Review of Shrek (2001) by Pantelis A — 08 Aug 2012

I've lost track of how many times I've seen this great film. I believe the number is below ten, but I'm not even sure of that. It somehow never gets old, the jokes remain fresh. Every once in a while, when I get the chance to see this film, I sit down and my laugh 'till my sides ache. It's about time someone decided to make a spoof movie making fun of fairy tales... I mean, they have been around for a few hundred years. In this film you will see just about every fairy tale creature poked fun at, and it's hilarious. The plot is very good, and quite original, for being based so much on typical fairy tale formula. The pace is great, you're rarely, if ever, bored; even on repeated viewings. The acting is pretty much flawless, and the talented main cast create an impressive number of laughs throughout the film. The characters are nicely fleshed out and interesting, for being based so heavily on fairy tale stereotypes. The humor is excellent; the comic timing of the gags and jokes is impeccable, and Myers and Murphy make a great comedy team(quite astounding since, according to the trivia, none of the voice actors actually met each other). The casting is perfect, and that is something that really, really, REALLY needs to be in order for an animated feature. As much as I love Steve Buscemi, even I can tell that he was completely miscast in the Final Fantasy movie. The dialog is well-written, with plenty of quotable lines. The whole thing is full of very talented and clever writing, both in dialog and in general... many memorable scenes as well. There's plenty of great music in there as well... not really one single piece of music on the soundtrack that I dislike. No loud or annoying tracks, but good, old-fashioned quality music. Not much else to say, except that I urge you to see this film, unless you can't stand fairy tales at all(which would require more hatred for them than even I have, a feat nearly impossible to accomplish) since it is, in the end, a fairy tale, no way around that. Happy end and everything. So, if you're not sure, go check out a trailer or the memorable quotes page. I recommend this to just about anyone who is at least a teenager and who won't completely fall apart when they see fairy tales being made the butt-end of jokes.

8/10.