14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
Member since:02.06.2007
Reviews:180
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With the upcoming release of Shrek 3, it is going to be hard to escape Shrekmania, possibly even harder if you're a parent. Shrek was something I felt I would never really get into, because at the end of the day it is just an edgy childrens movie, and I seem to remember being on a flight sometime after the 2001 release of the original Shrek and watching that as the inflight movie was at the bottom of my list. There's something about Christmas though that can make you watch all kinds of crap, and I remember sitting down to watch Shrek. Whether I was drunk or not, I actually found myself laughing at Shrek, not as much as I laughed at Toy Story 2 the other year (the crossing the road under cones scene) but I'll tell you what - the movie really caught my attention.
Keeping that in mind, I soon discovered that my brother had Shrek 2 in his DVD collection upstairs, I swear he tries to keep that secret from me. With nothing else to do one night, where was the harm in watching the 2004 sequel. From the very start of the movie, everything is very beautifully presented as a little animated man lets balloons go and these balloons float up to create the 'Dreamworks Animated' sequence. The score for the movie is also very pleasent, and you'll find this all the way through the film. To start off with the film we are reminded of how Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) was locked away in the top room of the tallest tower, where she had to await Prince Charming's (Rupert Everett)
kiss to break the curse that upon every nightfall she transformed from the beautiful princess to a big green ogre. Of course when Prince Charming arrives he pulls back the curtain to find the gender confused wolf, who informs him that Princess Fiona is on her honeymoon - with Shrek! (Mike Myers).
And so rolls out the story of Shrek and Fiona having a happy honeymoon, romantically laying on beaches with mermaids and less romantically, being chased by angry famers with flaming torches (what a fairy tale stereotype). Arriving back at the swamp, the still happy couple find Donkey (Eddie Murphy) has been watching their home, although he's less than willing to leave to give husband and wife space as he's having troubles of his own with his romance from the original movie - Dragon. Surprisingly Dragon does not actually feature in the movie, although I do believe there are extra scenes on the DVD that include Dragon and Donkey. As Donkey finally is about to leave, messengers from the royal family of Far Far Away arrive to inform Shrek and Fiona that they are invited to come stay with Fiona's parents. Shrek is less than willing to go, predicting how Fiona's parents will react to him being an ogre, although the wife always gets her way. Interesting the creators of the movie obviously decided they wanted to completely change the scenery for the movie to keep everything fresh, because the swamp hardly features at all. I expect they will do this with the third film as well.
Far Far Away is just that, far far away, and it takes a long horse and carriage journey to finally arrive there, although this is shown in montage form. I remember when I first watched this film late at night I found it really funny and appealing, but rewatching it this morning I've found it quite less funny, and many viewers may find the comedy of Donkey up to this point quite.. childish. Donkey is the most loveable character of the whole film though, as we've seen from previous advertising campaigns for the movie. Upon arrival we see that Far Far Away is like a fairy tale version of Hollywood, and that's very clever in itself, and it's a fantastic touch to have 'FAR FAR AWAY' written along the mountain top. As Shrek expected, things are not going well from the minute they arrive, although it is soon revealed that there is more of a conspiracy behind the whole matter. John Cleese plays the voice of the King, and Fiona's father, who is very upset that she has married an ogre. The Queen (Julie Andrews) is just happy to have Fiona back with them, and plays the voice of reason for the movie. After a dinner date goes terrible wrong, Fiona finds herself running to her room to sob, and that is when her Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Suanders) appears. You can tell the voice actors were just waiting to get a part in this film. With this comes the saying 'Happiness is just a tear drop away' although we soon discover that the Fairy Godmother is not as nice as she appears.
The Fairy Godmother is bribing the King into getting Fiona's marriage with Shrek finished, so that her son - Prince Charming - can swoop in and be the next King of Far Far Away. The King's secret appears to be quite bad, as he is scared into trying to find ways to get Shrek out of the picture. This introduces us to one of the most well documented new characters of the film, Puss In Boots (Antonio Banderas), a loveable yet deadly cat. This new character soon becomes a part of team Shrek and I would fully expect Antonio to play the cat again in the next movie. Knowing the King will go to many lengths to try and get Shrek out of the picture, Shrek now decides he must do anything and everything in his power to make Fiona happy, afterall he's in love. This kicks off the story of potions, noble steads and women that for once can't actually get enough of Shrek. The whole film will climax in the ball to celebrate Fiona's marriage to Shrek, but will this be the first time that an ogre has featured in a happily ever after?
I love a lot of the characters in Shrek, and even the little white dog that appears you start to wonder about, which is funny because how often do you care about the animals in films? At an hour and 29 minutes, it's a really good length. Perhaps not as good as the original Shrek, but that's hard to call. I definitly do believe their is appeal about Shrek though that other children movies do not have to adults, although I wouldn't say you would put this film before seeing the likes of Spiderman or Pirates Of The Carribean, the other two huge franchises to release a big third film in their series this year. The film is a U, so it should be universally appealing for anyone, and I don't think comments like Pinocchio wearing a thong should unsettle anyone. The action scenes in the movie are described as 'comic fight scenes', and that's probably a good way to sum them up as they are not overly violent or long. One of my favourite scenes is probably where back at the swamp the three blind mice and the gang are watching television, and a show called 'KNIGHTS' comes on, obviously a ripoff to 'COPS'. Look out for that if you're ever watching this movie, and having grossed just under one billion dollars in the box office worldwide, I wouldn't be surprised if you have seen it already. As I have previously mentioned, Shrek 3 is out this year and if the trailer is anything to go by, it looks like there will be the introduction of little ogre children. Lets just say that film has a lot to live up to.
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Production Year: 2002 - Family - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Marisa Tomei, Lacey Chabert, Lynn Redgrave, Flea, Tim Curry, Rupert Everett
I did enjoy both 1 and 2 and will probably get 3 for the kids when it's out however I can't help thinking the theme is getting a little jaded now. Smashing review of 2. Jacky x
Pink-Ice-Queen 16.06.2007 12:11
I love this film as the humour is written on different scales...this kids laugh at different things than us...and sometimes the same stuff...although the kids dont drool over Puss in Boots...damn that cat is sexy.....
Full of verve and witShrekis a computer-animated adaptation of William Steig's ... more
delightfully fractured fairy tale. Our title character (voiced by Mike Myers) is an agreeable enough ogre who wants to live his days in peace. When the diminutive Lord Farqu...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Everyone's favourite larger-than-life hero returns in SHREK 2, the #1 animation of all ... more
time hailed by critics and audiences alike as even better than its Oscar-winning predecessor! Happily ever after never seemed so far far away when a trip to meet the...
Advantages: Fantastic animation, entertaining storyline, great characters, soundtrack Disadvantages: I didn't feel the casting of Shrek and Donkey was quite right
![Shrek [DVD] [2001]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78533830.jpg "Shrek [DVD] [2001]")
Jun 13th, 2007
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