Shrek

Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson, USA, 2001, 90 minutes

It's a tough life when you're a fairytale character. Not only are all your colleagues psychologically unstable and not a little weird but you can't even bond with your neighbours in Duloc. Okay, you may be a big green ogre that eats slugs and stinks like crazy, but that's no reason for them to run away from you in fear! And then just when you suit that loner-in-the-woods life angry midget Lord Farquaad only goes and banishes ALL those nutcase fairytale folk to your home. Something must be done and if that means dealing with all manner of danger, over-chirpy donkeys and a beautiful but feisty princess then so be it!

Now if you're already running away in fear of all this cartoon mayhem stop right there. Shrek is that rarest of beasts(!), a genuinely great, high quality Dreamworks animation. It may not be perfect but the script is certainly as good as any recent Pixar film with a good deal more references and cold cynicism. Mike Myers slightly strangles a Scottish accent (which works unless you're watching it in, erm, Scotland) to play the big kind green ogre with the somewhat unlikely love interest Princess Fiona as voiced by Cameron Diaz. John Lithgow (he of Third Rock from the Sun) is rather obviously cast as the pompous, evil Farquaad whilst Eddie Murphy is an ass (donkey type of course) but just manages not to be annoying in the comedy sidekick role. The singing/partying scenes may be a tad unnecessary but that’s forgiven due to one important and fabulous thing about Shrek - it's Disney jibes. This is certainly Dreamworks best and most convincing attempt to really give the big ol' Mouse a run for its money and that's pretty much the only reason the new Academy Award for Animated Feature could even exist — and be won by Shrek. Now if we could have fewer Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron’s from Dreamworks we might yet get a whole new generation of reduced saccharine, non-Disney material of the calibre of (or perhaps even better than) Shrek.

Review by Nicola Osborne
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2002