A talking ass! (Shrek (DVD))

Member Name: zOOm

Product:	Shrek (DVD)
Date:	14/07/01 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great animation, actors (well, voices of actors), very funny

Disadvantages: totally against Disney

Meet Shrek (the voice of Mike Meyers), he is an ugly green Ogre that lives in the swamps (his own description). He is fun loving and loves scaring humans half dead!

Lord Farquad (the voice of John Lithgow) has banned all the fairytale characters from his land. Hence, they’ve all moved into the swamp where Shrek lives. And Shrek ain’t happy. He wants his swamp back!

Shrek makes a deal with Lord Farquad to get his swamp back and that’s where the adventure begins. A donkey (the voice of Eddy Murphy) has become Shrek’s friend (against all wishes of Shrek) and joins in the quest.

The animation is great (it’s 3D) and the characters are really funny. The voices suit the characters fairly well. Mike Meyers has chosen to use a Scottish accent for the Ogre (and I am not Scottish, so I can’t evaluate how well he has done but it does sound good to me). You can actually see that the donkey was designed for Eddie Murphy and the Princess specifically for Cameron Diaz.

There are references to “The Matrix”, “Robin Hood” and some other movies & TV shows, but the most obvious bits are the references to Disney World. If you have ever been to Disney World you’ll find some parts much more funnier than people who haven’t been.

The story line (minor spoilers included I am afraid….)

Story line is great. Eddie Murphy plays a fast talking, wise cracking ass that no one likes, but he doesn’t care. He is the funniest character in the movie.

Shrek is a no-nonsense Ogre who knows who he is and that he can scare people, and he does his best to keep his reputation.

Lord Farquad needs to get married to a Princess (the voice of Cameron Diaz) so that he can become a King. To get his swamp back, Shrek needs to go and rescue a princess that is being guarded by a Dragon (as you would in a normal fairytale). The donkey joins Shrek in the quest to re
scue the princess. The Princess is waiting for her knight in shining armour (as is promised by the fairytale) to come and rescue her.

At first the Princess is the type found in Disney cartoons and other fairy tales (you know the type that does nothing, just sleeps and waits for her knight and keeps herself beautiful). Then the Princess changes and becomes more active.

Basically the cartoon goes against everything that Disney preaches! You don’t have to be beautiful and a royalty to be a hero, you just need to be yourself. I like that message and I think it is something that the children should be taught.

Conclusion

I heard a lot of people talk about this cartoon and that is the reason I went to watch it. There are lots of things in it to keep both the kids and the adults laughing throughout. From an adult point of view, it is rather rude, however, the “adult” rudeness is subtle and so your kids won’t be able to figure it out, but there are also other “silly” bits that’ll make your kids laugh a lot.

Overall, great family entertainment and a great message being passed to children. Totally recommended.

Summary: