Review of Shrek

Introduction

DreamWorks must be rubbing their hands together with glee. Nobody at the studio could possibly have expected Shrek to make over $450million at the box office worldwide - and then go one to demolish the DVD sales records, with over 7 million copies sold, not to mention VHS…not bad for a movie with a $60million budget.

The lure of state-of-the-art computer animation, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz in an old fashioned rescue-the-princess fairytale was however irresistible, and to their credit, DreamWorks didn`t cash in on the success with a bare DVD, instead they have produced one of the most feature-rich and desirable discs in the history of the format.

Video

The video comes in a choice of 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen or full-frame, depending on which of the two discs you slip into your DVD player. I of course watched the movie in anamorphic widescreen and the picture quality is utterly stunning - as you would expect from such a high profile digital movie. There is no grain, dirt or shimmering and the picture is stable, colourful and above all wonderfully detailed.

Visually, this film is exceptional. You can`t compare Shrek to Final Fantasy - one is an animated movie, the other more of a computer generated cartoon. The animation in Shrek is superb because of the little detail - be it Donkey`s fur, the facial expressions, the little details in the background that you notice the second time you watch the movie, the water - the list is endless. Oh, and of course, using computers means that you can cheat and throw in some fantastic camera angles that would be impossible in a live action movie.

Audio

DreamWorks have obviously decided that if you`ve gone to the expense of buying a DTS decoder, you`ll also have a widescreen television - because if you choose the full-frame version you "only" get Dolby Digital 5.1, whereas the anamorphic widescreen version on the other disc has both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 sound. Incidentally, the anamorphic widescreen disc also has Dolby Digital 5.1 in French and Spanish, whereas the full-frame disc only has an English soundtrack.

The soundtrack is good, but doesn`t match the reference quality visuals which is a shame because if the sound was on par with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace for example, this disc would be akin to the Holy Grail of DVD presentation.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks both make good use of the available channels, and the extra range of DTS is just about noticeable at times. Some of the sound effects are well positioned, but overall the soundtrack just doesn`t have the jaw-dropping power of Titan AE for example. The voices are all very clear, which makes Mike Myer`s cringeworthy Scottish accent even more irritating!

Features

There is an enormous selection of extra material to choose from spread over both discs. Disc 1 contains the movie in full-frame with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, Shrek`s "Revoice" studio which allows you to do the voices for your favourite characters in 12 scenes via your PC, a behind the scenes featurette and character interviews, DreamWorks Kids - "Over 6 hours of fun" with 15 games, various music videos and a favourite scenes selection. If that`s not enough, the second disc contains the movie in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 sound, a filmmaker`s commentary, "The Tech of Shrek", deleted scenes, technical goofs, a featurette on dubbing and more.

Overall, a superb range of extra features, wrapped up in absolutely beautiful menus!

Conclusion

Overall, this is a stunning DVD package from DreamWorks who are to be commended for not cashing in with a bare release of a popular movie in time for Christmas. A great deal of thought has gone into the range of extras and this provides excellent value for money, and enough to keep children occupied for hours after the film has finished.

The film itself is good fun, and I enjoyed it more on DVD than I did at the cinema. My only complaint is that it does drag a little at times and could have been trimmed down slightly - but there are so many laughs and p***-takes along the way, that any tedium is quickly forgotten. Eddie Murphy`s vocals for Donkey are a work of genius and he steals the show from Mike Myer`s who`s Scottish accent is a little dubious to say the least. Other vocals are also superb, with Cameron Diaz`s character also very strong. The story is good and very well told though the characters and landscapes and there is plenty of humour for all ages built into the script. It`s not perfect, but very entertaining nonetheless.

Video and sound are both excellent and there is a great range of extras. Consequently this is a recommended disc.