Shrek
Academy Award × 1·National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
It ain't easy bein' green -- especially if you're a likable (albeit smelly) ogre named Shrek. On a mission to retrieve a gorgeous princess from the clutches of a fire-breathing dragon, Shrek teams up with an unlikely compatriot -- a wisecracking donkey.
What critics thought
Shrek landed as a broadly acclaimed animated film that proved computer-generated fantasy could be both irreverent and genuinely moving, with Eddie Murphy's Donkey drawing the most consistent praise across the board. The minority of skeptics weren't charmed by the film's relentless pop-culture bombardment, arguing its emotional sincerity felt manufactured and its hip-to-the-point-of-exhausting energy undermined the sweetness it was reaching for. The sharpest divide was between critics who saw the Disney-tweaking satire as fresh and witty and those who found it strain too hard to prove its own cleverness.
“jolly and wicked, filled with sly in-jokes and yet somehow possessing a heart”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Beating up on the irritatingly dainty Disney trademarks is nothing new; it's just that it has rarely been done with the demolition-derby zest of Shrek.”
Elvis Mitchell·The New York Times
“the movie is wall-to-window-to-door noise, babbling, and jokes (the first minute sees the first fart gag), and demographically it's a hard-sell shotgun spray.”
Michael Atkinson·The Village Voice
“cunning the rendering of surfaces, there's still something flat and charmless in the digital look, and most of the pleasure rises not from the main romance but from the quick, incidental gags.”
Anthony Lane·The New Yorker
Genres
Adventure, Animation, Comedy
Cast & Crew
DirectorAndrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
StarringMike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, Vincent Cassel
ComposerJohn Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams
Shrek
Academy Award × 1·National Film Registry
It ain't easy bein' green -- especially if you're a likable (albeit smelly) ogre named Shrek. On a mission to retrieve a gorgeous princess from the clutches of a fire-breathing dragon, Shrek teams up with an unlikely compatriot -- a wisecracking donkey.
What critics thought
Shrek landed as a broadly acclaimed animated film that proved computer-generated fantasy could be both irreverent and genuinely moving, with Eddie Murphy's Donkey drawing the most consistent praise across the board. The minority of skeptics weren't charmed by the film's relentless pop-culture bombardment, arguing its emotional sincerity felt manufactured and its hip-to-the-point-of-exhausting energy undermined the sweetness it was reaching for. The sharpest divide was between critics who saw the Disney-tweaking satire as fresh and witty and those who found it strain too hard to prove its own cleverness.
“jolly and wicked, filled with sly in-jokes and yet somehow possessing a heart”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Beating up on the irritatingly dainty Disney trademarks is nothing new; it's just that it has rarely been done with the demolition-derby zest of Shrek.”
Elvis Mitchell·The New York Times
“the movie is wall-to-window-to-door noise, babbling, and jokes (the first minute sees the first fart gag), and demographically it's a hard-sell shotgun spray.”
Michael Atkinson·The Village Voice
“cunning the rendering of surfaces, there's still something flat and charmless in the digital look, and most of the pleasure rises not from the main romance but from the quick, incidental gags.”
Anthony Lane·The New Yorker
Genres
Adventure, Animation, Comedy
Cast & Crew
DirectorAndrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
StarringMike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, Vincent Cassel
ComposerJohn Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams
Rent/Purchase