In this slightly off-kilter fantasy comedy yarn, Mike Myers plays the title character: a grumpy, antisocial green ogre who’s unwillingly nominated (along with an obnoxious talking mule) to rescue a princess and thus bestow royalty upon a conniving small-time noble. Shockingly, on the road back to town, our little troupe of misfits discovers the true value of love and friendship and judging books by their covers and all that. Terribly formulaic and predictable material, but at least the film’s love of skewed nursery rhymes and a dynamic cast of vocal talent provides some spice. Myers breaks out his famous Scottish accent in the lead role, familiar to anyone who may have caught him as the cantankerous father in So I Married an Axe Murderer or Fat Bastard in the Austin Powers films, and delivers his usual blend of tame, family-friendly laughs and heart-on-sleeve sentimentality. Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow provide varying degrees of support beneath his extra-sized performance.
Although it generally looks and acts like a clumsy student film, maybe an exercise to work out the kinks of its now-prehistoric animation software, Shrek is actually the second fully-CG movie released by DreamWorks Animation. What lessons they learned with 1998’s Antz, I can’t imagine, because surely this must’ve represented some kind of step forward and it looks reeaaallly bad. For such a visual-driven genre, that’s a backbreaker. The voice actors do generally good work, Murphy and Myers especially, but not enough to overcome such a stiff, boring aesthetic and an unremarkable plot. Did this become a meme because so many internet trolls grew up with it, or because it’s so painfully inept? Maybe a little of both?
Review by drqshadowBlockedParent2023-05-16T14:45:47Z
In this slightly off-kilter fantasy comedy yarn, Mike Myers plays the title character: a grumpy, antisocial green ogre who’s unwillingly nominated (along with an obnoxious talking mule) to rescue a princess and thus bestow royalty upon a conniving small-time noble. Shockingly, on the road back to town, our little troupe of misfits discovers the true value of love and friendship and judging books by their covers and all that. Terribly formulaic and predictable material, but at least the film’s love of skewed nursery rhymes and a dynamic cast of vocal talent provides some spice. Myers breaks out his famous Scottish accent in the lead role, familiar to anyone who may have caught him as the cantankerous father in So I Married an Axe Murderer or Fat Bastard in the Austin Powers films, and delivers his usual blend of tame, family-friendly laughs and heart-on-sleeve sentimentality. Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow provide varying degrees of support beneath his extra-sized performance.
Although it generally looks and acts like a clumsy student film, maybe an exercise to work out the kinks of its now-prehistoric animation software, Shrek is actually the second fully-CG movie released by DreamWorks Animation. What lessons they learned with 1998’s Antz, I can’t imagine, because surely this must’ve represented some kind of step forward and it looks reeaaallly bad. For such a visual-driven genre, that’s a backbreaker. The voice actors do generally good work, Murphy and Myers especially, but not enough to overcome such a stiff, boring aesthetic and an unremarkable plot. Did this become a meme because so many internet trolls grew up with it, or because it’s so painfully inept? Maybe a little of both?