Movie Review # 662: Shrek (2001)

Well, everyone, today, we review an animated film that was one of a few, along with Toy Story, Ice Age, and a few other animated films of it’s type, to set the stage for the popularity of computer animation. Not only that, but it is also known for winning the very first Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Did this film deserve that Oscar in the end? Well, let’s find out by diving into the one called Shrek, from back in 2001!

Plot: When a cruel king named Farquaad (John Lithgow) of the fictional kingdom of Duloc forces an entire group of fairytale humans, and creatures out of his kingdom, and into the swamp of an ogre named Shrek (Mike Myers), this frustrates the misunderstood ogre, and causes him, and his new pet pal, Donkey (Eddie Murphy) to march onto his kingdom, and demand his swamp back as it was. Because Farquaad must marry a princess in order to officially become a king, Farquaad makes a deal with the ogre, that if he makes a dangerous quest to deserted castle that’s guarded by a fire-breathing dragon, defeats that dragon, and rescues the princess (Cameron Diaz), he will give him his swamp back as it was before. Will Shrek, and Donkey’s quest prove successful in the end?

Alright, so, right off the bat, I must confess that I was actually pondering whether, or not to finally rewatch, and review the very first Shrek movie as of sometime this year. Well, because Shrek 2 was getting re-released this year, due to that sequel reaching its 20th anniversary as of this year, I decided to go ahead, and rewatch for the first film as of now.

So, watching it again, is it as good as I remembered? Well, though it’s still a good film, I still Monsters, Inc. should have been the animated film to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature that year. Granted, I never the other nominee, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. So, I will probably need to go say for sure which of those three should have won the Oscar for that year for that category. Anyhow, why should Shrek have just been nominated, but not win, you may ask? Well, for one, there’s the soundtrack. Okay, some of the song choices like “All Star” were probably decent choices. Still, some of those songs won’t be quite as memorable as of today, like maybe they might have been back then. Well, maybe “If You Like Pina Colada”, or “I’m A Believer”, or the rendition of that latter one that plays near the end of the film, were pretty cool. Still, since some of the songs felt more like montages than helping the story, some scenes might have worked a little better with an instrumental score, or something along those lines. Oh well! The other issue with Shrek is that a lot of the humor was really crude in this film. Sure, a lot of those moments will probably fly over a kid’s head. Still, some of those crude scenes could also potentially borderline a PG-13 rating. In some ways, it was probably a miracle that Shrek ended up only being rated PG instead. Well, I will also say this as well. I rewatched, and reviewed the 2000 DreamWorks animated film, The Road To El Dorado (which yes, I may review again on this blog) a few years ago. For those of you who saw that review on Facebook, you may recall that one of my criticisms was the fact that there were some scenes in that film that also were a little too adult for an animated film. Well, a friend of mine commented on that review about how Shrek was most likely more adult, and crude than The Road To El Dorado. So, was he right about that being the case? Well, after rewatching Shrek for the first time in years, I’m going to confidently say very much so. Well, not only were there some scenes in the film that may have been a little inappropriate for children at points, but there was one scene around the middle that, though subtle, may have also potentially been a little creepy, and disturbing. I even heard of some people on YouTube pointing it out. I won’t give it away, but if you rewatch Shrek again, feel free to ask about it either privately on Messenger, or someplace like that. Well, thankfully, that scene didn’t last all that long.

With those out of the way, what were the good things in Shrek? Well, for one, there was the animation. Yes, there were some scenes where the animation did seem to feel a little dated. However, overall, the animation was still very good, especially with this being an animated film that was made by DreamWorks, and at time when the company was beginning to be on the rise with animated films. And hey, at least films like Shrek, and later Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, and How To Train Your Dragon, for example, have helped improve animation for DreamWorks. It was also interesting that DreamWorks decided to use this film to poke fun at fairytales, especially with how Disney was portraying the fairytale formula for a really long time. Additionally, how could we not briefly discuss how likable the characters are? I mean not only Shrek, or even love interest, Princess Fiona, but Donkey is hilarious, Farquaad, the villain, even is well developed, and has some funny moments himself. First off, I will say that I find it interesting that DreamWorks Shrek was released just five months after the Disney animated comedy, The Emperor’s New Groove, which also had a hilarious Disney villain. Second, could we take a moment to appreciate the fact that Eddie Murphy came back to voice another animated character, in this case, Donkey, just three years after voicing Mushu the dragon in the 1998 Disney animated film, Mulan? Well, just a thought there! And as for Shrek, and Fiona’s relationship, there most definitely is chemistry there. And yeah, definitely can’t forget the memorable banter with Shrek, and Donkey. As for the storyline itself, how could we not love how this film changed up some cliches with the fairytale formula, and the animated film formula with that type of formula? It just comes to show how much DreamWorks was willing to challenge the Disney animated company. Yeah, considering that one of the founding members was Jeffrey Katzenberg, that many of DreamWorks’ employees came from Disney, and how Katzenberg might as well as acted as if he was ready to take revenge on Disney for feeling screwed over by them, it’s not that surprising at all to see how ready the company was determined to compete with Disney, and take them down. This shows with not only films like Shrek, but also with earlier films before it like Chicken Run, The Road To El Dorado, and The Prince Of Egypt, which, like Shrek, also had more complex stories with more mature themes in them. Granted, Disney’s Enchanted, which came out six years after this film, attempted to pull off something similar to Shrek, but probably for slightly different reasons. You got me! As for the soundtrack, though a lot of it feels like montage after montage, as mentioned before, it works better at least a couple times in this film, and brilliantly well. It was also awesome to see this film briefly introduce kids to other material like the three blind mice, Snow White, and other stories, and fairytales for that matter. John Powell, and Harry Gregson-Williams also provided a score that was both epic, as well as calm, soothing, and peaceful at other times. The comedy though crude, and a little bit cruel at times, was also clever, and creative at the majority of other times. Oh, and the choreography, when it came to some of the songs, and even some action scenes, was surprisingly well-times, and well done overall as well. Finally, there was a great amount of heart put into this film, from the memorable, and creative storyline, likable characters, and more.

And that’s my review for DreamWorks’ Shrek. Even though it may be a little overrated, and shouldn’t have won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, Shrek is definitely a fun film. It has a beautiful score, good comedy, fun characters, and things like those. Though Shrek could have maybe been tweaked with one, or two more drafts, it is most definitely a fun film overall. I would say that if you surprisingly haven’t seen Shrek, definitely make it a point to do so. You will have a fun time with it, regardless of its strengths, and flaws. So there you have it!

Final Grade: A-