Shrek (2001)
Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Tagline: The greatest fairy tale never told.

You've never met a hero quite like Shrek, the endearing ogre who sparked a motion picture phenomenon and captured the world's imagination with…the Greatest Fairy Tale Never Told! The critics are calling Shrek "not just a brilliant animated feature, but a superb film on any level" (Larry King, USA Today).

Relive every moment of Shrek's (Mike Myers) daring quest to rescue feisty Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) with the help of his lovable loudmouthed Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and win back the deed to his beloved swamp from scheming Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow). Enchantingly irreverent and "monstrously clever" (Leah Rozen, People Magazine), SHREK is ogre-sized adventure you'll want to see again and again!

Shrek is an off-beat fairy tale that has grossed over 252 million in the box office so far this year.

Starring the voice talents of Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, John Lithgow and Cameron Diaz, this film blends computer animation and a clever script into a tale that will please adults and children alike.

This disc will be released with an impressive 11 hours of additional features (several of which have yet to be announced) which should make Shrek one of the best DVDs on the market!

User Comment: MovieTrey • I never set the bar too high for children or animated films because adults can never seem to get into them. Adults go to animated films because their kids complain and fuss and drag them to see it with them. Meanwhile, the parent is stuck there trying to watch the movie, but can't because all the children are either asleep or screaming their lungs out and the parent just wants to go see the new action flick playing right next door. It's a waste of $7.00, I know. However, Shrek was a real treat to go to and is meant for an older crowd.

The bedtime stories our parents used to tell us as children and which we pass down to ours is retold to please a much older crowd who grew up with these stories. It's a spoof of all the fairy tales that we all know. However, this story has a wonderful twist to it. There's no prince charming and there's no dashing night to save the day. Shrek is an ogar, who has to rescue the princesses so he can get back his land from the storybook characters that have overrun it.

Mike Myers is witty and brilliant as the voice of Shrek. He allows the role of Shrek to come alive. This probably has to be one of Mike Myers' better films, and the great thing about working as a voice animator is that you don't have to spend three hours in make up and another hour or so in wardrobe. You can just get up at six o' clock in the morning go in say your lines and get out.

The other great thing about this movie is that it spoofs of such movies as the matrix and almost any fairy tale ever made. However, it so original in plot.

Eddie Murphy steals the screen as the talking donkey. It seems everything out of his mouth gets wittier and wittier throughout the entire movie. He brightens up the screen with a zany performance.

Cameron Diaz shines as the princesses. She enlightens us with her witty charm and surprising outbursts. John Lithgow plays the devious prince who sends Shrek on the quest to save the princesses. For some reason John Lithgow seems to have an amazing and talented voice. All in all I enjoyed the film and would give it about a 7. If you liked the movie I would suggest watching There's Something About Mary, Wayne's World, and Austin Powers.

Summary: A wonderful movie

User Comment: Renee Williams (Reneewill5) United States • Shrek is a movie like no other. It stands alone in its appeal to people of all ages and in its presentation of comedy, romance, and creative story line. Shrek is a delightful comedy about a crude ogre, an energetic princess, a witty donkey and an uptight ruler. The movie has a brilliant story line, following the path of an initially moody ogre as he discovers friendship and love all in the face of hysterical comedy. The story line is layered for different levels of understanding; it is an enjoyable film for people of all ages. One clever tool Shrek uses to humor the audience is its spoof on other fairy tales. In one scene, Princess Fiona's singing causes a bluebird to explode. And in another scene, the Magic Mirror's description of Snow White is "She may live with seven men, but don't be fooled, she's not easy." While these subtle comedic lines amuse adults, it is the simple humor, such as the movie opening with the ogre sitting in a swamp "farting," that amuses children. The amazing cast of Shrek, including Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers does a great job of living up to their comedic expectations. Shrek has something for everyone; it is a great animated tale that is wonderful for adults and children alike.

Summary: Shrek is a delight for all ages!

