Shrek

Shrek is a big ol’ ugly ogre. He lives in a land inhabited by characters from various fairy tales and doesn’t like being disturbed. When the leader of this fantasy world banishes all these characters into Shrek’s backyard, the big green giant has no choice but to fight a dragon and bring the fair princess back for the king. But will Shrek learn to live with others? Will Shrek fall for the lovely princess himself? Will “Smashmouth” resurrect their musical careers with this one movie? Stay tuned…

An all-around good time at the movies. This film’s got laughs, it’s got action, it’s got a cute, original story, it’s got nifty characters all around, solid special effects, a rockin’ soundtrack…and even romance? Now that’s a movie! Seriously folks, chalk this sucker up with TOY STORY 2 and CHICKEN RUN in the “fun for the whole family” category and keep a close watch on those rising box-office grosses and demand from kids wanting the latest Shrek and Donkey action figures from their local junk food joints. So what is it about these movies that sets them apart from all the others? Well, the “special effects” are definitely one part of it, but I think that the bottom line with all of these happenin’ movies has got to be the script, the script and…you guessed it, the script! So allow me to take a minute to shake each of the writers’ hands who took a part in creating this wonderful screenplay (and one William Steig, the man who wrote the book upon which this is all based). I mean, here’s a story that takes characters from all of our favorite fairy tale wonderlands, mixes them together in a new and exciting wonderworld and most importantly, makes it all gel…and in a very entertaining manner, I might add!

Not only that but this film’s got laughs, laughs and more laughs! The Donkey character alone has got to be one of the funniest characters that I’ve seen in any movie all year. Eddie Murphy seems ideal for voice-overs (he stole the show in MULAN as well) and I dare you not to crack up at any of his many one-liners spread throughout this movie. The man, the writers and the directors of this film, make it all a barrel of fun. And before I forget, allow me to toss some good vibes out to the directors of this film as well. Generally, nobody really acknowledges the directors of these “computer animated” movies, but this film really goes out of its way to direct the action within. We get slo-motion action, we get fade-overs, a soundtrack used to its full potential and many other cool juices flowing throughout. And being the movie geek that I am, I totally dug on all of the movie references skewered throughout (and there were a lot!), including BABE, GODZILLA, CHARLIE’S ANGELS, ROBIN HOOD, THE MATRIX and more.

But in the end, this movie comes down to fun, fun and more fun. You take a little bit of fantasy, toss in plenty of romance, a fair princess, the ugly ogre, a hilarious sidekick, some wrastlin’, some kick-arse tunes, awesome visuals and you simply cannot help but love this movie no matter what your age. Another modern classic by them dudes and dudettes over at Dreamworks. Great shtuff!

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian