This review includes full spoilers. Proceed accordingly. For other movie reviews from me, click HERE:
[Reader commenting on my review]
Comment: What is this review? It’s terrible!
Dusty: Well, that’s not very nice.
[gestures to the movie]
Dusty: It’s just Shrek.
Rating: PG
Directors: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
Writers: William Steig, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio
Stars: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow
Release Date: May 18, 2001 (United States)
Run time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
THE PLOT:
via wiki:
Shrek is an anti-social ogre who loves the solitude of his swamp and enjoys fending off mobs and intruders. One day, his life is interrupted after he inadvertently saves a talkative Donkey from some soldiers, prompting Donkey to forcibly stay with him. Donkey is one of many fairytale creatures that are being exiled or sold by the dwarfish Lord Farquaad of Duloc to beautify his land. However, the creatures inadvertently end up in the swamp. Angered by the intrusion, Shrek resolves to visit Farquaad and demand that he moves the creatures elsewhere, reluctantly allowing Donkey to accompany him as he is the only one who knows where Duloc is.
Meanwhile, Farquaad is presented with the Magic Mirror, who tells him that he must marry a princess in order to become king. Farquaad randomly chooses Princess Fiona, who is imprisoned in a castle guarded by a Dragon. Unwilling to rescue Fiona himself, he organizes a tournament in which the winner will receive the “privilege” of performing the task on his behalf. When Shrek and Donkey arrive at Duloc, Farquaad announces that whoever kills Shrek will win the tournament; however, Shrek and Donkey defeat Farquaad’s knights with relative ease. Amused, Farquaad proclaims them champions, and agrees to relocate the fairytale creatures if Shrek rescues Fiona.
Shrek and Donkey travel to the castle and the Dragon attacks them. Shrek locates Fiona, who is appalled by his lack of romanticism; they flee the castle after rescuing Donkey from the Dragon, who is revealed to be female and has fallen in love with him. When Shrek removes his helmet and reveals he is an ogre, Fiona stubbornly refuses to go to Duloc, demanding Farquaad arrive in person to save her. Shrek carries Fiona against her will. That night, after setting up camp, and with Fiona alone in a cave, Shrek admits to Donkey that he is anti-social because he grew frustrated after being constantly judged for his appearance. Fiona overhears this and becomes kinder to Shrek. The next day, Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men harass the three, but Fiona easily defeats them in physical combat, including one where she kicks them in both directions (by jumping into the splits). Shrek becomes impressed with Fiona, and they begin to fall in love.
When the trio nears Duloc, Fiona takes shelter in a windmill for the evening. Donkey enters alone and discovers that Fiona has transformed into an ogre. She explains that during her childhood, she was cursed to transform into an ogre at night but retain her human form during the day. She tells Donkey that only “true love’s kiss” will break the spell and change her to “love’s true form”. Meanwhile, Shrek is about to confess his feelings to Fiona, when he overhears Fiona referring to herself as an “ugly beast”. Believing that she is talking about him, Shrek angrily leaves and returns the next morning with Farquaad. Confused and hurt by Shrek’s abrupt hostility, Fiona reluctantly accepts Farquaad’s marriage proposal and requests that they be married that day before sunset. Shrek angrily dismisses Donkey and returns to his now vacated swamp but quickly realizes that he feels miserable without Fiona. Donkey lectures Shrek for jumping to conclusions and reveals that Fiona was not referring to him as an “ugly beast”, although Donkey does not reveal Fiona’s secret to Shrek. The two reconcile, and Donkey summons the Dragon, whom he had reunited with earlier in the day. Shrek and Donkey ride Dragon to Duloc so they can stop the wedding.
Shrek interrupts the ceremony just before it ends. Before they can kiss, the sun sets, and Fiona transforms into an ogre in front of everyone. Disgusted and enraged, Farquaad orders Shrek to be executed and Fiona re-imprisoned, so that he will still be king by technicality. The two are saved when the Dragon, ridden by Donkey, breaks in and devours Farquaad. Shrek and Fiona kiss, and Fiona’s curse is broken; though she remains an ogre, Shrek reassures her that he still finds her beautiful. They marry in the swamp with the fairy tale creatures in attendance, then leave for their honeymoon.
