Shrek, released by DreamWorks Pictures in 2001, has been characterized by critic Todd McCarthy (49) as "an instant animated classic" that rudely sends up "even the most beloved fairy tale traditions while at the same time effectively embodying them." The film is the story of an ogre's odyssey from oblivion to love, thus suggesting elements of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Indeed, McCarthy (49) believes that one of the key aspects of the film was that it challenges the traditional Disney mode of presenting animated films and fairy tales, using smart writing and new animation technologies to create an important and visually appealing, relatively lifelike computer animated film. In this essay, a thorough analysis of the film discussing a number of the aspects of filmmaking will be presented.
Shrek was a full length, 3-D, computer generated, animated feature film based on the children's book by William Steig. Written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (who were also co-producers of the film), the film was produced by Aron Warner, John H. Williams, and Jeffrey Katzenberg. It was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson (McCarthy, 49). The voices used in the film included Mike Myers as Shrek, Eddie Murphy as Donkey, Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona (the love interest of Shrek), John Lithgow as the villain, Lord Farquaad, and Vincent Cassel as Monsieur Hood (Mejia, 32).
Shrek is both a fairy tale and a comedy. It was Mike Myers' first animated role and according to DreamWorks (1, 1), Myers was an enormous source of inspiration for much of the dialogue written for the character of Shrek. Veteran animated film performer Eddie Murphy (as Donkey) and Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona also drove the comedic plot forward. As the villain, John Lithgow played Lord Farquaad as the walking embodiment of over-compensation รป a small man who dreams of glory and who represents evil throughout the film. Part of the difficult in making Shre...