Another example of the masses settling for less. . .

Rating: 4/10 (7 March 2002)

For anyone who A) believes that Shrek actually deserves an Academy Award nomination, and wasn't celebrated as such as a result of studio politics in a year where three huge entertainment conglomerates happened to release big-budget computer animation films (Disney, Paramount, Dreamworks) or B)that the movie was actually any good, please examine the following:

Shrek pales in comparison to Pixar's Monster's Inc., and for very obvious reasons. Shrek desperately relies wholesale on it's (beware of the following buzzwords) "cheeky/sarcastic/irreverent/ironic/tongue-in-cheek/post-modern" send ups of classic fairy tales and folklore and . . . . not much else. I mean, it surely isn't relying on the completely NON-EXISTENT chemistry between Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy. Shrek is Eddie Murphy's most UN-funny performance since Vampire In Brooklyn; and Mr. Myers starting getting truly & incorrigibly irritating by the time the first Austin Powers hit video. His disappearance from America's pop culture radar is long overdue.

The story: Monsters, Inc. - like each and every one of the very excellent Pixar films - has heart and a warmth that cleverly (and NOT insultingly) touches every generation of viewers. Monsters, Inc. is able to speak to the audience in very touching and enjoyable ways, much like Toy Story 2; adults can remember/enjoy/get teary-eyed over their childhoods in a very sweet way, while enjoying seeing the joy and glee in their own kids' eyes while being entertained by the very excellent John Goodman, Billy Crystal and Steve Buscemi (see some other long-winded Monsters, Inc. reviewer for story/plot details). What do we get from Shrek? A dragon that falls in love with the donkey - not for sincere emotional effect, but for dumb sexual comedy. Shrek is empty, hollow and cad-ish in comparison, without a single level of emotional resonance; Monsters, Inc. achieves several, handily.

The comedy: The performance of a comedy team like Goodman & Crystal speaks for itself compared to the forced, joyless interaction between Myers' unlikeable Shrek and Murphy's neutered donkey. Goodman and Crystal - probably by virtue of Crystal's deep comedy roots & Borscht Belt classicism - touch on hammy old humor, updated and "modern" laughs and the good old goofy stuff for the wee ones. In fact, Monsters, Inc. struck me immediately as one of the least gag-oriented Pixar flicks - a lesser writing/producing team (ahem, Dreamworks) would rely on nothing but predictable monster gags in the same context. Don't believe me? Save for the Gingerbread Man scene, Shrek's "clever" gags are tired, overdone versions of the kinds of things we *really* laughed with in greats like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the shorts of Chuck Jones & Tex Avery. The animation & cartoon industry has been lampooning themselves (and related genres like fairy tales, comic books, etc.) with good humor since the 1930s - do we need Shrek to do this for us again, now?

The animation: It's impossible to not touch on this: Shrek's design is about as likeable & attractive as that of Antz, Dreamworks' other totally missed-the-mark and, well, ugly animated film. No one took any creative liberties with the environment and setting - we get an anonymous forest, a castle, a countryside. Wow. The setting of Monsters, Inc. is a visual carnival of original ideas and imaginative film making. Taking it's cues from existing influences and bettering them, or at the very least making them dazzle on their own, is half the reason animation exists - did YOU get that from the generic look and feel of Shrek?

I will be thrilled - and honestly shocked - if the "voters" choose Monsters, Inc. over the huge-selling and grossly overrated Shrek. I've been conditioned to expect so little from fellow movie goers (see: Snatch and A Beautiful Mind's inexplicable presence in the IMDB.com Top 250) that I totally expect the more inferior film to get the award (notice, if you will, that I'm not even entertaining the thought of throwing Jimmy Neutron into this discussion - although, a comparison between Neutron and Shrek is probably more appropriate; it's easier to sort the trash that way, isn't it?).