Shrek

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Shrek wants just one thing: to be left alone in his swamp. You'd think an ogre wouldn't have a problem keeping people away. Unfortunately, there's this talking donkey who won't leave. In addition, Lord Farquaar has decided that Shrek's swamp makes a fine refugee camp for fairy tale creatures. In order to reclaim his peace and quiet, Shrek agrees to go on a quest, with donkey in tow, to rescue the Princess Fiona and deliver her to Lord Farquaar.

The bare bones of this story only hints at the wonderfully demented sensibility of this movie, and the delightful ways familiar fairy tales are turned on their heads. Kids and parents alike will love the many sight gags, one-liners and instances of potty humor. Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy are just plain funny. This feel-good, laugh-until-it-hurts movie will entertain the entire family.

Don't forget to stick around after the credits for the karaoke song and dance extra. No viewing of Shrek is complete with a family sing-along at the end.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful
Review: this is a classic fairy tale but with a twist. the prince that saves the princess is actually an ogre. and the princess herself is not really a princess, but an ogress. it's a wonderful story, and the characters are charming, especially shrek and his sidekick, donkey. the graphics are surprisingly good, also. a good film for kids, big and small.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining,but...
Review: I don't see what all the hype was over, it's just a average, feel good animated movie, i enjoyed "Toy Story" more, but it is a great DVD to own.

Rating:
Summary: Great for Kids and Adults
Review: I'm just a big 'ole kid at heart, but even adults will love this movie. There are silly things (like farts and boogers) that the kids will love. Then there are the innuendos that the adults will find hilarious. It's also a spoof on a lot of the fairy tales that we know and love. Besides, how can you not find the name of the short prince "Lord Faquod" funny? Come on! I could watch this movie over and over again. Great! Combining the comic genius of Mike Meyers and Eddie Murphy into one movie was a wonderful move and made for a great movie. I would recommend this to children and adults of all ages.

Rating:
Summary: Monster with heart of gold
Review: This is a good animation movie for children above 10 years old. It's also good for adults with a bit of children in their heart. Go and buy it.

Rating:
Summary: The Same Old Thing
Review: Shrek, I mean the actors worked hard and well, but give me a break. This movie was a little bit more for 6-year olds and sort of weird. So anyway, how scary can it get! Fairy tales have separate movies, and all they did was put them together!So if you see the movie once, you'll be pretty impressed. But after that,you'll see it my way.

Rating:
Summary: What a story should be
Review: This is one of those rare gems of a movie that holds you from the first minute, presents immediately likable characters, and tells a very simple story and has fun doing it. There's some crudeness here, but nothing more crude than I've heard more than a few six-year-olds share. What's most impressive to me is the care and compassion with which the filmmakers treat the characters while still making sure that this film is a blast.

The story has its limitations, and it's not the most original of stories, but then again, neither was anything that Shakespeare wrote--Shakespeare borrowed well-known plots and created exceptional characters with wonderful lines, and I find the same thing here. If you want to enjoy a funny, thoughtful, reverent film, pull up a chair and be ready to laugh, to be angry at the silly little king wanna-be, and to be sad that things might not work out for our hero and heroine--just enjoy this one, because that's what it was made for.

Rating:
Summary: Monster Crawls
Review: A big green ogre (voice by Mike Myers) and a talking donkey (Eddie Murphey at his best) set off to rescue a beautiful princess (Cameron Diaz) from a dragon. The computer-animated feature pokes good-natured fun at fairy-tale conventions even as it revives them, building toward the inevitalbe happily-ever after ending. The spirit of Looney Tunes is present in.

Rating:
Summary: Shrek leaves a bad taste in the mouth
Review: WARNING : I give away the ending of this film. Don't read if you haven't seen the film .

First, the film is funny, it has a lot of good lines, the quality of the work is very high....But...

I have misgivings about this film.

It's not the "vulgarity" of the film that bothers me, and let me take a moment to expres my condolences to the unfortunate children who have to put up with the parents who've ranted about the (very mild) belch and fart jokes in this film. Hang in there , kids ; age 18 is coming.

No , what bothers me is this :

Princess Fiona is a human female. Her genotype/phenotype is that of a tall, slender redhead. That's what she's MEANT to look like. Her ogreish appearance after sundown and before sunrise is solely the result of a curse or evil spell, and it will be broken by "love's first kiss".

So she and Shrek fall in love, he kisses her....and she's left permanently in the ogreish form.

