Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
Shrek

Edited by Dreamworks (2001), it is an excellent work of electronic animation that will earn Oscars and very good box office results. Being a commercial product, there will be all the prerequisites for a second and third episode. With this film, Dreamworks assertively positions itself as a competitor to Pixar (Disney), which until then was the undisputed leader in animation.

This is not a typical fairy tale for children, at least not at the beginning. Younger audiences have fun with the typical behaviors of the ogre Shrek (there's a bit of ogre in all of us) who shows a strong sense of independence and seems quite comfortable with it. Since a swarm of leftover fairy tale characters ends up bothering him, instead of burning Pinocchio or devouring the Three Little Pigs (as one might legitimately expect), he goes to confront the idiot lord who ruined the peace of his swamp and demands to have it back as before. He enters his service and, accompanied by an annoying donkey (more likable when unconscious), easily retrieves the princess (who was quite well caged) only to fall in love with her. In fact, she also gets a crush on the noble and selfless ogre.

Now: the ogre just wanted a bit of peace, and the story ends with the paradoxical choice to get married, ruining his peace forever. But what? A parody of classic fairy tales that ends in a joyful happy ending? The pro-Americanism of happy endings bothers me because all the premises for an original story were there, yet it ends up following the usual pattern that includes, among other things, not only triumphant love but also a terrible death for the ruthless and evil antagonist. If Shrek in the end represents reality, where everyone wants their peace, the ending falls back into the sappy and boring-classical vein of the usual fairy tales. And speaking of reality: bastards never die! The ogre should have given a message of independence and freedom to all the depressed who believe that being in a couple is the solution to everything, instead, it is a first-class ticket to getting pissed off every day! The moral is there, clear. The cartoon teaches us to look at the soul and not the appearance. Perhaps there's even a nice message about friendship and compromise. But what a drag! Everything makes you think it will end differently, yet, big party and they lived happily ever after. Shrek, why did you do it? I thought you were happy!

In terms of content, it is a parody, so I feel like grouping it with the American parody genre like Scary Movie, hence steaming crap. Although the animation has surprising graphic results, it's the usual: nothing new on the western front!