Three unlikely heroes save their land from tyranny.William Steig’s delightfully fractured fairy tale is the right stuff for this computer-animated adaptation full of verve and wit. 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 humor that makes Shrek a winner. The PG rating is stretched when Murphy and Myers hit their strides. The mild potty humor is fun enough for 10-year-olds 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 keep the entertainment in fine form. Produced by DreamWorks, the film also takes several delicious stabs at its crosstown rival, Disney. –Doug Thomas
Rating: 
(out of 1210 reviews)
List Price: $ 19.99
Price: $ 8.95
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Disc
June 7, 2010
#1
Review by M. Schumaker
Rating:
Sitting in the theater, I watched my 6 1/2 year old nephew eat up the bright colors and classic sight gags, while I watched my 25 year old fiancee almost spill his popcorn laughing at the exact same joke. What I really liked about this movies was that duality-that one set of lines can be almost making me wet my pants while the more innocent version is keeping the little guys and gals glued to the screen. I found it to be reminiscent of the first Toy Story and the underlying message is easy for kids of all shapes and sizes to understand without being so cookie cutter sweet and sappy. Score for the big green guy. I’d take him home.
June 7, 2010
#2
Review by Mark Jerome Ferreri
Rating:
Shrek has grossed over 260 million in the theaters (as of Aug. 14, 2001). That’s within .05% of the top grossing animation of all times, Toy Story (@ 262 million). Shrek is a great 3D movie. The 3D computer animation is second, only to Final Fantasy. The story is more involving than what I expected. The voices were well cast and performed. The whole film awsome. I’m sure you’re aware of that or you wouldn’t be reading this now. It has both adult (clean adult) and kids humor. The writers plagerized just about everyone and it was hilarious. Okay, now for the DVD. This DVD is created as 2 parts. One disc is aimed for the kids and the format is “full Screen” (pan & scan) and includes 17 DVD-ROM games. The other disc is geared more for adults and is letterbox formatted. Both discs have 3 minutes of extended ending that was never scene in the theatrical release. There’s ‘Making Of’ and ‘Behind The Scenes’. It encludes 11 hours of extras. There are also running commentaries. This DVD will actually allow you to replace a charector’s voice with you own with “Sherk’s Revoice Studio” effects. There are 15 minutes of newly animated footage specifically for the DVD interactive menues.. . . . . Shall I go on? . . . There is a sticker on EVERY box saying it’s a winner. Each box has eligebility to win a prize, from a Kia car to X-Box game consoles to Baskin Robins Ice cream. So, we have a fantastic movie, the most massive extras features ever on a DVD, and free give-aways. And yould be nuts not to take advantage of this offer.
June 8, 2010
#3
Review by
Rating:
My husband and I wanted to take our 2 year old son to his first movie, and this is the one we chose. We loved it and it kept his attention. We thought it was hilarious and we hope it’s out on video by Christmas so we can buy it. Great story, great animation. The soundtrack is AWESOME! I’ve just ordered it. This movie is a MUST for this summer! I was very impressed.
June 8, 2010
#4
Review by B. Fuller
Rating:
Go buy this movie. Trust everyone on this. This movie is one of those instant classics that appeal to people of all ages. For the kids you have the amazing animation and fairy tail characters. For adults there is a wonderful story, fantastic characters, and of course those wonderful allusions (made famous in the Simpsons and Toy Story 1+2) that just go right over kids heads but will have you rolling with laughter.Then animation and attention to detail in this film are nothing short of breathtaking. There are many times you will forget you are watching a computer-animated movie. The characters are all brilliant but the Gingerbread Man and Eddie Murphy as the talking Donkey absolutely steal every scene they are in. If you loved the Toy Stories, or you are breathing, or you even have an ounce of a sense of humor then this movie is absolutely a must have. The DVD version comes with 2 Disks. Disk one is a Standard TV width. Disk 2 is the real treasure for those with HDTV and surround sound system as it sports anamorphic widescreen (put your TV on full mode and if fills the entire screen without any sort of distortion) and a wonderful DTS soundtrack in addition to the Dolby 5.1. There is also the usual assortment of DVD goodies spread over both disks. One of the more interesting goodies is a Magic Mirror version of The Magic 8 ball. Should you buy this DVD? It is decidedly so. Why are you still reading this? Click the button to buy this movie.
June 8, 2010
#5
Review by Agent Sonica
Rating:
From the opening scene with the song “All Star,” you know you’re not in for a normal, predictable animated fairy tale movie. Besides the catchy pop soundtrack, many other scripted fairy-tale rules are thrown out the tower. Shrek the ogre isn’t your conventional knght in shining armor- he didn’t even want to be. But to make the short, not-so-intimidating villain Lord Farquaad get the fairy-tale animals off his property, he has to rescue the rather typical fairy tale princess Fiona from a tower guarded by a dragon and bring her back to Farquaad. His donkey sidekick, hilariously played by Eddie Murphy, tags along with Shrek. The trip back to the castle makes for many comical adventures. But a fat ugly ogre couldn’t possibly get together with a beautiful perfect princess…or maybe…When I first saw the previews I thought it would be just another dumb kiddie cartoon but when I saw it at the theater, it was hilarious. My fav scene, which had me laughing so hard I almost cried, was the one when Princess Fiona started singing with a bird, and then… Just proves, as the film preaches, you can’t judge somrthing until you really get to know it. Finally, we the less-than-perfect-figured-people get our representation in the movies. Two thumbs up!