Shrek (2001)

Genres

Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Fantasy

Directors

Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, Vincent Cassel, Conrad Vernon, Chris Miller, Cody Cameron, Simon J. Smith, Christopher Knights, Aron Warner, Jim Cummings

Storyline

When Lord Farquaad (Vincent Cassel) exiles all the magical creatures to the woods, the fairy-tale beings decide to camp outside the house of ogre Shrek (Mike Myers) who loses his peaceful life. So, in order to get his land back, agrees to rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) for Lord Farquaad.

Opinion

Flying over the fact that I haven't seen it in over 3 years (yeah, shame on me), Shrek has been one of my favourite animated films since always and has a special place in my heart not because it's fun, but because it makes fun of fairy tales. 

The story would have been your typical fairy tale story with a princess that needs to be rescued if it wasn't for the fact that there is no Prince Charming here. The hero is a grumpy green ogre who only acts for self-interest; he's basically a mercenary hired to do a job. And the prince (actually he won't be a prince unless he marries a princess) is a coward and rather pathetic little man. This twist (and many others along the way) is what makes the story interesting and charming. It's got some plot holes and a weird romantic subplot, but it eventually delivers its don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover message. 

The soul of the film, however, isn't the story but the characters. They are a bit stereotyped (I mean, the ugly evil ogre isn't that evil after all, the noble is evil, and the friend is all over the place), but they are amazing, especially Shrek who is incredibly grumpy but equally likeable and Donkey, Shrek's animal sidekick. Donkey is actually my favourite thing about the Shrek franchise and he'll always be one of my favourite movie characters because of the wonderful work of Eddie Murphy. He was the perfect cast for the role, and gave such a funny and sweet performance. It's impossible not to love Donkey.

Another awesome thing about Shrek is that the humour works on different levels. When I was a kid I was able to enjoy all the fairy-tale related jokes and references; now I can also enjoy a lot of one-liners, especially those from Murphy and Myers who does a really good job as Shrek. 

The animation is also nice. There's a lot of attention to backgrounds, textures and details which make up for the goofy movements of some/most of the characters.