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Rating: 5 out of 5
I can’t believe it took me this long to review this film. One of the funniest animated films ever made has to be Shrek! Shrek is one of those films you can watch repeatedly and laugh just as hard as the first time. It is a film that makes a little fun at Disney, puts DreamWorks animation on the map, and, at one time, was a big rival to Pixar. Shrek has produced a few sequels and spin-offs, but the original will always be awesome. With the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow and their spin on fairy tales, you will love this movie.
Shrek begins with a bang with Smash Mouth’s “All-Star” blasting. We are introduced to Shrek (Myers), an anti-social ogre who loves the peace and quiet of his swamps. He loves picking on mobs who roll up in his swamp and try to get rid of him. Shrek’s life changes when all these fairy tale creatures end up in his swamp. Shrek comes to find out that the very short Lord Farquaad of Duloc (Lithgow) has exiled fairy tale creatures from his land. Shrek, angry at everyone in his swamp, decides to confront Farquaad and get all the fairy tale creatures out of his swamp. Shrek states that he doesn’t know the way and asks for a guide, only to reluctantly take a talkative Donkey (Murphy) with him.
In the Kingdom of Duloc, Farquaad has found the famous Magic Mirror. The Mirror tells him that in order to be king, he must marry a princess. After playing the dating game, Farquaad chooses the lovely Princess Fiona (Diaz), who is ironically imprisoned in a castle guarded by a Dragon. Farquaad doesn’t like the idea of facing a dragon and decides to hold a tournament, and the winner will be tasked with rescuing the princess. Shrek wins the tournament, and Farquaad agrees to remove all the fairy tale creatures if Shrek brings Fiona back. Shrek and Donkey head off to rescue Fiona with the agreement in place.
I don’t want to go further in the plot because I want to say how funny this film is. This film is hilarious; if you don’t laugh, you must get yourself checked out. What is great about this film is its humor and jokes against fairy tales and even Disney. When Shrek and Donkey go to Duloc, and they press the welcome button, it is a parody of It’s a Small World. When Shrek meets Fiona for the first time, she wants romance, but he has none of it, and the dialogue between them is hilarious. The entire scene with Robin Hood will have you rolling on the ground because it is wild and funny. The jokes never stop. Some of the jokes are only what adults will get. I look at it now and just say to myself, “Oh my god. Did they just say that?” I can’t forget about the famous Gumdrop Buttons scene. That scene alone set the tone for me, and I knew this would be a great film.
I want to give it up to DreamWorks for the animation of this film. DreamWorks went head-to-head with Pixar and produced a film with equal quality back in the day. This was a very well-done and fluent CGI film. I read and want to give it up to Pacific Data Images for doing an amazing job. I read that they wanted to do a live-action/CG animation hybrid, but the way they went worked out the best. Everything from how the characters were made to the background was great.
Let’s talk about the voice acting really quick. Everyone did an outstanding job. First, as Shrek, Mike Myers is funny and brings the loneliness of a character who eventually finds that he likes being around people. Cameron Diaz was great as Princess Fiona. The arrow in your butt was funny, and I love how the character was a badass whipping princess. There isn’t enough praise to give to John Lithgow as Lord Farquaad. Lithgow was hilarious and showed the narcissistic personality of the Lord, who had a major Napoleon complex. I want to give the biggest praise to Eddie Murphy as Donkey. Murphy deserves all the praise because he was hilarious and had all the best lines in the whole movie. Who doesn’t love hearing, “That’s a nice boulder,” “In the morning, I’m making waffles,” and “Shrek, I’m looking down.”
I don’t want to spend too much time on this review because I want you to watch it. I might rewatch it now because sometimes you need a good laugh. The jokes are amazing and hilarious. The story is fantastic, and the voice acting is top-notch. Watch Shrek because you will not be disappointed.
BONUS CLIP
