Cynical, sarcastic, crude.... wonderful?

Rating: Null/10 (29 June 2001)

Of course, the above are merely scratching the surface of any accurate description of Shrek. The film is stunning visually, and the humor is like that of the Warner Brothers or Jay Ward - delightful spoofs.
Now, don't take me wrong. I love certain Disney productions, most of which were made in the 40s (Pinocchio, Bambi, Dumbo, Fantasia). But the studio's talent for storytelling has faded and is encroached on more and more every year by the demand to provide stunning visuals over the true essence of good cinema: stories. Shrek, as unlikely a candidate as it struck me as before seeing it, has these things. The animation, although entirely computer generated (anyone else intimidated by the fact that the most enjoyable American animated films of the past few years have all been CGI?) is realistic and believable, but what really knocked my socks off was the appeal Shrek has that can be channeled both to adults and children, and yes, adolescents like myself. Some of the gags are more fun than others, such as the sharp wit of the dialogue being more enjoyable to me than the title character wiping his posterior with a page from a book, but this only demonstrates the film's ability to articulate its audience's interests.
Our characters are rather simple, really: A pessimistic, lonesome (but in denial) ogre voiced by Mike Myers who lives out in a swamp, an obscenely talkative donkey voiced by Eddie Murphy, a diminutive, egotistical, one-dimensional lord of the kingdom of Duloc named Farquaad and an isolated-until-freed-by-Shrek-princess named Fiona with an overly melodramatic way of handling things, a minor attitude problem, and the ability to kill birds with her terribly high singing ala Snow White but simply not so.
Farquaad's rounding up fairy-tale critters to make room and they subsequently run for haven in Shrek's swamp. We meet, along the way, the three bears, the three blind mice, the three pigs, the wolf in grandmother's clothes, the fairy Godmother, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, the Magic Mirror (who provides Farquaad with his choices for a future wife ala the Dating Game), the Gingerbread Man, The seven dwarves and countless others (look out for a hilarious musical number by someone named "Monsieur Hood" as he tries to woo Fiona with his merry men). The film's production unit obviously spent more time on the main four characters than others - some of the lesser characters and background people look without much in the line of experession or detail, but this is a forgivable sin in the animation industry given how much crap is released annually with character designs devoid of any style whatsover.
The choice of music, mainly Smashmouth and the Monkees, in some way or another, isn't too fitting, but it's also forgivable. Abandoning such superficialities as character designs, choice of music and detail in animation, I repeat, we have a good story with good dialogue and uproarious humor here. One of the best films of the year unquestionably.

Now, why can't we figure out how to make traditionally animated films that are as much fun as SHREK or the TOY STORY films on a regular basis?