Their first animated feature The Prince of Egypt was one of my favorite movies of 1998, and its no surprise at all that their second collaboration with PDI raked in the cash to become one of the highest grossing films of 2001 (the record still has Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings to combat before it is set in stone).
The Movie
Shrek is a fairy tale at heart, which is infused with modern day humor and hit music. Throughout the movie there is dual layered humor that will have kids and adults laughing at the same time, but for completely different reasons. And that is one of the best things about this hit.
The film tells the tale of a fantasy land where a shorter than average ruler by the name of Farquaad (John Lithgow) is rounding up fairy tale creatures and dumping them in the swamp that the ogre Shrek (Mike Meyers) calls home. Along with a talking donkey that won't shut up (Eddie Murphy) the green one travels to Farquaad's castle in order to get his swamp back. When the unlikely duo arrives there, they agree to rescue a princess (Cameron Diaz) from a fire-breathing dragon in exchange for the deed to the swamp, and hilarity ensues.
Writing and direction here is just so damn smart. Seriously. I saw this film in theaters with quite a mixed audience of kids, teens, adults and everyone was laughing at the same jokes, but for totally different reasons.
There are some "mature" jokes slipped into the dialog and animation that are so subtle, the first time you see them you're like "Whoa, did I just see what I think I did?" and it takes a second viewing of the scene to confirm it (a good example is the scene where Farquaad is in bed looking at the picture of the princess over and over). Now that the film is on DVD, you can do that easily.
Helping that writing is an excellent cast. Mike Meyers brings Shrek to life using his Scottish voice and it is a bit hard to picture anyone else in the role (although I would have liked to have seen what the late, great, Chris Farley would have done if he hadn't had left us so suddenly), and Eddie Murphy is surprising here.
I haven't been too impressed with his voice over work up until this point. He was more annoying than funny in Mulan, and the PJ's just wasn't too funny in the first place. But here, he shines. Donkey could have been yet another stupid comedic relief character, but he and Meyers play off each other so well as an odd couple that he becomes one of the best characters in the film. Also, he has some of the funniest lines.
When you get past the incredibly smart humor and great cast, you have some very pretty CG animation to look at.
To me, both Pixar and PDI have their own "look". Pixar's animation generally has a brighter more "round" look to it and is perfectly suited for what they have been doing lately. PDI seems to lean to a slightly more realistic appearance, and in Shrek they reached a great compromise between cartoon-like and realistic characters, and the film has a very consistent look to all of the animation.
The fabric on the clothing looks absolutely fantastic. Lighting (especially in the dragon castle sequence) is stunning. And the environments that the characters inhabit look excellent.
There was a reason why Shrek made all of that money, and it wasn't due to tons of marketing and hype (look what that did for Pearl Harbor). The reason is because it is actually a good movie that can entertain anyone of any age.
I think the only thing I can really say about it, is that I wish it was a bit longer. This is one of those movies that you don't want to end. Well, that's what the sequel is for.
9 out of 10
The Video
As you would expect from a CG film, this is a direct digital transfer and is absolutely flawless. Disc one holds a pan&scan version of the film, while disc two has a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Here is one scene as shown in both versions:
There really isn't an imperfection to be seen at all in the transfer. Colors are fine, detail is fantastic, and everything gives a great three-dimensional look to the image. This is one of the top-of-the-line transfers to show off your DVD player with.
10 out of 10
The Audio
Again Dreamworks has done a great job in the audio department. Disc one features English DD 5.1 and 2.0 tracks along with French and Spanish 2.0. The second disc holds DD 5.1 mixes in English, French, and Spanish as well as an English DTS 5.1 track.
As with the video, I really can't find much wrong here, especially in the DTS track. If you're looking for a new demo sequence for your home theater, fire up chapter 7 (The Dragon's Keep), and warn the neighbors as you'll be in for quite a treat in sound.
10 out of 10
Continue on to page two for our review of the Extras.
The Extras
With Shrek arriving on two dual-layered DVDs, some of the extras make disc one home while the others reside on the second disc. We'll cover the discs in order, with the pan&scan saucer coming up first.
Both discs share the same menu design for the most part, with one difference appearing on the main menu for disc one and that is a blue button with the "DWK" logo on it. Clicking on that will take you into a special menu made just for kids. Here they will find two music videos (and the making-of one of them), a scene selection option that goes directly to some of the more popular scenes in the film, and a huge load of games that can take quite a while to play through.
In the Special Features menu of disc one you'll find the HBO First Look special on the making of the film, a Sneak Peak that is the first trailer of Dreamwork's May 2002 animated film Spirit, two more games, the extended ending that is an absolutely hilarious musical number featuring all of the characters from the movie, short interviews with the characters (they can be found in the cast section), and a lot more games in the DVD ROM menu.
Finally on disc one is what could be the coolest DVD ROM feature ever. The Revoice Studio allows you to dub your voice over several scenes. It does require you to have a microphone on your PC, and is actually very easy to use and get right on into using. You can have some great fun with this feature.
And as expected, the DVD ROM features will not work on a Mac.
Heading into the Special Features menu on disc two, you'll find a lot more to choose from than what is on the other disc. First up is the audio commentary by the films two directors and producer. This is a great track to listen to if you are interested in CG animation. They talk about everything that has to do with the movie (even some suggestions that Spielberg had on the film), but they also talk about many of the issues in the animation. From striking the balance from not making the film look too realistic, to the right texture and lighting on a character's skin, everything you could possibly want to hear about the process is in this track.
Next on the menu is a Storyboard Pitch of three scenes that didn't make it into the finished film. These can be viewed via two different angles, and is an interesting way to view storyboards instead of just watching them in a gallery.
After that is a featurette titled "The Tech of Shrek", which of course focuses on the CG animation and techniques that were used in the film.
The next video feature on this disc is a quick collection of technical goofs that show what happens when something goes wrong with the rendering.
Finally, there is a short featurette about dubbing the film in different languages, the same cast and filmmaker information that is on disc one, a DVD ROM weblink to the official Dreamworks site, a still gallery showing the progression of the early production art to the final movie, and the film's trailer.
Oh yea, and the extended ending is on disc one, only you access it via a small musical note on the main menu.
With so much stuff on both discs, this DVD set cannot score anything lower than a 10 in the extras department.
10 out of 10
Comments and Overall Score
I don't think anyone doubted that Shrek would get a great treatment on DVD. The sheer number of extras in the set, added to the fact that Dreamworks put stuff in here for kids, the casual DVD user, and the hardcore pretty much mirrors the movie's content itself.
Shrek was one of the best films of 2001, and its arrival on DVD signifies one of the best discs of the year.
9 out of 10
