speak to Farquaad and get rid of the 'squatters'. In the meantime Farquaad has chosen (under the advice of the magic mirror) to marry Princess Fiona (he chose her over Snow White and Cinderella), there is however a snag: she's imprisoned in a castle surrounded by lava and guarded by a dragon and for the pint sized Farquaad the idea of personally rescuing her is decidedly unnapealing. He therefore strikes a deal with Shrek: if Shrek rescues the princess he gets his swamp back free from the unwanted inhabitants. And so the adventure begins...........
Shrek succeeds principally for two reasons, it's quartet of main characters and its humour. As previously mentioned Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers, not that you'd know; he adopts a Scottish accent which makes his voice almost unrecognizable) is refreshingly flawed and a welcome change from the bland heroes that populate cinema. Donkey(Eddie Murphy) is the stereotypical wise-cracking sidekick who is the films main source of comedy. The role is used in essentially every animated movie and the results usually vary from the good (Robin Williams;Aladdin) to the dire (Billy Crystal;Monsters Inc.) but Murphy is arguably the best yet (though I still think he is the weakest of the four main characters). Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) is essentially a combination of the classic damsel in distress with the added twist of Diaz's 'Charlie's Angels' alter-ego which enables her to kick Monsieur Hood and his Merry Men's french butts in Matrix style slow motion Kung Fu. And last (but certainly not least) is lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) an old fashioned villain who, despite being devious and nasty, is not the cold embodiment of evil most films try to create.
Of course there are so many repeatable lines of dialogue and endless visual gags that you could easily compile a 'greatest hits' selection (my personal favourite is Cinderella and Snow White brawling over a wedding bouquet). Like all fairy tales Shrek must have a happy ending, but this time there's an added twist(which isn't even hinted at until 2/3 of the way into the movie) just to make sure the movie maintains its freshness. The only slight quibble I have is the rather confusing contradiction in the film's moral sub-plot about how one should not judge people because of their physical appearances, and yet the film happily stereotypes the midget Farquaad as a Napoleonic megalo maniac, its by no means offensive but it left me rather bemused at what the film was trying to say.
All in All an excellent animated feature (certainly better than the awful Monsters Inc.) I give it 8 out of 10 and strong recommendation