Lord Farquaad, whose voice is provided by John Lithgow (Big Foot and the Hendersons, 3rd Rock from the Sun), is a very short man, who lives in a very tall castle called Duloc. Upon asking his mirror (who, in my opinion, bears a striking resemblance, in looks and mannerisms, to Kryten from Red Dwarf) if he has “the most perfect Kingdom of them all”, is advised that without marrying a princess he will not be a King and therefore not live in a Kingdom. After viewing the options he decides that Princess Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz; There’s Something About Mary, Charlie’s Angels) is the girl for him. The problem being that, in true fairy tale fashion, she needs to be rescued from the top of a very tall tower and a fire-breathing dragon!

Shrek (voice of Mike Myers; Wayne’s World, Austin Powers) is a large, green ogre, who spends much of his time trying to convince people of how horrible and scary he is. He has a few revolting habits and “interesting” ideas on personal hygiene, notably his choice in tooth paste (hence the title), which we are introduced to at the start of the film, so I would not recommend eating during the early scenes ;-) Shrek soon finds a “dead” Snow White on his kitchen table, a wolf in granny’s clothing in his bed and numerous other fairytale characters in and around his house wanting to make it their home too. Absolutely fuming with this intrusion, on his privacy and property, he storms off to see Lord Farquaad, where upon they strike a deal. Shrek is to find and rescue Princess Fiona, so that Lord Farquaad can marry her and therefore become a King and Shrek will receive the deeds to his swamp and be able to live there in solitude once more.

The storyline, as I said before, is very predictable, but the storyline is not the reason why you should watch this film, not as an adult anyway. It’s the humour that really makes this film. It *does* have a “U” rating and I don’t feel there is anything unsuitable for younger viewers, but they will miss practically all the “gags”, as they will shoot right over their heads! For example the comment about Snow White, from the magic mirror, to Lord Farquaad is "She may live with seven men, but don't be fooled, she's not easy". That’s not to say children won’t enjoy it, my 3-year-old son was engrossed all the way through, twice (in one day), which is excellent for him (it’s approx. 80 mins long). Some slightly older children will understand some of the jokes; one example is Shrek sitting in a swamp and farting to kill fish for his breakfast! There is humour there at all levels (perfect for whole family viewing, but be prepared to explain why you’re laughing so much) although to be honest I really feel most of it is aimed at adults. So much so that I don’t think that a couple, without children, should feel any shame in hiring out or buying this DVD for their own viewing.

Shrek, which was based on a book by William Steig, was created at PDI/DreamWorks (Antz), taking nearly 3 years to complete, by over 275 artists, computer animators, software developers and engineers. The reality of all the characters and scenes is possible because of all the new technical and artistic advances achieved since the making of Antz. PDI created, what they call, a complex facial animation system, which basically means that they can imitate things like bone and muscle movement under the skin and the natural reaction to light of the skin. Detailed expressions and facial movements are achieved for each character by a process of layers of virtual bone, muscle, fat, skin, then followed by hair/fur and clothing. The clothing was created to react to light, move and even wrinkle in the correct manner. The large-scale natural environments were “grown” in a “digital greenhouse”, making it look realistic right down to the individual blade of grass or leaf moving in the breeze. They even created fire with computer animation which billowed and moved just like real fire and liquids of varying different viscosities that, even with a character moving through it, was difficult to believe wasn’t real.

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Decorate The Gingerbread Man – Select an “outfit” for the Gingerbread Man to wear. You can choose from a dog, mouse, star, clown, hippy complete with spliff and many more!

Like many children’s films, there is a moral to the tale, expressing that beauty is far more than skin deep and to *never* judge a book (or DVD) by its cover. Shrek compares himself, in the film, to an onion, with several layers. I feel that this film clearly demonstrates that this is the case, not only for this story and its humour, but also for all of us!