Review of Shrek the Halls (2007) by Courtney J — 20 Jun 2009

"My mama used to always say, 'Christmas ain't Christmas till somebody cries!' Usually that someone's me.".

Director: Gary Trousdale.

Starring: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow.

Running time: 30 minutes.

Country: USA.

I watched it on live British TV when it first came out on Christmas Day 2007 and I simply loved it. It was on TV again on Christmas Eve 2008 and I loved it even more. I love it just as much as the full length first two films. It had that original taste and brought back the charadcters we love to see. To me and maybe most people this film recycled so to speak Shrek The Third. Thank goodness Shrek The Halls was released the same year as Shrek The Third was because to me Shrek The Halls is the 2007 Shrek film. Yes, Shrek The Halls is a short but it had that taste of the chemistry between the characters that rose back again particularly from Shrek 2. Christmas is the perfect theme for a Shrek film because some Christmases end in disaster where this film starts to be for Shrek.

This film feels a bit like a sequel to Shrek The Third because they said it was the ogre babies first Christmas and also both were released in the same year. This film sends a very important message: you don't celebrate Christmas in a particular way, you just go ahead and do it. Shrek brings that really lovable personality that we love to see every time he comes to the screen. His grumpy and mean yet rather sweet personality is perfect for the Christmas occasion. He doesn't know how to celebrate Christmas let alone what it actually is so he just buys a book for "Christmas Idiots" which was recommended by the local librarian. Donkey returns to his original, stubborn and annoying self. Much to Shrek's despise, Donkey wants Christmas to be like some sort of party about Christmas. Fiona's character was good but she seemed like a whole new person now because she was a princess and now she is married to an ogre with 3 babies where they live near a swamp in a forest. The director did an excellent job into making this fantastic for the traditional Christmas season. It brought levels of really high Christmas spirit which I absolutely love. I think the main reason why I loved this one as much as Shrek 1 and 2 was because there were tons of great and clever jokes within it especially the jokes about Christmas. Most of the jokes came from Donkey about Shrek, Santa or anything/anybody else.

This isn't as good as Shrek 1 and 2 but it is still a bloody hilarious film that is far better than completely flawed Shrek The Third. This is a fantastic short to the greatest animated franchise of all time. This is one of my top Christmas films ever but I love It's A Wonderful Life, The Grinch, Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation more. Lets hope that Shrek 4 and 5 will be good and hope they don't turn into disaster like Shrek The Third did.