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| You heard me... |
Released in 2001, the film was the brainchild of Jeffrey J. Katzenberg, the former creative head of Walt Disney animation under (and sometimes above, if rumors are to be believed) head-honcho Michael J. Eisner. After the success of The Lion King, Katzenberg attempted to use his new-found clout to push ahead with an ambitious fairy-tale/musical/action-adventure animation/live-action hybrid that he’d been working on since middle-school. Eisner, however (still furious that all merchandising rights to The Lion King and any other lion-related films and TV shows had been signed over to MGM in exchange for use of their logo at the Disney-MGM Studios in Florida) wouldn’t hear of it: he unceremoniously dismissed Katzenberg, and had all unopened cans of Diet Coke poured into the gutters to ensure his prompt departure.
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| Mr. and Mrs. Katzenberg |
Katzenberg, to his credit, decided to walk through the studio and say goodbye to his former co-workers, and had inspiration upon noting several of the animators sitting at a large computer, working on the rendering model of a character from an upcoming film called Toy Story. Why not throw all notions of complicated live-action and animation hybrids out the window, and make his ambitious story come to life with computer animation? After creating a distraction involving the announcement of a Dole Whip shortage, Katzenberg absconded with the computer in question, and it was this on this Pentium P5 workstation that Katzenberg created his opus, Shrek. Forming a new studio, DreamItDoItWorks BFD, Katzenberg quickly partnered with fellow Hollywood heavyweights Steven J. Spielberg, David J. Geffen, George J. Lucas and David J. Lynch to help create his epic.
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| Damn, Gina! |
The film tells the story of Shrek (voiced by Dana Carvey,) a lonely ogre who wishes for nothing more than to find love. While fishing in his swamp one day, he is befriended by an ass named Donkey (voiced by Martin Lawrence,) who persuades him to journey to the kingdom of the diminutive Lord Farquad (the always fun William Shatner) in order to find love. Farquaad, sympathizing with Shrek, sends him on a mission to save the beautiful Princess Fiona (Reese Witherspoon) from a fearsome dragon.
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| Here there be monsters... |
Journeying to the faraway land of Mordor, Shrek and Donkey make their way through the winding halls of the castle, along the way doing battle with a fearsome purple dragon. Soon, the pair rescue the captive Princess, but their way is blocked by the dragon, which launches into a catchy song about the wonders of imagination, for some reason. Luckily for them, a souped-up 1993 Mazda RX-7 smashes through the castle wall, and they are rescued by the valiant Dominic Toretto and his sidekick, Captain Jack. Little-known fact: a last-minute addition, Dominic’s sidekick would one day inspire his own spin-off franchise.
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| Partners in crime |
To make a long story short, Shrek, Donkey and Fiona are safely delivered to Farquaaad’s kingdom, where it turns out the unscrupulous ruler wants to marry the Princess himself! Shrek, however, has fallen in love with Fiona, and so gathers his fellow fairy-tale creatures together to crash the wedding and defeat the #Lyin’Lord.
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| Woodland creatures to the rescue! |
In a final twist (added to the film following tepid test-screenings, and overseen by stand-in director M. J. Shyamalan,) it’s revealed that under full moonlight, Fiona turns into a donkey herself, and so she and Donkey zoom off into the night with Dominic, as Shrek screams out his rage to an unsympathetic moon.
There are many things that work well in the film. The animation, though primitive by today’s Pixar-fueled standards, makes the characters really come to life. It was quite the coup for Katzenberg to snag up-and-coming director J.J. J. Abrams, who brings a sense of dynamic dynamism to the tale; that he never directed an animated movie again is a shame. The music by Talking Heads front-man David Byrne is at turns sweeping and intimate, and makes surprising use of the Casio CZ-1 keyboard for many of the more intense sequences. The songs, among them “Ogre and Ogre Again,” “It’s a Farquaaaad Way to Go,” “Journey into Imagination,” and the ballad “For the First Time in My Nethers” are memorable, though the soundtrack was never made available on CD or iTunes, ensuring it never got the attention it deserved.
It was perhaps fortuitous that weeks before Shrek’s release, Eisner and Katzenberg came to an understanding after a weekend alone together at Eisner’s cabin in Aspen, agreeing to let Disney buy out DreamItDoItWorks BFD. The deal was spearheaded by recently-promoted Disney COO Robert J. Iger. Iger, as we all know, would one day become the go-to guy for corporate acquisitions after later becoming Disney's CEO, overseeing the company’s purchases of Jim Henson Studios, Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm Ltd, Imagine Entertainment, Good Humor Foods and the Vivid Entertainment Group.
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| A proud heritage |
Thanks to this last-minute deal, the little movie that could can now stand proudly among the rest of Disney’s animated canon, shoulder-to-shoulder with other timeless classics like Make Mine Music, Home On The Range and The One With The Dinosaurs. And we can now enjoy all the classic theme park attractions that the film (and it’s 17 sequels) have produced; “Shrek 4D,” “Studio Tour With Vin Diesel,” “Escape From Gringots, featuring Minion Mayhem 6D” and “Race Through New York With Jimmy Fallon” amongst them. I'm really looking forward to sharing these experiences with my family when we visit Walt J. Orlando World Studios next year.
I’ll close this review with a quote from DreamItDoItWorks BFD co-founder David J. Lynch:
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