Shrek (2001 Movie)

~ Bookstooge

Shrek was released in 2001 by Dreamworks Studios. Featuring the voice talents of such big names as Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and John Lithgow, it follows the adventures of the ogre Shrek as he ends up rescuing Princess Fiona and in the process falls in love with her and breaks the curse that kept her in the dragon guarded castle. It’s not as easy as it sounds, as Ogres just don’t marry Princesses and Prince Farquad has some rather short thoughts on the matter.

The entire thrust of this movie is turning Fairytale Tropes on their heads. And mixing in a lot of anachronistic ideas, words and music. And it works beautifully. I laughed my head off.

But for many years I avoided this movie assiduously. Shrek is an ogre and as such, is just plain gross when it comes to bodily humor. He farts in his mud baths, pulls enough wax out of his ears to create a candle, belches at the drop of a hat and just generally is disgusting. I didn’t want that. But one day I watched it and I was sold, lock, stock and barrel.

Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy, as Shrek and Donkey, are the perfect comedy duo. Donkey is a talking donkey that just won’t shut up and boy, the writers did a great job in giving him his dialogue. Myers on the other hand, is a great one for one liners, quips and references to other movies at the time. The Matrix is referenced, as is Babe: Pig in the City. I’m sure there are a LOT more that cineastes would catch.

While this is an animated film, there are too many crass parts, too many innuendos and too many adult humor bits for me to say this is fine for kids. I know it is rated G but no way is it suited for General Audiences.

They don’t write movies like this any more. They weren’t just trying to tell a trope breaking comedy, but an actual story with a beginning, middle and end. While there was a message about not judging people on their appearances or without getting to know them, it never overwhelmed the story and was actually incorporated into things so it didn’t come across as ham handed virtue signaling that makes you want to puke your guts up like in a lot of recent movies.

This was probably my 7th or 8th time watching this and I still laughed my head off, enjoyed every second and thought it was still great. I don’t know that it will strike everyone the same way, or be as re-watchable, but for me, this movie has entered into Classic territory and I plan on watching this many more times over the coming years.

35 thoughts on “Shrek (2001 Movie)”

  2. Yeah, Shrek is a classic. Seemingly it languished in production hell for years and was taken apart and put together more than once. I know there are plenty of films that never saw the light of day due to various issues (and rightly so) but I also reckon most really good movies have an elaborate back story. Casablanca is another case in point. And when funding dried up for LOTR, Jackson spent two years knocking on doors, looking for new backers, working and reworking the script, shooting schedule etc, all the while.

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      1. If they don´t really know what sex is, they can´t pick up in sexual innuendo. That might be different for other adult jokes. But I haven´t seen the movie in a long time, so I´m out of my depth here…

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        1. I wonder if we’re talking about different things here? I define crass as the bodily function style of humor. The adult humor on the other hand, I’d call something else.
          But just so you realize, kids are exposed to porn at the average age of 10 now (I think that is the latest statistic here in the US), so they are quite aware….

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  9. You’ve been a blogging fiend, there is no way I can catch up on all your posts! Lol. Shrek will always be good. About a year ago, I had to break it to my younger coworkers that the line, “That’ll do Donkey, that’ll do” is in fact not the original line. Their response was, “What’s Babe?” And then I died a little inside. 😛

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    1. Yeah, don’t try. Just skip all the past posts and read whenever you’re online. I’ve been in your shoes before.

      Yeah, when a classic movie like Babe is no longer known, well, it’s a sad day…

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  11. I remember you warning me about some of the grossness of the movie, but your review convinced me that it would be a fun experience nonetheless – and I guess that the humor would go a long way toward counterbalancing the crassness of some details. And since all the movies are on Netflix, I can take in the whole… experience 🙂

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    1. Personally, I like Shrek 2 the best 😀
      It has my favorite scene where they parody Mission Impossible with Pinochio playing the part of tom cruise. It’s only about 30second long, but oh man, I never fail to laugh 😀

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  12. Welcome to Duloc
    Such a perfect town
    Here we have some rules
    Let us lay them down
    Don’t make waves
    Stay in line
    And we’ll get along fine.
    Duloc is a perfect place.
    Please keep off of the grass
    Shine your shoes
    Wipe your…
    FACE!

    That part always cracks me up!

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