Posted: 05/21/2001

Shrek

(2001)

by Hank Yuloff

You lovely little Ogre, you!

“Ooooooh! Look how they did that.”

“Wow, the shadowing is amazing.”

“And, look how they drew the fire and the sparks.”

“Wow, she’s hot.”

“You KNOW she’s a cartoon?”

“Yeah, and so was Jessica Rabbit.”

Such was the conversation during much of the movie Shrek, the new animated release by the folks at DreamWorks. It is a cute fairy tale with a “happily ever ending” that, in the tradition of Fractured Fairy Tales, has jokes for the kiddies and the adults, as well. I think that Fractured Fairy Tales will hold up better, though, as we spent most of our post-movie conversation talking about the production value of the movie rather than the story. But being fair, this movie is rated ‘G’ and since it is targeted for the littler folk, it is easy to live with the questions and holes in the plot. It is nice to have a movie that kids can enjoy without leaving their parents waiting for an excruciatingly long story to end (see Dudley Do-Right, Pokemon).

The story revolves around the rescuing of a princess from a high towered castle defended by a fire-breathing dragon (“Is there any other kind?” Asked my friend). The rescuer is Shrek, an ogre who takes on the challenge to bring the princess back to Lord Farquaad. The Lord says he needs to marry a princess so he can become king of a land he seems to already rule. Shrek is doing this to get Farquaad to clear his swamp of all the bothersome fairy tale creatures who were banished there to make room for some community betterment program. During the movie Shrek will come to know himself as more than a big, ugly bruiser of a creature - which has kept him seeking quiet and to be left alone. A simple premise, but this is a cartoon.

Mike Myers provides the voice of Shrek. Not a very new voice here. It sure seemed that he just took Fat Bastard from Austin Powers 2 and Stuart Mackenzie from So I Married an Axe Murderer, then took away their edge. In interviews, Myers says he played the movie as a dramatic part, not for laughs. A good formula that has worked for many other actors. Shrek plays the straight man to The Donkey, played by Eddie Murphy who is given latitude to have fun being an ass (yes, I’ve been waiting to say that ever since I saw the first preview). Murphy does an excellent job, though I would have also loved to see Robin Williams handle the chores.

The lovely Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) is a woman with definite opinions on how her life should be played out (I had an old girlfriend flashback here), and at the beginning is not shy about telling her rescuers how to live THEIR lives also (my friend had an ex-wife flashback, here). She is also a woman with a secret that ultimately leads to her finding her true love.

Farquaad is played by John Lithgow is the bad guy in this flick, and is a “little short” on all of the qualities that Fiona needs. As bad guys go, he’s not very mean, so the little ones won’t be scared.

I heard that this film would take a few shots at that other animation studio that seems to turn out a couple of feature length films a year. So I was expecting a couple of those and, yes, the Mouse takes a few hits, but nothing blatant. I applaud Disney for not trying to hurt the opening of Shrek by re-releasing one of their past successes; a ploy that they have used in the past.

First time directors Andrew Adamson and Vicky Johnson took the story by William Steig and Ted Elliot and turned out a very entertaining film. Shrek is a good movie; not a great one. Definitely not a classic that will appear every year on television - the multitude of flatulence jokes will see to that. But it is worth a look and a laugh.

Hank Yuloff is an entertainment industry entrepreneur living in Hollywood. He likes cartoons, skiing in Aspen, and knitting in the nude.

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