When Lord Farquaad banishes all fairytale creates from his kingdom they take up the swamp of grumpy ogre Shrek, who then decides to make a deal to get his land back. This means he must travel to rescue Princess Fiona for her to marry the Lord, with a talking Donkey by his side nothing will go to plan.
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Everything about Shrek was groundbreaking and even after twenty years everything about it is still very enjoyable and the animation used by Dreamworks is utterly stunning. I always feel really strange saying that for a film that is fully animated but I don't really care as it is so very true. On this rewatch it was great to see how amazing the film still looks and maybe even updated slightly for what we have now. The film was probably ahead of its time and while the second outing remains my favourite this one is very good as well.
Shrek is just angry all of the time and hates everyone and everything. Straight away we can all relate to feeling like that right? Actually even more so for me than when the film came out, quite frankly living alone in a swamp sounds better than being surrounded by people. Shrek was onto a good thing, until his home and land is taken over by all possible fairy tale characters that you can possibly think of, creating tension and many amusing moments.
Donkey decides that they will be best friends and he goes with him on the quest adding so much entertainment and voiced by Eddie Murphy with such incredible ease. Working alongside Mike Myers as Shrek really did work ever so well and it is easy to understand how we ended up with three sequels. While Shrek attempts not to be a traditional fairytale it actually turns into that more than you first think. Although big green ogres is not what we normally think about for romance.
Getting past a dragon in order to save Princess Fiona was not really what it first seemed as quite frankly she could more than look after herself. Although she is excited about her possible marriage to a great Lord, cue short jokes which quite frankly were and still are hilarious! So many little moments and one liners easily reminded me just why this and the second film were favourites with myself and friends whilst drinking as well I must add! I actually think the dialogue is for adults and the slapstick character moments for kids, so it really has that perfect balance for a family viewing but also something else for you to enjoy as you get older.
Poking fun at everything Disney stood for when it came to the Prince/Princess obsession well before Disney decided to make that turn (eventually). Shrek really does hold up ever so well and should be revisited often to just make you happy. That's as simple as we want from films at times isn't it? To smile and laugh, forgetting everything about your reality.