I don't usually like cartoons. But animations aren't cartoons anymore, what with most action movies being chock full of animation sequences. Sometimes you don't even know what you saw exists only in a computer, it's so real. Still, cartoony stuff just never appealed to me.But this is different. You gotta see it!
Alona had been bugging me to get this movie and watch it with her. She saw it on the plane going overseas a couple of years ago when it was a new release. She's dying to see Shrek II also. I never saw either one, so I really didn't know what to expect.
It's hilarious! Hearing Shrek speak, I couldn't help but think of "Fat Bastard" from the Austin Powers movies. The voice Mike Myers uses for the two characters is the same. The style of comedy is so human and so real. It's one of those that makes fun of the little quirks of daily life. You can see Shrek and Fiona getting jealous and identify with that. You can see Shrek's reaction to Donkey and relate. And later, when the tail is turned, you can identify with that too.
I can't resist but tell you just a tiny little bit about the movie. I won't spoil it for you, but this will give you an idea of the tone of the movie. It starts with a book opened to a fairy tale story, just like a kids cartoon. It's "a long time ago, in a land far away" kind of thing. The narrator reads the pages, turning each one to show an illustrated story of a princess in distress.
The princess is locked in a castle, guarded by a dragon and held by a spell that can only be broken by a gallant knight who rescues her and gives her loves first kiss. Just as the "loves first kiss" sentence is read, a large green hand interrupts abruptly saying "yeah, like that's ever gonna happen," and rips out the page to use it to wipe after going to the bathroom. That sets the tone for the rest of the movie.