Maybe the most charming fairy tale ever

Rating: 10/10 (6 July 2001)

I simply pity those who find fault with this gem - their childhood must have been exceptionally dull and dreary. I've heard and read in some uninspired reviews that many (or even most) of this film's humor would be on the farting-and-belching level. Uhm. Interesting. I guess the same is true about Shakespeare's work, which is all about killing. There isn't even ONE single instance of gratuitous vulgarity in the whole movie. Not one.

"Shrek" is hilariously funny - but at the same time it is the most wise and compassionate animation movie in a long, long time, comparable to Disney classics, yet even surpassing them because of, well, irony. Shrek is full of it, and the totalitarian Disney-McCarthy regime of Lord Farqart is its main target.
The animation is almost perfect in itself, far far better than anything up to date - and truly perfect for the setting and tone of the story. The music is inspired and extremely original in this context: we get Smash Mouth, the Proclaimers, John Cale singing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah and in the end an All Stars Fairy Tale rendition of Neil Diamond's "Now I'm a believer".

The story, the characters, most of the dialogue, all of the voices, the matte painting, the animation, the music, the movie as a whole: Inspired and among the very greatest of its kind.