What Did I Miss? (Shrek (DVD))

Member Name: pablodiablo

Product:	Shrek (DVD)
Date:	08/05/02 (66 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks Beautiful, Eddie Murphy, A Camp Robin Hood

Disadvantages: Disappointing storyline, Not as funny as some make out

It seems that computer animated films are now cool, with their sly winks at modern pop culture and litle stabs at irony. Doing for animation what Sream did for the horror genre. Thank god it takes an age to create an animated film or we would have the market flooded with the same old crap.

2001 saw a green ogre called Shrek take the box offices on both sides of the pond by storm. Based on a book by William Steig, the film begins with the eponymous Shrek (Mike Myers - you know what he's been in) is content with life in his swamp until it is overrun by fairytale characters. This you see is a fairytale land with talking donkeys three little pigs and other characters from various story books. So Shrek meets up with Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and decides to rid his swamp of these intruders. The source of his problem is Lord Farquaad (say it fast- isn't that rude) played by John Lithgow. Farquaad is holding a tournament to find someone to resue a princess whom he plans to marry and subsequently become king. Farquaad says that if Shrek goes to collect the princess (Cameron Diaz) then his swamp will be cleared. So Shrek and his trusty sidekick Donkey embark on a quest to rescue the princess and deliver her safely.

Now just about everybody who i know really loves this film but i just don't get it. I mean i really want to love it, it looks excellent. Everytime i see it i notice new things about th textures or little details, Shrek is certainly a visual feast. The voice acting is on the whole very good. Eddie Murphy is of course excellent as the comic relief, John Lithgow is woefully underused and Mike Myers is pretty good although the scottish accent is slightly grating. Cameron Diaz is suitably annoying, i just have to face facts, i don't like her in anything, sure she's nice to look at, ahem...sorry.

My first problem is plot, or lack of it. Although in previous ops i have said that plot is overrated, however previous and subsequent
animated films have all had the plus point of a good story that makes sense. It just isn't made clear why the animals are in the swamp. Yes they are being hunted by Farquaads soldiers but why does he want them out of the way. If this is explained then i must have missed it in the five times i have watched it so it is not explained enough. Before this was released i expected a lot, so i was slightly disappointed at the weak story. Also the humour doesn't tickle me as much as films like Toy Story or Monsters Inc. These films have two levels of humour, the kiddies humour and the adult humour. The kids humour is pretty well done but the jokes for adults don't seem to hit the spot very well. some scenes have the promise of barrels of laughs but somehow fail to deliver, sorry but i just don't get it.

The continuity is slightly off as well *SPOILER* if Princess Fiona turns into an ogre at night then why isn't she an ogre when she is rescued, at night. Isn't that a fairly big oversight. Plus how come her clothes grow with her, surely they would rip incredible hulk style (now that would be cool to see, ahem... sorry again)

Produced by Jeffrey Katzenburg, an ex disney employee who left to co partner at dreamworks, this made him put little digs at disney into this film, these are mildly amusing but Jeffrey, you're not bitter are you.

The DVD is fairly spectacular, although only coming on a single disc it contains Excellent animated menus and a brilliant commentary form the creators. There are also interviews with the CHARACTERS, not the actors but actually fully animated Donkey Fiona and Shrek, this is really clever. There are also a few 'techy documentaries' which are actually very interesting along with a few games that will amuse for about two minutes. My favourite extra is the re-voice studio. If you have a DVD drive in your pc, along with a microphone then you can dub your voice over a number of scenes. The co
mputer will actually time the animation to your voice and is great fun, especially after a few drinks (it all comes down to alcohol, i think i have a problem). This is a brilliant idea that should amuse the kids for hours.

All in all a brilliant DVD package for a film that looks great but is only just above average in my opinion. And one final thing that really really annoys me, why is that song by Smash Mouth (allstar) in every film. It is in this film at the beginning during the credits along with countless other films. You would have thought that the creators would have thought of an alternative. I have heard it in Mystery Men, Shrek, Rat Race and Inspector Gadget along with a few more i can't think of (leave comments if you can add to that list). I swear if another film comes out with this song on the soundtrack i will do something i may regret (like scream or throw something, i am a boiling pit of rage).

Anyway i am sure that nine out of ten people will disagree with me but there you go. The sequel is set to be released in 2004 and sees shrek fiona and donkey visiting the princesses parents who do not know about her secret. I know it doesn't sound too riveting but hopefully it will take the story a little further. Thanks for reading and i hope i didn't waffle too much.

cheers,

Paul

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