Shrek

Review - DreamWorks' new venture into animation is as much a threat to Disney as it is a gentle slap in the face.  Shrek is better than anything Disney has produced in years and Shrek lets you know it.

DreamWorks is on the fast track to overtake Disney in the Animation market.  Make no bones about it, DreamWorks is out for blood.  With Shrek, DreamWorks makes an open mockery of Disney's film history without seeming to hit below the belt.  Filled with the likes of Snow White, her 7 dwarves, Robin Hood, Pinocchio, Tinkerbelle, and on and on.  Each one of them taking a verbal or physical slap from one of Shrek's main characters.  And it's richly done.

Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow seem to have a blast creating their CG counterparts.  Murphy above the rest is by far the most entertaining of the lot.  This is his best work in what seems a lifetime.  Go Eddie!

Plot points or story have no real effect on this tale as it skews the conventional fairy tale story from the get go; without drifting far from the line.  I think that's what made this film all the more fun.  I can't imagine the amount of times someone speculated on what it would be like to kick Robin Hood right in the ass.

Hopefully Shrek with be the catalyst for Disney, and other Production Companies, to step up to the plate and make some worthwhile and daring animation in the years to come.  Final Fantasy is still to come this year and although Atlantis looks interesting, I don't know if it's a step beyond Disney's formulaic cushion.  Shrek begins the race and in my opinion is stiff competition.

-m-