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I've
heard it said that "Shrek" is a "new
classic." Maybe, in the sense that "Tommy
Boy" is a classic. Chris Farley was meant to be the
voice of Shrek, after all. There is of course a fairy tale
element, but the main focus here is more Saturday-Night-Live-ish.
Perhaps it's just the presence of Mike Myers (and the
afforementioned Farley connection) that reminds me of SNL, but
this whole movie is one long parody. If you hate Disney,
you will love "Shrek." Dreamworks is constantly
throwing right hooks at real fairytale classics in this movie.
My favorite is when they call Pinocchio "The possessed toy."
The
basic plot: An ogre is distressed because his swamp has
been populated by annoying fairytale creatures. To reclaim
his home, he must go on an adventurous mission for the evil
wannabe-king, retrieving his chosen bride from a tower where she
awaits "true love's first kiss," which will set her
free. The ogre is befriended by a donkey named Donkey,
played by Eddie Murphy, whose lines I couldn't help noticing
were reminiscent of a Ricki Lake guest.
The
adventure is certainly entertaining. It's a real crowd
pleaser, too -- people were applauding and laughing. At
one point a little girl in the theatre asked her mother
"Are they going to roast Donkey now?" because they
showed a campfire. Which brings up a point. This
movie may be animated (and well done, although I'm not quite
sure how I feel about computer animation) but it's not
necessarily for kids. A lot of the kids in the audience
seemed confused and I'm sure most of the film's jabs at their
probable favorite flicks were lost on them.
There
is definitely a modern edge to this movie, complete with a theme
of self-esteem. The plot is predictable and, personally, I
would've liked some more substance or twists or brainpower to it
mixed in with all of the "look at us being funny"
moments. There are some original scenes that deserved
their laughter, but also some quite obvious one-liners. A
lot of the humor consists of gross-out jokes, too.
Rat-eating, farting, and such. Leave your thinking cap at
the door.
Overall, more than serves its purpose as a summer escape from
reality and is a vehicle for some hearty chuckles, but ask
yourself this: How can a "classic" begin with a
pop song by Smashmouth, which is already, as they say, "so
five minutes ago"? Enjoy "Shrek," but don't
go giving it too much credit too fast, either.
-- Liz
( 2 1/2out of 4 pops )
Talk
about this film with other Popkorn Junkies |
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Other Junkie's
opinions.....
Patsy ( 2 out of 4 pops)
Being a person with
experience in computer animation, I have a great appreciation for
the time and tremendous effort that goes into it. However,
what's the point of spending millions of dollars and all that time
and energy when the product is garbage? Just think of
"Beavis and Butthead Do America". I think that
even fans of the MTV show would have to admit that it was a pretty
lame movie. Now think of the same movie, only imagine it
with incredible 3D animation...imagine being able to count the
hairs on Beavis's head or being able to see realistic reflections
from Butthead's braces. The animation might be great but
that doesn't make the movie great. The fact that so much
time and money was spent animating this film is ridiculous...a bad
movie is still a bad movie no matter how much money
Hollywood spends on the effects (and that makes me like the film
even less).
Pappy ( 1 1/2 out of 4 pops )
The only thing I liked about “Shrek” was the animation of the
Princess Fiona.
It is a dull story, with a very poor script.
It is basically a cartoon road movie that I think was much
better done in Disney’s "The Emperor's New Groove.”
But…. the Fiona animation was
remarkable.
But it depressed me a bit.
The animation was so human-like, so perfect that I can see
that very soon we will not need live action actors.
I love the technology and the art, but I will miss the good
old days when humans were in movies.
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