Can't anybody write a story any more?

Rating: Null/10 (19 May 2001)

SHREK could have been a nice, simple story about beauty being in the eye of the beholder. The DreamWorks people are so insistent on putting a finger in Disney's eye that they persistently undermine what little story there is in SHREK.
Mike Myers is affecting as the ogre and gives a good performance. Eddie Murphy is allowed to run on at the mouth until you just wish for a pair of earplugs. Generally speaking the latter part of the film is better than the first part; but there is no pacing, the climactic revelation happens TWICE (can't anyone make a film any more?) and the filmmakers telegraph every major story point. If they had slowed down a bit, it would have been a real pleasure to watch the visuals--a decided improvement over the first PDI-Dreamworks film, ANTZ. YOu care about Shrek, which is quite an achievement. Dear DreamWorks, get over this childish one-upmanship with Disney; drop the other shoe and make a real movie, not a collection of parodic shots that date before the film is finished (the CROUCHING TIGER references are going to look very, very dated in a manner of months, as do the RIVERDANCE shots.) The fact is, this fairy tale parody is getting very, very tiresome and there is no need to consistently parody the genre when you are in fact telling the BEAUTY AND THE BEAST story in reverse.