Monstrously Good
The hero's an ogre and the
princess can be almost as gross in the delightfully fractured
fairy tale Shrek
By
RICHARD SCHICKEL
Once upon
a time, an ogre named Shrek lived in a mythical but nonetheless
insalubrious swamp. He was green. He was overweight. He liked
to take mud showers. He made candles out of his own earwax.
Understandably, he led a rather lonely life. He pretended
he preferred it that way.
Meantime,
the local tyrant, Lord Farquaad, has been torturing the Gingerbread
Man. "No, not my buttons, not my gumdrop buttons!" his brave
but hapless victim piteously cries. Just why his lordship
takes such violent umbrage at fairy-tale creatures is not
clear. But he decrees that they all be exiled from his kingdom
to Shrek's fen, which irritates the monster.
It is the
hilarious business of Shrek, a delightful new animated feature
based on the William Steig book, to subvert all the well-worn
expectations of its genre-to make us see, as the ogre does,
how tiresome fairy-tale creatures and conventions have become.
At the same time, Shrek suggests some smart, anachronistic
spins for the collective unconscious to try out.
This the
movie does by employing the latest in animation technology.
The producers call it a "fluid animation system." We are powerless
to explain how it works, but we can describe what it produces:
a very persuasive three-dimensionality and an astonishingly
subtle range of facial expressions for all Shrek's characters.
The truth
is that this movie would have been a good one no matter what
the state of its animators' art, because it has an amusing
(and morally useful) tale to tell. Basically, we're talking
that old standby, a quest story. The ogre (Mike Myers characterizes
him vocally as a dour Scotsman) does a deal with the vertically
challenged Farquaad (John Lithgow) to rescue Princess Fiona
(Cameron Diaz) from a faraway castle. If he succeeds, the
princeling will marry the girl and remove the crowd of enchanted
nuisances from Shrek's property.
Is the princess
guarded by a ferocious dragon? You bet. Will Shrek fall in
love with her? Why bother to ask? What's so good (or original)
about all of this? Well, frankly, it's the Donkey.
He's Shrek's
sidekick, a pest, a troublemaker, a nonstop talker, and he
may just harbor secret dreams of pop stardom. Mostly, though,
he represents the reality principle in the movie-hooves on
the ground, big ears swivelingly alert for false and dangerous
notes. His vocal characterization is supplied by Eddie Murphy,
and it is fair to say that not since Robin Williams in Aladdin
has an actor so deliciously appropriated a movie. Whether
he's fending off the sudden amorous attentions of Fiona's
dragon, proposing an evening of man-to-man conversation with
Shrek-to be followed by a waffle breakfast he's willing to
whip up-or dealing with a twitching eye brought on by his
many stressful adventures, no one has ever made a funnier
jackass of himself than Murphy.
There's
still plenty of room for Myers' comic gloom. His Shrek is,
indeed, the perfect foil for the Donkey's irrepressibility.
Diaz, too, has an excellent character to play. You've got
to see what she does to Robin Hood and his Merry Men when
they get fresh with her. She is also not exactly what she
seems to be.
It would
be unfair to reveal Fiona's secret, except to say it puts
a potent twist on that standard fairy-tale trope about the
transformative powers of love and provides a neat switch on
all those Snow White Sleeping Beauty legends. But let's not
stress morals and messages. Let's stress the sheer, cheeky
fun of this movie. And the fact that Shrek, like the recent
Chicken Run, enchantingly expands animation's palette and
possibilities. ¼
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June 25, 2001 | No. 25
COVER
STORY
How
It All Ends
If you are still trying to wrap your mind around how the universe began-with
that Big Bang that created everything out of nothing-wait until you find
out what is coming at the other end of the space-time continuum
TRAVELERS
ADVISORY...
PACIFIC
BEAT: Aboriginal leader accused; coral corralled...
PACIFIC
OSERVED: Fraser vs. Wake...
THE
ARTS
TELEVISION: Stealthy product placements are
making ads the stars of the show...
CINEMA: Shrek's adventures in animation
MUSIC: Another hot album by Air
BOOKS: Un-endearing Indira Gandhi
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