I remember seeing this in the theater when I was in high school. My friend suggested we go, I was hesitant, but we were laughing throughout the entire movie! I love how many hidden jokes there are for adults to enjoy while watching with younger kids. I now watch this with my own kids and remember the fun we had watching it for the first time in the theaters all those years ago.

I thought this movie was good overall. I thought it was an interesting and fresh take on fairy tales in general which was what it set out to do. So in that way it was a success. The great thing about this movie is that it will be fresh as long as fairytales (and archetypal stories in general) are around and judging by the past hundreds of years, it looks like that will be a long time. The problem with most movies similar to this is that they are amazing at first but they kind of lose there pizazz. In 2018, for the most part, that hasn't happened yet. Rewatching this movie, a lot of the first half of this movie wasn't amazing. Sure I chuckled a couple of times but it definitely was very standard Dreamworks. The second half of the story, though, Shrek really comes into its own. It isn't afraid to have its moments to give the viewer an emotional response in a "silly movie with a donkey that yells a lot". This is when I really started to get interested and involved in the characters and story. Seeing this half makes me view the beginning in a much better light. It was building to something, potty jokes included. This said though, that first half being more interesting after viewing the second, still means there are faults in the first half. Mostly the jokes didn't really work for me a lot of the time. I know I'm kind of making the first half sound bad, but in reality it's fine just nothing more than that. The storyline is fairly engaging in this part, but I just didn't find it particularly funny (except for the jokes about the fairytales which made me laugh). Overall, good movie, great animation (for its time) and engaging story, even with the over abundance of potty jokes.

Shrek is an excellent introduction to beloved animated franchise. The characters are amazing, it's funny and not just because of one character, but all the characters get a good one liner. It's comically romantic in it's own way. It's not too sappy, but it makes us think. It can revive a used moral exceptionally. Shrek can provide the most efficient ways of character development (Which all the good movies also provide). Also, it has such a good story, that you can you relive the good moments in a good sequel (Shrek 2). Shrek is designed in an interesting way because he is not meant to be changed when he changes his ways (Beauty and the Beast), his role is to learn to open up to people just the way he is because they can open up to him too. He is not afraid of who he is, he begins to accept it and moves on with his life. Instead of saying "Another day in the swamp, oh look the villagers are here", he tries to have fun with them by truly scaring them away. Shrek accepts who he is and how people see him, but when he meets Donkey and Fiona, he learns that not only can he accept himself, but others can like him or love him too. Donkey's development is not designed to just have Shrek the ogre grow to like him, but it's also for Donkey to get out of the opinion that he's annoying, and to start thinking that he can be loved too, which also how Donkey and Shrek relate to each other. In the end, Dragon loves Donkey just the way he is. Unlike Shrek who is constantly pushing him away. Although Donkey is the comedic strong point in this movie with his pop culture references and just his laugh out loud jokes, Shrek gets a good amount of funny lines in the movie too. Now, Fiona has the best development next t Shrek, her story is mentioned in the beginning of the movie which allows Shrek to get an idea of her ("I read it in a book once".). She is revealed while still kept a secret ("she had an enchantment upon her of a fearful sort"). At first, she grows a mindset of true love as anyone who is willing to save you, and then believe it's anyone who is willing to save you while still taking the time to get to know you, which Shrek does. Imagine, if Lord Farquaad's men wen't to save her, she would just instantly fall in love with him because she would learn nothing about true love. This is a vulnerable stage that is seen many times in people where they don't feel loved and will fall in love with the first person they see. Fiona then learns a life lesson about what love really is. The last main character Lord Farquaad seems pretty general (someone who will do anything for a position of power), but it is different as he is really the only air but is a Lord instead of a King. He is someone who is the closest position to get what he wants, but still can't get it. In the end, Shrek has it's funny moments, it's thoughtful moments and great animation and should definitely be worthy of an 8.

Establishing DreamWorks Animation as the first real competitor to Pixar Animation Studios, Shrek is a clever, creative & comical delight that finds its creators firing on all cylinders and is a wonderfully animated & endlessly entertaining tale that works for viewers of all ages.The story follows an ogre whose peaceful life in the swamp is disrupted when many magical creatures show up at his place. To drive them out, he strikes a deal with an evil lord for whom he must rescue a princess & bring her to him in exchange for his land, and is joined by a talking donkey on his quest.Directed by Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson, Shrek comes jam-packed with gags & parodies, all incorporated into a storyline that's simple in structure, easy to follow, and features elements that are more targeted at grown-ups, thus succeeding as an adventure that has something in store for all demographics.All the set pieces & characters are cleverly imagined, expertly designed & skilfully rendered. The relevant characters exhibit sufficient depth and are easy to relate to. Voice actors bring their A-game to infuse life & soul into these animated caricatures, with Eddie Murphy effortlessly winning hearts & stealing the show as Donkey.On an overall scale, Shrek is an end-product of clever imagination, intelligent writing & top-notch animation and though the latter aspect appears slightly dated today, the story hasn't lost much of its magical charm & hilarious wit. Taking a dig at Disney & proving its animation studio to be a worthy challenger to Pixar, Shrek is still one of DreamWorks Animation's finest films to date.