Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2916 in VHS
• Released on: 2001-11-12
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Animated, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Full of verve and wit Shrek is a computer-animated adaptation of William Steig's 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 Farquaad (John Lithgow) evicts local fairy tale creatures (including the now-famous Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and the Gingerbread Man), they settle in the ogre's swamp and Shrek wants answers from Farquaad. A quest of sorts starts for Shrek and his new pal, a talking donkey (Eddie Murphy), where battles have to be won and a princess (Cameron Diaz) must be rescued from a dragon lair in a thrilling action sequence. The story is stronger than most animated fare but it's the jokes that make Shrek a winner. The PG rating is stretched when Murphy and Myers hit their strides. The mild potty humour is fun enough for the 10-year-old but will never embarrass their parents. Shrek is never as warm and inspired as the Toy Story films, but the realistic computer animation and a rollicking soundtrack keeps the entertainment in fine form. Produced by DreamWorks, the film also takes several delicious stabs at its cross-town rival, Disney. --Doug Thomas, Amazon.com

Synopsis
Shrek is a green ogre who enjoys living by himself in his swamp. When the evil ruler Lord Farquaad throws all the fairy tale characters out of his land, they all go to Shrek for help. Together they hatch a plan to offer Lord Farquaad a deal...

Customer Reviews

Beautiful to watch, and an intelligent script
These are wonderful times for lovers of animated films. Toy Story 2 is great; Tarzan makes substantial advances in 3-D environment modelling; The Emperor's New Groove gives us a Disney film that's witty rather than maudlin.

Antz was the last animated film from Dreamworks, and despite being very cleverly scripted and appealing to audiences on many levels, Disney's A Bugs Life was possibly the better film. Shrek has turned the tables on Disney though, both technically and in sheer viewing pleasure.

The film is just outstanding. It's fun to watch for kids, because it's a fairytale about rescuing a princess from a castle and a fierce dragon; it's fun to watch for adults because of the clever script - much of which thankfully passes over the heads of my kids. There are lots of opportunities to poke fun at Uncle Walt - why does Lord Farquaad's castle have turnstiles on the door, I wonder?

The animation is wonderfully detailed. It's not photo-realistic (the animators explain in one of the 'featurettes' that they had to pull back from making the human characters too realistic, so that they fitted into the fairytale visual ambiance), but it is immensely detailed - to the degree that individual pores are detailed on Shrek's face, and droplets of water are individually animated.

There are a couple of witty extras on the DVD - the animated characters talk (in the manner of film actors everywhere) of how pleased they were to work on the film, and of their future plans, and there's a karaoke montage of the characters singing disco hits. Robin Hood and his Merry Men singing Y.M.C.A. is a sight not soon to be forgotten.

Shrek - he's ugly 24/7
This is a 'fairytale' with all the traditional ingredients - a princess locked in a tower, a hero on a quest to save her, a scheming villain, true love leading to a happy (if somewhat unexpected) ending, and a supporting cast including everyone from a delightfully French Robin Hood to the gingerbread man. However, Shrek is certainly not a traditional fairytale.
For a start, the hero is, by his own admission, a big, smelly, ugly ogre. Secondly, this is not only a movie for kids - much of the humour will only be fully appreciated by adults. And Shrek will have *everyone* smiling, giggling and laughing out loud. All of the characters have their funny and memorable quotes and scenes, but the best lines come from Donkey (although occasionally he seems to be trying just a little too hard for comic effect).
The computer animation is stunning and with a just a little imagination you can see that the characters somewhat resemble the actors who provide their voices. There is definitely a bit of Eddie Murphy in Donkey anyway. It is perhaps the attention to detail that is most impressive - the facial expressions are just fabulous.
Shrek is a must-see film, because almost everyone will find something to like about it (although perhaps not those who like their fairy tales to be predictable and perfect). But as Princess Fiona ultimately learns, 'perfect' is an illusion and only once you accept who you are, can you live happily ever after.

***** MYERS & MURPHY EXCEL *****
First of all let me start by saying, I'm 32 years old and I don't like Disney or any other kids movies much (with the exception of The Iron Giant, although I also enjoyed Toy Story 2). I took my nephews to see Shrek at the theater last summer and they absolutely loved it but much to my surprise I loved it too.

This is the movie that has made $472 m at the box office and has made $420 m in two months of DVD and video sales. This is the gift that everybody got for Christmas. This is the gift I gave everybody for Christmas. This is the DVD I got for Christmas and this is the movie I've seen about six times so far BUT it doesn't matter how many times you watch Shrek, it still amuses, it still entertains and it doesn't ever disappoint. It has that rare quality of appealing to both children and adults, which is extremely beneficial if you have kids who liked to watch movies over and over and over again.

It is a beautifully written send up of Disney films, fairytales, and other movies, with so many clever visual and verbal jokes; only some of which (thankfully) kids will understand. All of which adults (with a sense of humour) will love. It is a perfectly cast movie with Mike Myers voicing the mild-mannered ogre Shrek and Eddie Murphy in his best form for many a year as his sidekick donkey. John Lithgow stars as the villain Lord Farquaad and Cameron Diaz voices the feisty Princess Fiona. They are all magnificent but it was a stroke of genius to cast Myers and Murphy together as they spark off each other and excel with comic ad-libs.

Whats more the extras on this DVD are just magnificent. There are games, deleted scenes, behind the scenes stuff, hilarious fake interviews etc. etc. and with reported sales of the DVD worldwide, at 10m and rising, Dreamworks have put together a fantastic package and really hit the jackpot. I don't know anybody, young or old who doesn't like this movie and for once I'm pretty happy to be in the majority.