Shrek: Mike Myers	Donkey: Eddie Murphy
Princess Fiona: Cameron Diaz	Lord Farquaad: John Lithgow
Director: Andrew Adamson	Co Director: Vicky Jenson

30 Second Bottom Line: An ogre is sent to rescue a princess in distress, in exchange for having squatters removed from his property. The Lord of the land wants to marry the princess, so that he can become a King. She is being held prisoner in a castle protected by (what else?) a fire-breathing dragon, The ogre accepts the mission and a new fairy tale is born.

Story Line: The ensemble cast of voices for this animated feature is headed by Mike Myers as Shrek, an ogre who likes to keep to himself, because townsfolk scatter when he comes on the scene. You see he's tall and green…you get the picture. Not far away, in the town of Duloc, the malevolent Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) banishes all fairy tale characters from his land, to become squatters in Shrek's forest. All the characters vanquished are familiar to us, particularly the adults, from Disney animation over the years.

DreamWorks is about as subtle as the woodsman's ax with its swipes at that conglomerate giant. Entering the Kingdom of Duloc, you are immediately reminded of certain theme parks, where shop windows are filled with souvenirs.

Shrek goes to Lord Farquaad to appeal to him to remove these characters from his land. The diminutive Lord Farquaad (we're talking Tiny Tim size) at first wants his soldiers to destroy Shrek, but Shrek saves himself by doing a Russell Crowe imitation out of Gladiator and does them all in. Lord Farquaad decides to have Shrek rescue the princess being held in the tower of a castle protected by a ferocious dragon. Farquaad wants Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) as his bride, so he can be the king.

Tagging along with Shrek is a donkey (Eddie Murphy); who always has something to say, as in he can never shut up. He becomes Shrek's sidekick and mentor as they go on their mission. Eventually the princess is rescued, thanks to Shrek's fortitude, and Donkey's wit and smooth talking. They set off for Duloc and Princess Fiona's marriage to Lord Farquaad.

What we don't know is that the Princess has a spell on her, and that she must marry the Lord before the sun drops below the horizon, or her special secret will be revealed. On the journey to meet Farquaad, who seems to be a person she could never love, but who will provide her with a life worthy of a princess, Fiona becomes fond of Shrek. They are quite an odd couple because she is drop dead gorgeous and he is mud mean green…how could these two ever be together as a loving pair?

Tell Me More About It: Shrek makes the grade as a film aimed at kids that adults will also enjoy. Adults and older kids will get a kick out of the less than oblique references to making fun of Disney characters, Disneyland and crude humor, which even has a touch of class (an oxymoron??).

The quality of the animation is breathtaking. It's crisp, sharp animation presents the characters as cartoon like where appropriate, with more human characteristics for some portrayals, and something totally new and refreshing most of all. Without trying to be life like, detailed animation of the character's movements' helps to develop them so that you actually form an emotional connection. That's more than I can say for many films, which have humans and no animation.

You will recall that when Dinosaur was introduced last year, one of the things that made it special was its ability to use CGI to allow the characters lifelike motion. They were allowed to breathe, move eyelids, show a smile at the edge of the lips, and otherwise have the movement that is associated with humans, rather than in cartoons. That technology has continued to advance and we see very lifelike animated characters here that are fun to watch.

We enjoy Shrek on a greater level for the message it sends to our kids about their self-image. Unlike three recent films, which stumbled when trying to address the issue of beauty, Beautiful, Stardom, and Miss Congeniality, this one hits the target, right on the bull's eye. After Shrek has performed great heroics to rescue Princess Fiona, for good reason, he is afraid to remove his helmet because she will see that he is not a handsome Prince Charming. The magic moment in the film comes when the Princess gets her kiss from her first true love, for that is when she will be revealed in her true beauty.

Shrek has many beautiful moments, and the best one is that you will have something to talk about with your children, especially since most of us are not among the "beautiful people" like Cameron Diaz or Tom Cruise. This fairy tale takes us into the real world.

Mike Myers: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	Eddie Murphy: Pluto Nash
Cameron Diaz: The Invisible Circus	John Lithgow: A Civil Action
Andrew Adamson: Batman & Robin	Vicky Jenson: Debut