Shrek

Dreamworks’ eagerly-anticipated subversion of both fairy-tales and Disney animation has both dazzling use of CGI technology and a savvy script to recommend it, but isn’t quite up there with Toy Story or A Bug’s Life in terms of sheer entertainment value.

Shrek (Myers), the giant green ogre of the title, lives a solitary life in his homely swamp. However, the profoundly evil Lord Farquaad (Lithgow) is in the process of banishing all the fairy-tale characters from his kingdom, and suddenly Shrek finds his hitherto-peaceful hovel invaded by the resultant refugees. Determined to get the Three Blind Mice out of his dinner and the Big Bad Wolf out of his bed, Shrek cuts a deal with the vertically-challenged Farquaad, and sets out to rescue the beautiful princess Fiona (Diaz), whom Farquad has decided to take for a bride.

While this proves disruptive enough to Shrek’s resolutely anti-social lifestyle, far worse is his unwitting acquisition of a sidekick – a stubborn and monstrously verbose donkey (Murphy) who diligently accompanies the ogre through fire-breathing dragons and forests filled with ludicrously camp merry-men in order to achieve their goal. Unfortunately, the princess is not all she seems, and nurses a deep, dark secret which threatens the entire arrangement.

If you’re expecting the ultimate anti-Disney film, as some of the pre-release hype would have you believe, than Shrek will probably prove somewhat disappointing. Granted, many of the film’s best moments come from inversions of the Disney milieu – a duet between the Princess and a chirpy forest bird ending in catastrophe is one of the more magnificent comic examples, and there are a couple of thinly-veiled digs at the House of Mouse. However, Shrek is far from all-out anarchy. Rather, it aims predominantly for gentle humour, and while it does contain the occasional Babe or Matrix reference, in general the script draws on rhymes and wordplay for comic effect, thereby ensuring the pleasure of a broader demographic.

The plot, meanwhile, is hardly ambitious and serves up the rather predictable moral that looks aren’t everything, but ultimately Shrek’s simplicity is its great strength, as it tells its story directly and well, with considerable visual flair in the CGI department. The casting is perversely inspired, with Murphy’s wisecracking mule and Lithgow’s preening narcissistic overlord giving the two actors (both the proud owners of thoroughly dismal CV’s) vehicles far more suited to their unique ‘talents’

Certainly, there have been better fairy-tale pisstakes (The Princess Bride) and it’s unlikely to cause John Lassiter and the Pixar crew any sleepless nights. Still, Shrek is unlikely to have any serious competition on the animated-movie front for quite some time.