A new fairy tale for a new generation.

Rating: Null/10 (3 June 2001)

"Shrek" is all at once a beautiful fairy tale with all the trappings, a wonderful spoof of such fairytales, a hysterical comedy, and a wonderful display of modern CGI.
This wonderful family oriented film features the voice talents of Mike Myers (Shrek), Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona), Eddie Murphy (Donkey) and John Lithgow (Lord Farquaad). All bring their animated counterparts to life and make them all likeable characters in their own ways. Eddie Murphy's Donkey clearly steals the movie however, providing comedy relief in a manner that shows not only how good the writing for this film was, but also that shows how much he has begun to grow as an actor.
The story itself is basic fairytale type, the lonely ogre Shrek only wants to be left alone in his self-imposed exile in his quiet swamp. One day Lord Farquaad issues an edict offering a reward for the capture of all "imperfect" fairy tale creatures in his perfect land. During the roundup, Donkey escapes and while running from soldiers is saved by Shrek. After much haranging, Shrek allows him to stay at the swamp for the night and while eating dinner discover that Farquaad has dumped the ENTIRE population of fairy tale land in the swamp. Determined to get his swamp back, Shrek heads off to see Farquaad and after an hysterical fight sequence, is made a deal: Rescue Princess Fiona from the dragon, and get your swamp back.

The adventures after that are exciting, funny, and sweet all at once. Princess Fiona is not even close to your average princess, and shows it in a sequence that is more "Charlie's Angels" (that starred Diaz) than it is "Matrix". She also holds a deep dark secret of her own....will she tell anyone?
The only complaint I have about this film is the CGI characters. While the backgrounds and buildings were beautifully rendered, the characters themselves looked a bit plastic. In this day and age, and especially after "Toy Story" and the upcoming "Final Fantasy", the fleshtones could have been a bit softer and realistic. That's really the only complaint I have with this film however.
"Shrek" is a beautifully rendered and told fairytale. There are jokes that kids will get, adults will get, and both will get (the classic Bugs Bunny cartoons, and todays "Animaniacs" and "Tiny Toon Adventures" use the same formula), making it an easy sell for all audiences. Dreamworks has themselves their first real shot at a franchise with this one.

4 1/2 out of 5