Shrek

A film about an ogre who lives in a swamp. Shrek lives alone and wants to keep it that way. Villagers come to hunt him and he frightens them off. One day the swamp fills with fairy tale characters. Lord Farquaad has driven every magical creature out of the country and they have all piled up there. Shrek goes to the city to make a deal. To become king Farquaad has to marry a princess; she is in a tower and there is a dragon waiting. In exchange for the job he gets his swamp back. From there the film is a rescue and a journey home. He has a donkey who never stops talking, and the princess is not who was expected. What the narrative is interested in is not fairy tales but appearance: the film inverts every fairy tale convention and at the end does not make the transformation in the expected direction. Farquaad and the design of his kingdom are an open reference to the large animation studio of the period; the film mocks its own industry. The princess's fight and the dragon's interest in the donkey are its best jokes. The production was technically demanding at the time; mud, fire and particularly the characters' skin required new solutions. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature the first year it was given. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow are among the voices. Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson directed. Who it is for: any age; some of the jokes are only for adults. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the imagery to compete with animation now; the film shows its age.