The Review
Shrek is a movie that holds up in every respect. I give this a full recommendation (with a couple of caveats mentioned below.)
A quarter of a century after its creation, the fairy tale animation still looks great, somehow with characters simultaneously realistic in the way they move while also fictional, like children’s book drawings made alive. That sounds obvious, but it’s a hard balance to get right. The original Shrek does. Given the images I’ve seen recently from Shrek 5 (still in the works) I can’t help but wonder if the bar isn’t set too high in the original – or if maybe the franchise should have just left well enough alone.
As for the original and the rewatch, the heart of the story still resonates. Shrek is an ogre who lives alone. When we meet him, his anti-social temperament explains his isolation. As the movie progresses, though, we learn his temperament was the result of earlier treatment and that pushing people away has become a self-defense mechanism. What he needed was a loyal and oblivious to social cues donkey to put him on the right path. And from there, the grouchy and lonely Shrek finds both a best friend, but also an unlikely but satisfying romantic love, too. There are a lot of great things about this movie, but its heart is the most important element of why it works. Human beings will never tire of outcasts finding love and a home.
The voice acting performances are fantastic. Myers’ Shrek speaks in the actor’s familiar fake Scottish accent, but “Shrek” makes the voice his own. Eddie Murphy is hilarious as donkey, giving the audience a lovable, undaunted, and forever optimistic hype-donkey for Myer’s grumpy lead ogre. Diaz is great as Princess Fiona, delivering a pitch perfect “Princess Voice” performance, while also giving her Fiona an irreverent edge that bridges the gap between her character and Shrek, such that their rapid romance is believable – at least in a fairy tale kind of way. My favorite performance in the film is from John Lithgow, who gives us a Lord Farquaad who is insecure, pompous and evil, but in the kind of way a kid – or an adult in my case – can laugh at him and find him to be silly.
The most surprising thing to me about this movie is how well the comedy holds up. Generally speaking, comedy has a shelf life confined to the zeitgeist of its creation. What Shrek proves, though, is that flatulence humor is timeless.
Before you sit down to watch this with a young kid, I should provide a little bit of a warning. There are several instances of somewhat mild swear words in the film – with one song in particular saying “damn” pretty frequently for a minute or so early in the film. As you might expect, given a donkey as a main character, there are also a lot of “ass” puns. It’s possible a very young child might be bothered by Princess Fiona’s shrill voice accidentally exploding a bird – shortly before she fries its eggs. Or they might be bothered by the otherwise hilarious Lord Farquaad torture of the gingerbread man via milk dunking.
Lord Farquaad: [playing with Gingy’s legs] Run, run, run as fast as you can / You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!
Gingerbread Man: You’re a monster!
Lord Farquaad: [tossing legs away] I’m not the monster here, YOU are! You and the rest of that fairytale trash, poisoning my perfect world. Now tell me, where are the others?
Gingerbread Man: Eat me!
[spits in Farquaad’s face]
Lord Farquaad: I’ve tried to be fair to you creatures, but now my patience has reached its end! Tell me, or I’ll…
[reaches down]
Gingerbread Man: NO! Not the buttons! Not my gumdrop buttons!
The movie is probably okay for tweens and teenagers, but you might not want to introduce it to younger kids if they’re sensitive.
Shrek is a really fun movie, and I enjoyed the rewatch a lot. With the above caveats notwithstanding, I definitely recommend giving this a rewatch if you’re in search of something funny and full of heart.
Have you seen Shrek? If so, what did you think?
It’s been so long since I watched it. I need to see it again to remember all of the scenes and the story. My kids never asked to watch it. Maybe it’s time for the entire family to watch it this weekend. 😊
It’s funny and holds up well. There is a little bit of “edgy” humor but I didn’t think anything was too over the top.
Back in the day, I had to watch it six times to catch all the jokes, including ones in the background, which indicates serious dedication on the part of the creatives. And “flatulence” isn’t the only humor in this movie that stands the test of time; human nature hasn’t changed. If anything, the movie is just as funny and now a little sadder, too.
No disagreements with that at all. Shrek is an ogre, but this is a very human story about finding your community when you don’t have one. I really enjoyed it.