Exactly WHAT message is that supposed to send, anyway? Is it "don't judge by appearances" ? Well, how *can* it be, when apparently Princess Fiona MUST look like Shrek to make it believable that she truly loves him? Are we supposed to believe that if she stayed beautiful, she'd eventually "have to" dump Shrek and find someone her physical equal? If they really, truly love each other, WHY can't Fiona keep the face and form she was BORN to have-why does she have to look like Shrek for it to be believed that she truly loves him? Far from being an antilookist message, it's as if the filmmakers are saying, 'if you're ugly, you'll only find true love with someone who looks just like you. Forget "love conquers all", or "opposites attract", and don't get above yourself : Your inner worth means NOTHING , it's only your outward appearance that counts.

Or is it rather that, as a female, Princess Fiona is just destined to be an appendage of whatever man she chooses, so of course she has to match her mate? Like she isn't an individual in her own right.

I really don't think I'm making too big a deal over "just a kid's film" here. Adults are allowed to just enjoy themselves and have fun with 'eye candy' TV shows and films, or beach novels. Everything for kids is so didactic it hurts, and no story for them is allowed to just be fun ; no, everything has to "teach them a good lesson". Just like every freakin' toy for kids has to be some educational instrument of torture from Zany Brainy or some boredom factory like it. Can't turn children into little production instruments too soon, can we ? How are they supposed to grow up and make good money so they can support their parents, if they're allowed to just play and fantasize and day dream as children?

So it's safe to say that this film is meant to teach children A Lesson....and I think it is quite appropriate to question just what message it sends.

Rating:
Summary: Shrek - the best animated fun since Toy Story!
Review: When I saw this one film advertised on television around the time of its theatrical release, I just saw it as an annoying and extremely overrated little kids animation with bad dialogue. Yes, the film was Shrek. Everyone was going crazy for it, and I criticised it for months. I finally caught onto the film when I reluctantly borrowed the DVD from one of my friends. My opinions totally changed. This film is hilarious! Easily the best animated film of 2001, Shrek dominated the box office worldwide, raking in almost $500 million and making almost the same amount in video and DVD sales in its first eight weeks on release. The film is simply remarkable, and boasts a fantastic script, beautiful animation, extremely humorous dialogue and some great twists. With all this secured, it is a film that is sure to appeal to people of all ages.

Shrek (Mike Myers) is a big green ogre, who is loathed by many other creatures who live around him. They see him as fat, ugly and clumsy. Because of this, he lives a lonely and miserable life. One day things take a turn for the worse when the heartless Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) decides upon evicting all the fairytale characters of his land from their homes. They all begin to squat on Shrek's swamp - and he's furious. Along with an outrageous and hilarious talking donkey (Eddie Murphy) who has squeezed in with the other squatters, Shrek decides to pay a visit to Lord Farquaad demanding answers and a reasonable conclusion for the squatters incident. By the time their meeting has finished with Lord Farquaad at his castle, Shrek and the donkey have been selected to rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) from a dragon's lair and bring her back safely so Lord Farquaad can marry her. If the mission is a success, Shrek will be free to rule his swamp without any squatters.

And so Shrek and the donkey set off on their mission. The action begins, along with the humour. The two argue all the time, but make a great comedy-duo. Mike Myers fills his role as Shrek with a determined effort that shines throughout the entire film, and makes you feel a range of emotions for the giant but gentle ogre. The compassion he emits in his voice for Shrek is wonderful. Eddie Murphy is equally successful in providing a simply triumphant voice for the donkey. Personality wise, the two have a lot in common; they're both brash, hilarious, outrageous and loud. And while the donkey is not the central part of the storyline, he definitely provides the most laughs and has some classic scenes. Witness his horror as the female dragon gently tries to seduce him, batting her eyelids as he just goes along with it all to save his own skin as he complements her on her dental hygiene! Cameron Diaz has perhaps the most difficult voice to play in Shrek. She doesn't have a character who is outspoken or permenantly angry to make the character memorable. Princess Fiona is a brilliant character, but Diaz is the dull link in a chain of excellent and radiant aspects of this film. Disney's past few films have all been badly produced and general flops at box offices. DreamWorks takes advantage of Disney's recent slump, showing them how brilliant child's comedy films should be made. Overall, this is a fabulous film that appeals to all ages, has a witty and charming conclusion, and is destined to become a future classic. A film that is definitely worthy of a sequel, Shrek is a winner on all accounts!