Turning the fairy-tale genre on its head was a clever, if not totally novel, notion at the time, and Shrek still retains much of its ironic charm 20 years later.

| Oct 22, 2021

Here is a movie of the times, funny, enjoyable, perfect-looking, and altogether original in a way that might cause us to look again at the meaning of the word.

| Jun 9, 2015

Shrek is alive, and with dark, sly and absolutely hilarious irreverence lampooning every once-sacred characteristic of the nursery kingdom. Shrek is a subversive joy..

| Jun 9, 2015

With improbable finesse it buffs up some of the oldest tropes of storytelling and then gives them a mischievous tilt, so that we appear to be watching a celebration of a genre and a sneaky subversion of it at the same time.

| Jun 9, 2015

What the film lacks is the faintest glimmer of charm.

| Nov 25, 2013

Shrek may not have the class of Buzz Lightyear, but he's a lovable great lunk, and you could do a lot worse this summer than see this.

| Nov 25, 2013

The brilliance of the voice work, script, direction and animation all serve to make Shrek an adorable, infectious work of true sophistication.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 25, 2013

Shrek's ability to fit in a number of touching, funny moments says much about the intelligence and wit behind it. It's just a shame that the film is never as clever or as hip as it so desperately feels the need to be.

| Nov 25, 2013

After a 90-minute onslaught of in-jokes, here's the real punch line: Shrek strives to have a heart. Supposedly there's a message about beauty coming from within, but somehow it rings hollow.

Full Review | Nov 25, 2013

The charms of Shrek, which is based on the children's book by William Steig, go far beyond in-jokes for adults.

| Nov 25, 2013

This romantic fantasy complicates the roles of beauty and beast, making it hard to guess what form a sensitive resolution will take.

| Feb 17, 2012

Gross-out laughs meet a marvelous fairytale mix.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 28, 2010

It doesn't take long to figure out that Shrek is not going to be your ordinary animated fairy tale.

| Jul 6, 2010

No one has ever made a funnier jackass of himself than Murphy.

| Sep 1, 2008

What gives Shrek its special artistic distinction is its witty and knowingly sassy dialogue, delivered by vocally charismatic performers whose voices remind us of their stellar screen personae in live-action movies.

| Apr 27, 2007

Gag by gag -- and there's a stream -- it's merrily irreverent, visually and vocally. The bigger picture, though, is rather more conventional.

| Jun 24, 2006

Sort of like The Princess Bride, if André the Giant had been the hero, and had worn Lou Ferrigno body paint.

| Original Score: B+ | May 9, 2002

A funny, sweet, snappy fairy tale about misfits, for misfits -- or anybody who's ever felt like a misfit.

| Sep 4, 2001

Beautifully written, gloriously animated and tastily subversive.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 29, 2001

This fable structure is allied to both a witty cynicism and sense of fun, which pervades the entire movie in equal measure.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 18, 2001