Trivia:
• In a 25 May 2001 feature article in Entertainment Weekly , Myers explained that the accent used for the film was inspired by his mother, who was born in Liverpool, England, but moved to Canada, where Myers was born. As Myers described it, he wanted the character to "have the Scottish accent of somebody who's lived in Canada 20 years." The article also noted that Myers was not happy after seeing how his dialogue meshed with the animation and talked producer Jeffrey Katzenberg into allowing him to re-record his entire role. The article estimated that the re-recording added $4,000,000 to the film's overall budget, which a 22 May 2001 LAT article estimated at $48,000,000 to $60,000,000.
• The computer-generated animation featured in Shrek was developed by DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images (PDI), the Palo Alto-based company at which the film was shot. PDI/DreamWorks had also produced Antz (2000), and many of the production and artistic team who worked on that film also worked on Shrek , including Adamson, who made his directing debut with Shrek . As noted in many reviews and feature articles, Shrek brought the level of computer-generated animation to a higher level, particularly in techniques developed for facial expressions and muscle and cloth movement.
• According to the film's presskit, the depth of movement and viscosity in the film was made possible by PDI/DreamWorks' Fluid Animation System (FLU). High levels of realism in facial and muscle movement and shading were made possible by a newly developed software technique nicknamed the "Shaper." A Wall Street Journal article noted that PDI made use of the Linux operating system instead of software from Microsoft or Silicon Graphics, Inc., which had been the more dominant software systems used for computer-generated animation and special effects. When Shrek opened in May 2001, it was released in both traditional and digital formats, the first time for any DreamWorks film, according to a HR news item. The digital version of the film was exhibited at eleven theaters throughout the U.S. and Canada and was handled by LucasFilm's THX division.
• The presskit also notes that there were thirty-six separate scenic locations in the completed film. The swamp was inspired by a magnolia plantation outside Charleston, SC, and Duloc was inspired by San Simeon (Hearst Castle) in California, Stratford-on-Avon in England and Dordogne, France.
• According to various news items, the extensive marketing and promotional campaign for Shrek was one of the largest in film history, including promotional tie-ins with Burger King restaurants and Heinz ketchup, among others. Book tie-ins were also launched to coincide with the film's theatrical release, including a new edition of Steig's book and a novelization of the film. In late Dec 2000, a DV article noted that DreamWorks had just signed a five-year deal with TDK Mediactive to develop computer games based on Shrek .
• Shrek was put into competition at the May 2001 Cannes Film Festival, the first animated film to be placed into official competition for the Palme d'Or since Walt Disney's Peter Pan in 1953. After its North American release in May 2001, Shrek had the largest non-holiday opening for an animated film and was the largest DreamWorks opening to date. It was the first release of the summer to take in more than $200,000,000 at the box office and went on to gross over $267,000,000 domestically, the second highest grossing film of 2001.
• The DVD release of the film included videotaped storyboard conferences for three unused segments of the film, including "Fiona's Prologue," mentioned above, which was to have explained how Fiona became cursed. A second segment, called "The Deal," involved negotiations between "Lord Farquaad" and Shrek for the deed to the swamp. A third segment, titled "Fiona Gets Them Lost," was to take place after Shrek, Fiona and Donkey escape from the Dragon's castle and start on the road to Duloc. Storyboards indicate that some of the action was to involve a cave-enclosed roller-coaster-like sequence similar to one in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom .
• Shrek (which means "horror" in Yiddish) there are numerous parodies of well known fairy tales and popular animated films. The Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz , Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men and other well-known characters and films are also parodied. For example, the scene in which Fiona fights with Robin Hood emulated the kind of stop-action special effects photography popularized in The Matrix . Satirizations of Disney films, Disneyland and Disney-related items provide the film with many of its comic moments. When Shrek and Donkey first arrive at Duloc, they see a series of crowd-control ropes and a turnstile similar to those used in Disneyland and other amusement parks. Later, they open a cabinet and tiny animated figures sing a cheerful song similar to "It's a Small World," the tune that is heard throughout the epononymously named ride at Disneyland.
• Many fairy tale figures included in Disney films appear briefly in Shrek , often against type. At Shrek and Fiona's wedding, for example, Cinderella slugs Snow White in order to catch Fiona's bridal bouquet. Many reviews and feature articles on Shrek suggested that Katzenberg, who had been head of animation production at Disney prior to becoming a partner in DreamWorks SKG, was taking satiric revenge against his former studio.
• A number of critics pointed out a more serious side to the film in its Holocaust allusions, particularly evident in the sequence in which the fairy tale characters are turned in for rewards. Some feature articles speculated that the characterization of "Lord Farquaad" was a self-parody of Katzenberg, while others suggested that the demeanor, if not the physical stature, of the character was based on Disney CEO Michael Eisner. The physical appearance and clothing of the character closely resembles the appearance of actor-director Laurence Olivier in his production of William Shakespeare's Richard III .
• A number of feature articles commented on a "rivalry" between Shrek and Disney/Pixar's Monster's, Inc. , which opened on 2 Nov 2001. The DVD version of Shrek was released on the same date as Monster's, Inc. 's opening, prompting some news items to indicate a deliberate attempt to undermine the domestic box office of Monster's, Inc. The DVD was released in a two-disc set, with eleven hours of special features, including an additional three-minute segment of the film's "I'm a Believer" musical finale and the videotaped storyboard conferences noted above for the three unused segments of the film. The DVD release of Shrek set an all-time record, with 2.5 million units sold within three days.
• In addition to being nominated by AFI as Movie of the Year, Shrek received twelve Annie nominations and one award from the International Animated Film Society and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture, Musical or Comedy. A sequel to the film, to be called Shrek 2 began pre-production in mid-2001. According to the 25 May 2001 Entertainment Weekly article, screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio had already began working on a script and were considering including the Dama Fortuna character who was dropped from the original.

--- JOYA ---

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