Not dreck

>> Shrek is weirdly likeable

by MARK SLUTSKY

There's an air of vengeance to Shrek, the fancy, expensive-looking new computer-animated fantasy from DreamWorks. Spearheaded by ex-Disney exec Jeffrey Katzenberg, the film takes more than a few potshots at his former masters--the movie's chief villain is even said to be based on Disney ueber-CEO Michael Eisner. Corporate bickering aside, though, Shrek succeeds where many others fail: it's a thoroughly diverting, often hilarious movie that makes great use of its sophisticated animation.

Shrek is basically a send-up of the kinds of fairy tales Disney is so famous for. Shrek himself (voiced by Mike Myers) is an unpleasant, solitary ogre who lives alone in a swamp. An edict laid out by the diminutive, order-obsessed Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) relocates all of the kingdom's other magical creatures--Snow White, the Three Blind Mice etc.--into his backyard. When Shrek complains to Farquaad in his humourously Disneyland-esque castle, he's sent off to rescue the lord's betrothed, a somewhat tart-tongued princess (Cameron Diaz). Okay, the plot is kind of weak. But that weakness ultimately doesn't hurt the film too badly.

What makes up for the limp story is Shrek's surprising preponderance of laughs. Eddie Murphy plays Shrek's neurotic donkey sidekick, his best turn in years. Adding immeasurably to his characterization is the film's skilled animation, which manages surprising detail in facial expressions. The animation is actually one of Shrek's high points--it's colourful and textured, and they do some great things with it, especially in a scene when Shrek and Donkey confront a great big dragon in a castle surrounded by beautiful, bright molten lava.

Shrek isn't a perfect movie, and it certainly isn't the triumph some critics have been hailing it as. But despite its flaws--rather uninspired voiceover work by Myers, some flat pop-culture-reference jokes, the aforementioned weak story--it manages to be weirdly likeable. Despite its weaknesses, it never drags and by the end ties up the plot quite satisfactorily without copping out. It's hard to say who this movie's really aimed at: despite clearly being a kid's movie, it adopts a somewhat more adult tone, and many of the jokes may fly over the little one's heads. Those multiple levels of meaning only add to its appeal.

Shrek opens Friday, May 18