"Shrek" (2001)

Once upon a time in a swamp far, far away there lived an ogre named Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers), who very much likes his solitude lifestyle. When his swamp suddenly becomes bombarded by fairy tale creatures, Shrek sets out to find Lord Farquaad (voiced by John Lithgow) to amend this annoying predicament – with the help of an extremely loud-mouthed but fun loving donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) who Shrek meets on the way. A deal is made: Farquaad, who wants to become King, sends Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz) who is trapped in a lonely tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon until her “true love” can come to break the spell that was placed on her as an infant. On the journey back however, Shrek, an ugly ogre, begins to fall in love with Fiona, who, it becomes apparent, is hiding a big secret of her own… Shrek is actually based on a children’s book by William Steig of the same title (I’d always assumed it was an original movie, so I found that particular nugget of information interesting!)

Three sequels followed but (in my personal opinion) none could beat the first. Shrek is a computer-animated classic. There is nothing else quite like this story and there could never be again. It’s genius. Being a humorous parody, it is genuinely very funny (sometimes crude), it has a fantastic bunch of characters and a well-structured rounded plot. The fact that it has an ogre as its hero makes it stand out if nothing else.

Shrek himself is one of a kind. The writing is just extremely creative. The opening scene (my favourite scene) is a perfect example. I love this scene. It starts off with Shrek reading from a fairy tale book introducing us gently to this story (because, after all, Shrek is a modern fairy tale in its own right), when he suddenly tears out the book in a fit of cynicism and we are immediately (and maybe crudely) thrown into his world. We get to know what kind of life Shrek lives, amused by his creative means of getting by as he sets himself up for the day ahead! Surely one of the best openings to a film! The music really makes it.

Donkey is also one of a kind. He's hilarious. Shrek's friendship with Donkey is priceless and carried on right through each movie. You can’t help but love Donkey though! He would be my favourite character I think. Puss In Boots was introduced in Shrek 2 and the friendship Donkey develops between him is just priceless too. The pair of them together; they're gas. And of course the dronkeys!! How can you not love them?!

The film was produced by Dreamworks, but involves many, many Disney characters. All the fairy tale characters like Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Robin Hood – give a name and they’re probably included at some point! I love this. It gives all of these characters a new layer, a new personality and a new chapter in their own individual stories. I think these little parodies are probably what add to Shrek’s unique brilliance.

But what really made Shrek stand out so much was how realistic the animation actually looks. From fluid simulations, fire effects, to natural looking foliage, it was revolutionary. An incredible success, and one which wouldn’t have been possible only three/four years previous. The detail is unreal – every leaf on every tree moves, the dirt moves, the dust rolls. A layering system was used based on the human anatomy which gave the animators the ability to convey a wide range of emotions, attitudes and expressions. The film was originally planned to be a motion-captured (which involves recording patterns of movement digitally, usually an actor’s movements for animating a digital character) but the studio ultimately decided to get PDI to help with this final computer-animated look. Over 275 people – including computer animators, software developers, and engineers – spent three years creating Shrek.

Shrek has a great soundtrack too. “I’m A Believer”, “All Star”, “Bad Reputation”, “Stay Home”, “I’m On My Way”, “Hallelujah” – all brilliant and really make the movie and fit the characters. They make it up lifting to watch and add to the humour. The fantastic choices of songs continued into the later films too. In Shrek 2 we’ve got such songs as “Accidentally In Love”, “Funkytown”, “Holding Out For A Hero”, “As Lovers Go”, “Livin’ La Vida Loca”.

This is just a ferociously entertaining film (as are the sequels) – something that’s fun for the whole family to watch together.

TRAILER - Shrek