The music in Shrek is very upbeat and mutual for all ages. The music is dated back to the nineteen sixties with a group called the “Monkey’s”, and the song “I’m a believer”, which is very catchy so children can sing along and enjoy it, where as adults can remember the good old days and still enjoy the song. There is also a song that is very recent “who let the dog’s out”. If you were to think the age gap of these songs would matter in the film, you would be wrong it doesn’t matter because all the music is jumpy so we would sing along to it whilst watching.
Shrek does more then entertain its audience as the story can be watched on more then one level. The humor can be enjoyed by all ages for example when Shrek “farts” children will laugh at that. Where as adult humor would find the part when Shrek said, “do you think he’s compensating for something?” The adult viewers would not just think that he is compensating for his height, like children would, but they would think that maybe Lord Faquaad is compensating for the size of his lower region, most adults would also know that most small men are very rude and they think their a cut above the rest. Although the film it set many years back it still refers to modern societies game shows and sports. For example it refers to Wrestling, which children of nowadays watch and enjoy. As well as wrestling, there is a magic Mirror that describes the three princesses. This represents the game show “Blind Date” which is modern and is on every week.
The voices of the characters in Shrek are famous which is going to make the film sell, but their like the characters themselves in real life, which help’s bring the film to life. The animation in Shrek is really new, and its nothing like Disney at all, it’s completely different in that it provides issues and everyday aspects that help make the film seem more real. For example when Donkey goes back and forgives Shrek and helps him out this is an everyday aspect that is covered forgiving each other.
I think the meaning of Shrek is that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and here is what I thought of Shrek.
Shrek is a proper top dog film, which is different in the top 5-film category in my personal opinion. Shrek is at the forefront of filming technology and really shows how computer animation has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years. DreamWorks have truly made a remarkable effort to make Shrek look way better then its time, and in actual fact they’ve shown just how hard their willing to work for the mission to succeed.
I think the film doesn’t have much of a plot at all, all its really about is all the characters dealing with their looks and moral issues. Shrek closes himself off from society because he thinks he is physically unacceptable. Fiona expects the world to have the same romantic ideas she got from reading fairy tales, and like Shrek, she worries that if people see her ugly side, no one will like her. The Dragon also seems worried about her body, but when Donkey compliments her she becomes friendly and helpful. Everyone learns about the true nature of beauty, love, and friendship. Shrek and Donkey forgive each other because they are friends. Farquaad is driven by a lust for power. He chases the fairy tale creatures from his city, which I think symbolises as a metaphor for racial prejudice (or the captivity camps of World War II). He also uses a magical talking mirror. A book of fairy tales winds up being used for toilet paper in an outhouse (played more for laughs than being rude to books). According to the film: People who may seem different on the outside may be very similar in other ways. I think the films questions and twists are about our assumptions about happiness, love, ogres, princesses, rescues, and dragons. The film has a reasonable amount of humor in it, there is a few mild insults and one or two mild coarse words.
There is also plenty of violence in it, there is animated martial arts, sword, and fist fighting. Shrek uses wrestling moves to defeat Farquaad’s guards but kids can relate to this. An arrow gets stuck in Shrek’s behind. The fire-breathing dragon is fairly scary at first, chasing and trying to incinerate both Donkey and Shrek, but then becomes friendly. The dragon’s castle contains many skeletons and body parts of those who challenged the dragon but were defeated. The dragon eats Farquaad (which if I can remember is the only fatality in the whole film). Fiona and a bluebird sing so loudly that it explodes, but then to make the best of a bad situation, she serves it’s eggs for breakfast, and the poor little gingerbread man is tortured by being dipped in milk. In Shrek there is also alcohol, and smoking contained, numerous people are seen drinking beer in a tavern, both Shrek and Farquaad have a martini alone at home, and a barrel of beer is used as a weapon
Like almost every film ever made, there is a 'bad guy'. Throughout most of Shrek, it's wasn’t clear to me who the bad guy was. Shrek himself is very rude and, at times, rather mean. Farquaad isn't exactly mean, but simply runs the kingdom, as any king should: with force and little tolerance. Lord Farquaad never actually becomes 'bad’ until around the last 10 minutes of the movie.