Shrek is a GREAT movie

Last night, I opened Netflix on my kindle. Scrolling through the list of shows and films to watch, I became dizzy and overwhelmed by the mass choice out there until I saw Shrek. I saw it at the cinema and saw it so many times on tape that I wore it out. It was one of my favourite movies as a kid and I thought it was hilarious when I saw it at the cinema nearly 20 years ago. To this day, I still think it’s one of the best romantic comedy’s ever made, this is coming from somebody who dosen’t like the genre much because of the repetitive formula.

Shrek’s life of solitude and scaring humans comes to an abrupt end when fairy tale creatures are dumped on his swamp. It turned out that he has no legal power there and has to speak to Lord Farquad. Then he has to get Princess Fiona for him. The objective of the characters are made pretty clear. Shrek wants his swamp back. Donkey wants friends. Fiona wants true love. Lord Farquad wants to be king. The fairytale creatures want freedom.

I didn’t know until I looked it up that Shrek is based on a children’s book from the 90s. I like how they mixed it up with characters from other famous fairy tales, but they also gave them their own personality.

The pop culture references are amazing. The magic mirror from Snow White mirrors his inner Cilla Black with the blind date. Making DuLoc a crazy tourist attraction with a dictator reminds me so much of North Korea. It’s a great scene that show how much disregard Lord Farquad has for human life when he says: “Some of you may die...but it’s a sacrifice, I am willing to make.”

I loved the characters because of how they jump out of their stereotypical roles. It’s quite woke and aware for a product of its time. I think it’s amazing how Mike Myers voices Shrek with a Scottish accent. I didn’t even notice it until now.

The reveal of Fiona turning into an ogre at night is a really great touch. It built great tension and it helped made Fiona and Shrek’s relationship develop and become more geniune. It shows why I love the film so much, it shows our expectations get shattered, but sometimes it’s for the best because there’s something for everybody.

The unlikely romance between Donkey and Dragon was a nice touch. It was a bit weird at first, but in the end, Dragon turned out to be really important towards the plot. I like how she becomes a baddie to a goodie. I think it also furthers Shrek’s quote: “they judge me before they even know me.”

There’s so many good scenes like the one where Fiona does a singing contest with a bird and the bird ends up exploding. The scene were they’re eating rats is funny. I still get baffled with the scene where the animals get turned into balloons.

I loved Donkey because he has some great one-liners and he dosen’t stop talking, but it’s so great. All the adult jokes means that I can still appreciate the film as a grown-up, though it’s a great story that can be loved at any age. I see the Shrek sequels get replayed on the television quite a few times over the year.

I think the most important thing of all is that it teaches us to be ourselves and love each other for who we are. I really loved the ending. Depsite Fiona’s genuine body image anxieties, Shrek is quick to tell her that she’s beautiful. The soundtrack is great. And it really adds to the fun atmosphere to this film. I thought the karaoke number at the end was brilliant.