SHREK

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: sexual innuendo

Rated:

Step aside, Pixar... DreamWorks is picking up the glove. With incredible computer animation, shockingly realistic facial expressions, and all of the obvious jabs at fairy tales that The 10th Kingdom offered, Shrek is the story of a flatulent ogre who is determined to shut out the world. Living alone in his swamp, he is satisfied with life... until it takes an unexpected turn. While out pounding up his "No Trespassing" signs, he comes across a fast-talking, high-strung Donkey whom he inadvertently saves from some horrible fate at the hands of Prince Farquaad's men.

"Donkey" takes a shine to him and follows him home. While booting the poor fuzzy creature out into the night, things start moving in... the Three Blind Mice are the first to show up, followed shortly thereafter by the Seven Dwarves and their casketed Snow White. "Uh-uh," growls Shrek, "no dead broads on the table!" "Where else are we to put her?" they demand. "The bed's taken!" And so it is... by the Big Bad Wolf. Shrek demands to know what's going on and they tell him that Prince Farquaad has rounded up all the fairy tale creatures and dumped them in the swamp.

Shrek decides to take up a quest to tell Farquaad off and get his swamp back, with Donkey acting as his guide. In the meantime, Farquaad has stolen Snow White's Evil Stepmother's Talking Mirror and demands to know what he must do to become king. The mirror informs him that he must marry a princess, and gives him three choices -- Cinderella, Snow White, and Fiona, who is locked in a high tower with a fire-breathing dragon guarding the castle below. Naturally, he chooses Fiona. And naturally, Shrek shows up just in time to take in the joust between knights. Farquaad, who is extremely short and cowardly, tells the Ogre that if he brings back Fiona, he will hand over the deed to his swamp, cleared of all fairy tale folk. And so Shrek agrees and sets out to rescue the princess, little knowing that she has a secret of her own...

This is not the fairy tale land that our parents knew; not all is well in "happily ever after," where Geppetto sells Pinocchio for a handful of coins and Tinker Bell is kept in a cage. But it is well on its way to becoming a classic. The irony of the tale makes it hilarious; we encounter everything from dwarves to a love-sick dragon and even Robin Hood and his merry men, desperate to rescue some poor damsel in distress. But Fiona is no damsel in distress... she steals some moves right out of The Matrix as she takes on problematic elements with a refined amusement.

Inner beauty is the central theme in Shrek; by the end we realize that it's not outside that matters, but what is in the heart. There's a scene stolen right out of Beauty & the Beast which involves a Christ-like transformation. The animation is incredible -- almost completely realistic, particularly in the humans. It's a pity, then, that they felt the need to throw in innuendo and "potty humor" such as outhouses, belches, farts, and a few throwback fairy tale songs that almost borderline on the inappropriate. One is of a dozen little wooden dolls chiming to the "rules" of Farquaad's village; "wipe your --- face" although one naturally inserts the rhyming profanity. Another song, sang by the Merry Men, keeps the rhyme but gives the impression that another word would have been inserted were it not for Fiona's presence.

Most of the innuendo should go over most kids heads. There's a play on the word "ass" (as in jackass/donkey) several times, a couple of minor profanities, and some of innuendo. Snow White, for example, "lives with seven men, but she's not easy." There are also several references to physical relationships and a few off-color, vague jokes about the magnitude of Farquaad's castle making up "for something." (If you don't get it, I'll spare you the details.) We see Shrek's crack several times. Other things I found offensive included some not-so-charming aspects of Ogre life: eating eyeballs, using earwax as a candle, and blowing up amphibians for balloons. (I should mention, however, that my mother found this hilarious.) One should also note that it's implied that a song bird explodes... and Fiona fries the eggs for breakfast. She also pulls an arrow out of Shrek's backside. Farquaad tortures the Ginger Bread Man by pulling off his legs (although he's seen later on crutches at the end in a Tiny Tim throwback) and threatens the Mirror (which I have to admit is actually kind of funny).

The soundtrack would be recognized by almost anyone in the pop/rock market, with popular songs by a range of talented artists that lend to the overall hilarity of the film. There are some excellent gags, the fighting sequences were brilliant, and the characters likable. However, crude bathroom humor will isolate Shrek from more disconcerting families. It tries to be a combination of The Princess Bride and Grimm's fairy tales but never quite makes itself a classic. A likable and yet dangerous leap in technology that opens the door wide for incredible animation and special effects in future years... but to families this may be a wrong step that could lead to animation becoming as crude and smutty as real-life children's films. I've come to the realization that no film is made "just for the kids" anymore. If you feel that Spielberg's DreamWorks is stepping over the line for family viewers, just pray that Pixar doesn't follow suit.

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