Funny, but not as witty as expected

Rating: 7/10 (3 January 2003)

I heard since this movie came out on how funny this movie was with its adult themed humor, but I avoided it because it is from the same people that brought out Antz. I finally gave in and saw it. This movie is funny with some laughs, it also had a good story about inner and outer beauty. The characters and voiceovers by Mike Myers and Eddy Murphy were hilarious. Even the ending gave a bittersweet ending instead of the usually happy one.
But I did not find it clever or witty enough with the pop culture references. It seems many were just reference for the sake of it instead of taking a sharp jab. As for many of the Disney characters, too many were just there again, for the sake of it with their few seconds of screen time to do its thing so that we know who they are. It is not that they didn't do anything with them, it is just that some were quite duds. They could have done something smarter or a lot more hilarious with pop culture references and Disney characters, but they did not.
The concept of inner beauty did not quite gist either, since the portrayl of King Farquaad as a short person signifies somehow his stature is what is lacking and he somehow has to compensate for it.
The film tries to attract young audience by gross humor instead of wholesome characters like the do in Disney animations. In doing so, it probably took a shortcut in the developing of the story. The building up of the relationship between Shrek and the princess involves her showing she is not a prissy by burping in front of him.
To sum it up, it is a funny movie with some heartwarming central story. Good for the teenage crowd, and decent for the adults.