First Take Classics: Shrek- cue that song.

SYNOPSIS: A mean lord exiles fairytale creatures to the swamp of a grumpy ogre, who must go on a quest and rescue a princess for the lord in order to get his land back.

Somebody once told me the world was gonna roll me - not my words. those were the words of All Star back in 1999. But was there any other way to introduce a review of a film so memeworthy that the Vue Preston team who read this blog literally begged me to do a First Take Classics piece about it. So here we are. DreamWorks’ breakthrough animated film still holds up incredibly well to this day, and considering it celebrated its 20th birthday last month… that takes some doing.

For a 90 minute film, what directors Andrew Adamson (making his directorial debut) and Vicky Jenson did was nothing short of extraordinary- taking a book by William Steig and making it work for a global audience. Paced absolutely perfectly, and with a hell of a script from Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman and Roger Schulman providing more than the obligatory 6 laughs needed for a comedy, on a technical standpoint the years of development it took to get this film on screen are very evident- it is polished and refined to create the ideal kids film. On scoring duties is Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell, who again, come in where needed for musical duties- but that soundtrack is quite something. Not much else needs to be said on that front.

On to the performances, and it is arguably the dream team of Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy who make this film come alive, creating one of the best character duos in the industry with some infinitely quotable lines- supporting them is Cameron Diaz, and in a genius piece of casting, John Lithgow as the man named and based on a Disney executive who turned the film down - the villain, Lord Farquaad. Yes, Farquaad. Either way, this film is a legendary release, and as it hits 20 years old, it hasn’t aged that much, which is the best thing about it.

THE VERDICT

Shrek changed the game for the family film- cute jokes for the kids, dirtier visual jokes for the adults, and a soundtrack that has gone down in popular culture as the stuff of legend. While the franchise has now seen Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, and Shrek Forever After, the original still remains the most iconic one of the lot.

RATING: 4/5