Usually, I hate being proven wrong. Or even moderately "un-right".

But every so often, something pleasant comes along and bites your butt, and it's so pleasant that you don't care. Okay, so Shrek doesn't actually bite your butt. It's more like he screams and yells and insults you in a desperate effort to live up to his ogre-ish visage. Fitting, too, seeing as he's an ogre.

In the land of Duloc, all the fairy tale creatures have had bounties placed on their heads, from Pinnochio (referred to disdainfully as "the possessed toy") to the three bears (no doubt turned in by Goldilocks herself, the little backstabbing wench) to Snow White's Seven Dwarves. To Lord Farquod (John Lithgow), the fairy tale creatures are a smear of impurity in an otherwise perfect land and he means to do away with them. By dumping them in the swamp that Shrek the Ogre (Mike Meyers) calls his home.

It's an empty swamp aside from the grubs, maggots and muds that inhabit it. Nothing there talks or whines or tells jokes and that's exactly how Shrek likes it. He enjoys the sounds of silence. He enjoys being able to eat in peace without disturbances. He enjoys being able to pick rods of earwax out of his bugle-shaped green ears to use as candles for a quiet dinner.

Or so he thinks. A quest is given and Shrek finds himself on an adventure with his newfound companion Donkey (Eddie Murphy), a talking... well... donkey, to find and rescue a fairy tale princess, the red-headed Fiona (Cameron Diaz).

It has all the trappings of a tired, played out story... And in some ways, it is. The message is simple. Don't judge a book by its cover. That's all fine and dandy. But like Shrek's own metaphor of ogres having layers like an onion, this movie has layers, too.

On the outside, it's simply a comedy, made to induce laughter in the audience. But under that, there's a moral behind it all, simple to grasp and good for the kids.

And deep down under that, it's simply a comedy, made to induce laughter.

I try to judge films on whether or not they achieve their intent, and I'm happy to say that Shrek delivers what it's meant to deliver with a lot of gusto and heart.

I laughed so hard, my butt is still on the floor of that theater somewhere with jujubes stuck all over it.

The writers did a wonderful job of bringing multiple well-known fairy tales to life, giving them a fairly cynical, more realistic bent for surprisingly hilarious consequences. The story makes no presumptions about being anything new or unpredictable. It allows it situations, characters and dialogue to bring unpredictability to the table and for the most part it works quite well. The gem of the story is simply in the interactions of the characters and that you rarely are able to guess what a character is going to say next.

Myers does a great job of bringing the big green ogre to life, adding his own particular brand of false accents into play. He plays Shrek off as a shy, gruff, charming anti-hero with subtle passion. Murphy's Donkey works as a perfect foil to the reserved, Shrek, an over-talkative, eager-to-please sidekick. The comedian puts his stand up experience to good use, here, with machine-gun banter to fill in the silences between Shrek's short monologues. A lot of it is just filler, but once in a while, Murphy delivers some hilarious stuff. And you gotta love that buck toothed smile (I'm talking about the Donkey). Lithgow's portrayal of the evil Lord Farquod is caricature-ish and cliched. But it almost has to be that way for this particular story. Lithgow does what he does best, delivering a lot of arrogant posturing to adequate comedic effect.

The weakest character has got to be Diaz' Fiona. The character is likable enough, but Diaz's acting is just a bit stiff. It's fine when she's lending her sparky, on-screen persona to the screen. Her wide smile and infectious spastic acting aids her acting. But here, where her face isn't distracting the viewer, her stilted tone and overly dramatic performance is a bit more clear. Still, it's not enough to make the movie anywhere near unbearable.

To complement the actors, the movie employs the latest in 3D technology, bringing all the characters to beautifully rendered life in a world of vibrant color. But strangely enough, in this fantasy world, the sets don't look anywhere near fantastic. It's all beautifully rendered but the backdrop which the characters inhabit seem largely lacking in imagination. Lots of blades of individual grass, though. But still, not exactly visually inspiring but for the mere fact that we know these creatures and people aren't real at all. Again, not enough to kill this movie.

One of the more interesting things about the movie has got to be the soundtrack. They use pop tunes, oldies and original music to set moods within Shrek. It's an odd mix, and kind of works. The opening scene features Smash Mouth's All Star pumping in the background ans Shrek goes about preparing for his day. Seems kind of out of place. But... I tend to like anachronisms sometimes. It breaks the mold.

I like that.

For once, there's a donkey in my review, and I don't hate the product. In fact, I really liked this movie. It's charming, not because the story is particularly groundbreaking. It's charming because the creators and the actors put a lot of heart into it and it SHOWS. It shows that Mike Meyers and Eddie Murphy are having a blast recording the voices and dialogue. It shows in the dialogue itself that the writers felt good about what they were doing. It shows in that the audience will laugh hard enough to induce coughing fits in some scenes.

It shows in that there's no Disney sugar-coating and that jokes appeal to both adults and children for different reasons.

It shows in that they actually pitch a dig at Disney.

In the end, the only complaints I have are for a little bit of stiff acting by Diaz, a rather bland creativity behind the set designs and the fact that the ending seemed a bit rushed. And where most of the movie is spent tossing out cliches and then shooting them to bits, the ending is just... cliche. The musical bit at the end was great, but the ending of the story just seemed uncharacteristically weak. Also... Did they HAVE to throw in a Matrix spoof?

I mean really...

I loved the Matrix. And the first spoof was funny.

But now we're just beating a dead donkey. Aren't we?


Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older