*** (out of ****)
Starring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow.
Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, with the music video “I’m a Believer” directed by Scott Marshall; written for the screen by Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, Roger S.H. Schulman, from the book by William Steig, with additional dialogue by Cody Cameron, Chris Miller, and Conrad Vernon.
2001 PG
“Shrek” is a complete visual success with slightly more questionable, even sometimes unsettling contents. In principle I have problems with a movie in which we go to a far-off fairytale land and discover that its residents talk and behave exactly as if they were raised on modern American pop culture. The characters in “Shrek” look like trolls, ogres, dragons, peasants, knights, talking mules, and so forth. But they use modern slang, cue cards, Tic-Tacs, listen to rock music, watch game shows, and talk of romantic relationships in terms of “commitment.” The effect of “Shrek” is like visiting another planet and finding everyone there watching the same television shows as you do. I know that right now most children’s entertainment is enthralled with being “hip,” in which everything alludes to everything else. But I for one would welcome a film in which everyone that looks like a troll, an ogre, a peasant, etc., acts like a troll, an ogre, a peasant, etc.
But like I said, the complaint is more one of principle and, in “Shrek’s” case, not so much a complaint in practice. “Shrek” is easily one of 2001’s best-looking films, with its computer-animated countrysides, castles, forests, and villages. The visuals have depth, color, and are populated by a menagerie of adorable characters and creatures. Among them are Shrek (Mike Myers, sporting a wild Scottish accent), a horn-eared ogre who bathes in dirty water, uses his earwax for candles, and can kill fish with his flatulence. He’s an outcast living alone in a swamp until the evil Duke (voice of John Lithgow) begins deporting fairytale characters from the kingdom proper to the outskirts, such as the swamp. Among those deported are the three blind mice, the seven dwarves, and Pinocchio.
Shrek, who likes being a recluse, goes to the Duke to complain and strikes a bargain: if Shrek rescues the Princess (voice of Cameron Diaz) from the evil dragon and brings her to the Duke, Shrek can have his swamp all to himself again. Shrek is joined on his quest by a talking mule (voice of Eddie Murphy) that, needless to say, is a wisecracking sidekick. He’s funny about three-fourths of the time. The chase through the dragon’s castle is one of the movie’s most exciting sequences, as Shrek hurls himself at breakneck speeds through turrets, catacombs, and over molten lakes, with the dragon hot on his heels. The Princess turns out to be a bit of a firecracker with typically fairytale ideas about being rescued and falling in love, ideas which Shrek is not interested in fulfilling.
“Shrek’s” modus operandi is to debunk fairytales by sneaking in modern humor and irony. A movie can be set in the land of fairytales and be funny on its own terms, without having to stoop to constant allusions to the modern world. That movie’s called “The Princess Bride” and will probably have a longer shelf-life than “Shrek,” whose visuals will one day be surpassed and whose pop culture allusions will someday date it. That said, “Shrek” is jolly fun, with likable characters, enough jokes, and a genuinely sweet ending. A sweet ending, that is, unless you think about it too hard and ask yourself, if the movie is about being yourself and thereby being beautiful, why is it no one in the movie acts like himself? Why is it they all act like us instead, using our slang, our television, and our modern irony? Oh well. Don’t think about “Shrek” so hard.
Finished August 28, 2002
Copyright © 2002 Friday & Saturday Night