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Shrek Customer Reviews (70 - 72 of 105 Reviews)

Watchable...but still
I must say that I had been looking forward to it. Now I liked the Shrek character and seeing all those from the fairy tales. But still, too crude and not very origanl. Eddie Murphy's voice was annoying most of the time (Like watching Buddy Love).
Although it's not for young kids, it's watchable.

This movie undercuts its entire premise
Marketed as a PG movie for the entire family (with the obligatory Shrek-based candy and toy tie-ins), Shrek has some rather significant problems trying to inhabit that particular demographic.

Shrek centers around a big green ogre in a fairy tale world (the film cleverly borrows from many Grimms tales, and sprinkles elements of them around this world). A lonely soul, Shrek is ostracized and feared by the rest of the fairy tale creatures -- so he lives a solitary life in his swamp.

That is, until the other fairy tale creatures are driven off their property by the devious (and diminutive) Lord Farquad, and onto Shrek's property. Shrek cuts a deal with Farquad in an effort to reclaim his property: If Shrek can rescue the Princess Fiona from the dragon and deliver her to Lord Farquad to be the Lord's bride, then Shrek will get his swamp back, all to himself.

So he sets off on his quest, with a talking donkey (played by Eddie Murphy) in tow.

OK, so far, so good. Clever entertainment that is fun for kids, and sharp and witty enough for adults to enjoy. But then things start getting ugly. The underlying premise (or message, if you prefer) of this movie is tolerance of those who are different. The movie is trying to say, "It doesn't matter what's on the outside -- it's what is in the heart that matters." Shrek is a big ogre, but he is simply misunderstood, and people need to see him beyond his looks and accept him for what he really is.

A noble message for kids, right? But the movie completely undercuts these lofty goals and obliterates all of its legitimacy with its depiction of Lord Farquad. See, the Lord is a "little person." He is very short. So, the movie spends a great deal of time making fun of the Lord's height deficiency -- thereby betraying its central theme of tolerance and the "looks don't matter" ethos.

If this weren't bad enough, the short jokes don't stop at the Lord's body height. No, they continue on to make references to his apparent shortness in the, well, "private area." Hollywood being Hollywood, they just couldn't resist putting these references into the film to give it "edge" ("edge" being the Hollywood term for "crudity"). The Lord's castle itself is in the shape of a phallic symbol. The Lord gets stiff while gazing at a picture of the princess. And the characters in the movie have quite a few smirking chuckles at the expense of the Lord's height and presumed lack of, er, prowess.

So much for clearly getting its "message" across to kids.

On top of all that, the talking donkey says a few non-kiddie words.

I really dislike this kind of movie. It's the kind of movie that has so much good stuff going for it, so much cleverness (the references to familiar Grimms fairy tales are a kick), and such great production values (the computer graphics are stunning), that it is just an absolute shame that it has to be ruined by unnecessary crudeness. (But I guess every Mike Myers movie has to have at least a few crude male anatomy jokes in it, huh?)

On the surface, this movie has a lot going for it. But after all of the computer graphics wizardry, clever fairy tale gags, and so on, it ultimately comes down to what it always comes down to: the Story. In this case, the creators of this film betrayed the premise of the movie just for the sake of a few crude chuckles. Par for the course these days, I guess. But it's too bad. This could have been a GREAT G-Rated movie, and would still be chock-full of witty humor, a la any good Pixar movie. But no. Too bad indeed.

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