Shrek
I'll have to make this one short and sweet, but there's bunches more to come this week, as we take on the first blockbuster of Summer 2001, "Pearl Harbor" and pound out a special edition for Kansas City moovie addicts, but for now...
I once had a young lady whom I was stalking (they didn't call it that then - they called it "Hanging around a girl's house, suckin' up to the Old Man") refer to me as an ogre. I was profoundly wounded - I much prefer the term "mouth-breathing bottom feeder". But I took the hint - you only have to slap me with ONE restraining order, thank you very much, and I never saw her again - until a few weeks ago. I saw her walking through Union Station with someone whom I can only assume is her husband. I tell you honestly, I'm still no beauty, but the years haven't been kind to this lady at all. The baton of ogrehood has been passed, babies. Hooo-wheee.
"Shrek" - animated - with the voices of Michael Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow. From a book by William Steig, screenplay by Ted Elliott, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicki Jenson. MPAA rating PG or some mild language and toilet humor. Run time - I forget to check.
"Shrek" is another rung in the ladder that Disney built, but with a twist - Disney didn't do it. "Shrek" is an SKG Deamworks vehicle and all the funnier for the jabs and uppercuts that Dreamworks (read Katzenberg) takes at Disney CEO and megalomaniac in charge Michael Eisner in the process. "Shrek" is a fairly vanilla fairy tale plot rendered with remarkable skill. The computer animation bar continues to rise and fairly soon, it seems, real actors might well become as useless as Adam Sandler at Cannes. If you don't believe it now, stay tuned for "Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within", due out a bit later this Summer.
The animation in "Shrek" is truly amazing, but what makes it work is the layers of detail - kinda like an onion - the top layer is easily understood, all color and flash, you know, for kids. The next layer has fart jokes and simple ear wax gross-outs designed to appeal to eight year-olds. Down a layer and you get to the story, the double-entendres and the swipes at the swinging Disney pinata. Wrap them all up in a fairy tale setting, and you get a feature film that the kids will sit through, the adults can get a good laugh at, and every store in the known Universe will have some kind of tie-in to.
You'll have to suffer through the first fifteen minutes of "Shrek" - apparently, it takes a while to develop a big green character, even with the help of just a bit too much Eddie Murphy as "Donkey". After it settles down, though, "Shrek" hits on most of its cylinders for the rest of the trip, and if you're not staring at the highly detailed texture-mapping and lighting effects like I was - (Note to self: leave propeller beanie at home) - "Shrek" is a lighthearted and enjoyable trip into theme park
politics and trans-species dating. You'll see.
I had a couple of problems with "Shrek", mostly in the story line, but not enough to keep me from laughing out loud a lot and really kicking back and enjoying the ride all the way through.
Here's how you do it. Go see "Shrek" first, THEN take the kids. What, no kids? Go anyway. It's not the worst moovie you'll see this summer - I promise.
Four bubbling bathtub cows for "Shrek". Enjoy.
I once had a young lady whom I was stalking (they didn't call it that then - they called it "Hanging around a girl's house, suckin' up to the Old Man") refer to me as an ogre. I was profoundly wounded - I much prefer the term "mouth-breathing bottom feeder". But I took the hint - you only have to slap me with ONE restraining order, thank you very much, and I never saw her again - until a few weeks ago. I saw her walking through Union Station with someone whom I can only assume is her husband. I tell you honestly, I'm still no beauty, but the years haven't been kind to this lady at all. The baton of ogrehood has been passed, babies. Hooo-wheee.
"Shrek" - animated - with the voices of Michael Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow. From a book by William Steig, screenplay by Ted Elliott, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicki Jenson. MPAA rating PG or some mild language and toilet humor. Run time - I forget to check.
"Shrek" is another rung in the ladder that Disney built, but with a twist - Disney didn't do it. "Shrek" is an SKG Deamworks vehicle and all the funnier for the jabs and uppercuts that Dreamworks (read Katzenberg) takes at Disney CEO and megalomaniac in charge Michael Eisner in the process. "Shrek" is a fairly vanilla fairy tale plot rendered with remarkable skill. The computer animation bar continues to rise and fairly soon, it seems, real actors might well become as useless as Adam Sandler at Cannes. If you don't believe it now, stay tuned for "Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within", due out a bit later this Summer.
The animation in "Shrek" is truly amazing, but what makes it work is the layers of detail - kinda like an onion - the top layer is easily understood, all color and flash, you know, for kids. The next layer has fart jokes and simple ear wax gross-outs designed to appeal to eight year-olds. Down a layer and you get to the story, the double-entendres and the swipes at the swinging Disney pinata. Wrap them all up in a fairy tale setting, and you get a feature film that the kids will sit through, the adults can get a good laugh at, and every store in the known Universe will have some kind of tie-in to.
You'll have to suffer through the first fifteen minutes of "Shrek" - apparently, it takes a while to develop a big green character, even with the help of just a bit too much Eddie Murphy as "Donkey". After it settles down, though, "Shrek" hits on most of its cylinders for the rest of the trip, and if you're not staring at the highly detailed texture-mapping and lighting effects like I was - (Note to self: leave propeller beanie at home) - "Shrek" is a lighthearted and enjoyable trip into theme park
politics and trans-species dating. You'll see.
I had a couple of problems with "Shrek", mostly in the story line, but not enough to keep me from laughing out loud a lot and really kicking back and enjoying the ride all the way through.
Here's how you do it. Go see "Shrek" first, THEN take the kids. What, no kids? Go anyway. It's not the worst moovie you'll see this summer - I promise.
Four bubbling bathtub cows for "Shrek". Enjoy.