'Shrek'
Mikometer Rating: 10 of 10
There are good films, bad films, and
classics. The list of movies released in one year would astound the layman.
Even if one thinks they see most of the films released, then they must be
surprised if they come upon a list. I try to see most of the classics when
I hear about them. Now, nothing makes me a seer or a prophet. I read lots
of press, and there is a certain "want to see" factor involved with
most of the movies I see when they are released. I try to ferret out the good
from the bad, and there are some films I value above others. In the great
computer animation race in the Summer of 2001, I said that 'Shrek' would probably
be a passable entertainment, but I was waiting for 'Final Fantasy' for my
first all computer realized film, and 'Shrek' looked too much like a cartoon.
Another Disney ripoff from Katzenburg, like 'Antz'.
Of course 'Final Fantasy' is a bomb at the box office, and Shrek is the biggest
moneymaker this year. That isn't a mistake. This isn't a mindless comedy or
something to appeal to the lowest common denominator, although there are fart
jokes, and even though they've reached the point of saturation, are still
funny, and still get laughs. 'Shrek' surprised me. I waited till it had already
reached 200 million. I wanted to stall the crowds, and still I really didn't
"want" to see the movie.
Only until after I saw 'Final Fantasy' did I see 'Shrek'. It's my second pick
for a Best Picture nomination this year.
This movie, like Katzenburg's 'Beauty and the Beast', is a classic. Even though
it has a tad too many modern cultural references, which might tend to date
it, the laughs, and more importantly, the sentiment, make resonations which
should last for a long time.
I mention 'Final Fantasy' only because it "stars" computer generated
people, or Synthespians, and so does 'Shrek', although Princess Fiona, like
the Disney heroines before her, is the only "realistic" character.
I enjoyed Fantasy, especially the animation, but it lacked a solid story.
'Shrek' has a story, an ages old story, as befitting it's claims to Fairy
Taledom, and it, like the best fairy tales, has a solid moral as well.
I'll take a shot and declare that the "beauty is only skin deep"
moral is what is getting through to audiences, besides the humor. Don't get
me wrong. This is one funny flick. But the moral tone is what is special,
and why I believe it to be a classic, and not just this year's 'Chicken Run'.
What made 'Beauty and the Beast' so special to me, and to thousands more,
I'll surmise, is it's resemblance more to a live action film than to a cartoon.
Even though these films are cartoons, and have cartoon characters in them,
the characterizations, and the situations presented are much more grounded
in the real world than that of Cartoonland. A character will possess foibles,
will make wrong decisions, and will either succeed or fail, because it is
in their nature, not because it has to fulfill any vaudeville definition of
humor. The scripts are full stories, and the movies could be filmed as live
action or animation. Of course the Beast and the Ogre Shrek are much more
fully realized onscreen as animated characters, and the mix of the animation
and characterization give these movies their power.
You know you're in for a "Disney" cartoon right from the beginning,
with the wonderfully rendered fairy tale pages turning as Shrek reads the
tale. Just like in a Disney film.
The setup is paid off as a joke, and it's funny, and from then on, when the
credits start till the last musical number of the movie, one is carted off
to another world, and a special message. I can't find fault with this movie
at all.
Michael Myers does fine by Shrek. Even though he does his "scottish"
accent, I didn't mistake him for Fat Bastard like all the critics. I just
don't think they ever saw Myers on Sat. Nite Live. It was just another accent.
Thinking about accents, I don't understand why the Robin Hood character in
Shrek has a French accent, but the musical number is so exhilirating, I just
don't care.
Cameron Diaz is Princess Fiona, who has a secret which I'm glad hadn't been
given away to me when I saw the film. Eddie Murphy is at his usual as the
donkey, Donkey. The animation is matched to the voice work, and the result
is very, should I say, realistic?
My main point in this review would be to point out that computer animation,
no matter how well executed, only works, like real acting and set design,
if the story and script are good.
'Final Fantasy' was, like the video game genre which spawned it, merely mediocre
as a story.
'Shrek', a true fairy tale, is timeless.
See this movie. It's not just for kids. It's for all of us.
