In 2001, Dreamworks released a new animated movie called Shrek. It wasn’t the first animated movie for the studio, but it was the most successful. I was able to see the movie in the theater that year, and it was one of the most enjoyable movies I saw that year.

Lord Farquaad ruled over Duloc. He was determined that Duloc would be perfect. Farquaad didn’t like fairytale characters and he didn’t want them around in Duloc. He wanted all fairytale characters rounded up and taken away from Duloc. He was offering rewards to get them. Farquaad wanted to be King of Duloc, but he found out that he needed to marry a Princess to become King. He found out about Princess Fiona, a princess that was living in a tower of a castle guarded by a dragon. She could be rescued once someone defeated the dragon. Farquaad decided she would make the perfect Queen. He came up with a plan to send someone else to battle the dragon.

Shrek was a large green ogre that lived alone in a swamp. He liked to be alone. One day he met Donkey, a talking donkey that was escaping from Farquaad’s guards. Donkey seemed to like Shrek, who just wanted to be left alone. Shrek was furious when his swamp was invaded by all the fairytale characters. Farquaad sent them to the swamp. Shrek decided to go see Farquaad to get his swamp back. Donkey went along. After meeting Farquaad, Shrek headed off to get Fiona out of the castle. If he took her back to Duloc, Farquaad would give him back his swamp.

Fiona had been waiting a long time to be rescued. Shrek wasn’t who she expected. She was surprised at first, but got over that and they became friends. Fiona had a secret. Shrek and Donkey were getting along better as well. Fiona wasn’t a typical princess. Shrek wasn’t use to having friends, but he started to open up a bit. There was a misunderstanding between some characters, and Shrek closed up again.

Voice Talent

Mike Myers - Shrek
Cameron Diaz - Princess Fiona
Eddie Murphy - Donkey
John Lithgow - Lord Farquaad


Shrek was released to theaters in 2001. The movie is now available on VHS and DVD. It is 90 minutes long and rated PG for some crude humor and language. Shrek was based on a book by William Steig. I have not read the book, so I don’t know how close to the book the movie stayed.

Shrek was a very entertaining movie that I really liked. I got the movie on DVD when it came out and have watched it several times. I have always loved animated movies, so I wanted to see Shrek when I first saw previews for it. It wasn’t a typical animated movie, but the plot was somewhat predictable. There were some things that happened that I didn’t expect. The predictable things didn’t make me like the movie any less. There were some rather crude things said and done in the movie. Because of those things, some parents may have some reservations about letting their children see the movie. I do think that some of the things that were in the movie weren’t the best things to have in an animated movie. Just because a movie is animated doesn’t make it a good choice for young children to see. Some of the questionable things that were said in the movie were more for the benefit of adults, and would probably go right over the heads of kids. There were a few swear words here and there, but it wasn’t anything excessive.

Shrek was the main character of the movie. He was the hero, though he was a different sort of hero. In most animated fairytale movies, the hero is a handsome prince. Shrek wasn’t a prince. He was a large, green ogre. He could be rude and crude. He seemed to be very grumpy, but he had a softer side as well. The fact that Shrek wasn’t a normal hero didn’t bother me or make me enjoy the movie less. Fiona was a bit stronger than some female characters in other animated movies, though she was still waiting around to be rescued by a prince. Several fairytale characters, like Snow White, Robin Hood, and Pinocchio turned up at different times during the movie. Shrek did seem to be taking some jabs at Disney and their animated movies.

I thought that Shrek was funny. All of the characters did and said things that were funny. I did like the characters in the movie. Donkey was my favorite character though. He was hilarious. I think he had the funniest lines in the movie. He also ended up with a unique love interest. Donkey reminded me a lot of Mushu, a character in the movie Mulan. Eddie Murphy provided the voices for both characters, which is probably why they seemed similar to me. Mushu was my favorite character in Mulan. I think that Eddie Murphy did good with the voices for both characters. Lord Farquaad was arrogant and overbearing. He was also very short, which provided some jokes for the movie. Some things that were done for humor were a bit crude, which could bother some people.

Computer animation was used in Shrek. The animation was wonderful. It was better than the computer animated that was used in Toy Story, though several years passed between the release of the two movies, so more advances in the technology were made. Human characters like Fiona looked more realistic than the human characters in Toy Story. I did think that the animation in Monsters, Inc., another computer animated movie, was better. Both of those movies came out the same year, and both were nominated for the first Oscar for Best Animated movie. Shrek won it, but I did think that Monsters, Inc. should have won instead. I liked it a bit more than Shrek.

The voices in Shrek matched their character wonderfully. I’ve already mentioned how much I liked Donkey. I do think that Mike Myers did a good job as Shrek, though I have wondered why he gave the character a Scottish accent. It seems like he frequently does characters with Scottish accents. In his last movie, The Cat in the Hat, Myers portrayed the Cat, and he seemed to be channeling every character he’s ever done before, including Shrek and many characters he did on Saturday Night Live. Cameron Diaz was good as Fiona, but nothing really stood out about her performance. John Lithgow was wonderful as Lord Farquaad. He was able to convey with his voice just how pompous and arrogant Farquaad was.

CHARACTERS

Shrek - Green ogre that liked to be left alone. He valued his privacy and didn’t like others that much. He seemed to enjoy scaring people at times. He did end up helping others at times. He did have a temper at times.

Princess Fiona - She was living in the tower of a castle that was guarded by a dragon. She was waiting for a prince to rescue her and take her off to marry her. She didn’t expect Shrek, though she ended up liking him. Fiona had a few rude habits of her own, and was able to take care of herself.

Donkey - He was a donkey that could talk. He tended to talk a lot and frequently got on Shrek’s nerves. Donkey decided that he and Shrek were friends, so he wouldn’t go away. Donkey panicked at times, but he still came through.

Lord Farquaad - He ruled over Duloc. Farquaad was obsessed with having perfection around him. He decided he was going to marry Fiona so he could become a King. He didn’t want to battle the dragon himself though, so he came up with a plan to rescue her that would keep him safe. He wasn’t a nice person.

DVD

I own the DVD version of Shrek. There are two discs. One has the full screen version and the other has the widescreen version of the movie. There is a commentary with the makers of the movie on the second disc. There are many extras on the DVD, including a behind the scenes featurette, character interviews, fifteen games, music videos for songs that were used in the movie, hints for the video games and technical goofs. The goofs showed things that went wrong with the animation process, which caused some funny results. The picture and sound for the movie was very sharp and clear.

I really enjoyed Shrek. The movie was very funny and entertaining. People who like animated movies should check this one out.

Shrek Reviews
Shrek 2 ~ Shrek the Third ~ Shrek: From the Swamp to the Screen ~

Reviews of Other Animated Movies
The Emperor's New Groove ~ Sleeping Beauty ~ Monsters, Inc. ~ Lilo & Stitch ~ Finding Nemo ~ Treasure Planet ~ Brother Bear ~ Home on the Range ~ Ice Age ~ Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ~ Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas ~ Looney Tunes: Back in Action ~

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8