Can't remember the last time I laughed so hard in a theater.

Rating: 10/10 (19 May 2001)

I think the first thing I need to say is that normally, I don't like toilet humor. Fart jokes and nose-picking are the kind of things that keep me away from a lot of "comedies." There *was* a lot of that in Shrek, and yet... most of it was funny. There's such an overall feeling of irreverence in the film that I surprised myself by laughing at that very humor, because it seemed to fit. Maybe it's the knowledge that you will *NEVER* see a character in a Disney film put out a fire by peeing on it that makes it so delicious. Speaking of the Evil Empire, I noticed that several reviewers considered the regular stream of Disney-knocking to be a drawback. Personally, those were the jokes I laughed at the hardest.

There are 2 sides to how I feel about Disney, sort of a love/hate thing - I love most of their products, but I hate who they are. I grew up on Disney animation, and still hold many of their films dear to my heart. I also lived most of my life within a 2 hour drive of the Magic Kingdom and have spent more than my fair share of time there, so I think I know more about Disney the corporation than your average American. Frankly, they're a little scary with their, "You'll be happy, it'll be magical, or else!" attitude, which is what makes Shrek so funny. There were sendups of several other well-known and well-loved films, but the Disney jokes were the best. I think you have to love Disney and have a first-hand knowledge of the Disney experience to really appreciate those lampoons to the fullest.

I haven't said anything about the effects yet, but of course they were amazing. Shrek truly leaves all other animation, not just Disney, in the dust. It's the first animated film I've seen that really takes advantage of the technology currently available - it doesn't just pan in and out of scenes, it's three-dimensional, and pages crackle and light refracts, and characters move naturally. It was impressive, especially when compared to the trailer that showed right before Shrek started - Disney's Atlantis comes out in 2 weeks, and it looks like formulaic, flat, 2D Disney. Disney takes the same amount of time to develop a film, but they're clearly stuck in a rigid design mold - dig up a legend to animate, insert storyline here, drop in cute characters there, get famous singer to do theme song, ta-da! another blockbuster.
The final great thing about Shrek was that they turned the typical dreamy animated love quest on it's ear. As a woman, I'm thrilled to see more and more anti-fairy tales making it to the theater. Sure, you could say that it's been done, and you'd be right, but it hasn't come near to being done to death as much as the "typical" fairy tale love story. As far as I'm concerned, make anti-fairy tales until the adults want to puke - little kids can use as much reverse gender-stereotyping as possible. Here's to burping princesses who get involved in their own rescuing!