TELEVISION REVIEW | Cute, funny 'Shrek the Halls' could become Yule treasure
November 28, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
Hey, parents of little kids: You'd better set your recorder for "Shrek the Halls" tonight, so the kiddies can watch it 130 times in the next 27 days.
Lucky for you, "Shrek the Halls" is cute and funny enough not to drive adults completely out of their minds. For kids, it's quick and slick Shrek shtick.
I say this as a childless adult who enjoyed "Shrek," hated "Shrek 2" and skipped "Shrek the Third." I'm Shrekked out. And still, I laughed a few times and smiled more often than not.
The story picks up where "Shrek the Third" left off. Shrek (Mike Myers) and Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are bringing up triplets in their ogre swamp, when Donkey (Eddie Murphy) begins pestering Shrek that Christmas is coming.
The only problem: "I have to make a Christmas," Shrek tells a store clerk, "and I have no idea what it is, or how to do it."
Then, for most of "Shrek the Halls," Shrek and Fiona play host to Donkey and the movies' other characters as they run around the swamp house, tell flashback stories about Christmases past and nail things to Pinocchio's legs.
I rolled my eyes only at the 1950s patriarchal nature of Shrek's leading around his woman, in her fuzzy slippers and nightie and passive-aggressive mom-wifery. Also, the third act is a predictable climax of conflict resolution.
But before that, director Gary Trousdale does right by the Dreamworks/Pacific Data Images animation. He finds new nuggets of humor and story in the already overcapitalized Shrek narrative.
Could "Shrek the Halls" become a classic? My guess is no, since it's fluffier than it is profound or touching, which are traits of, say, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (which follows "Shrek the Halls" tonight at 7:30).
But "Shrek the Halls" does a very good job of top-to-bottom production. Even the music fits in bits of charm, ranging from the "O Fortuna" movement from Carl Orff's cantata "Carmina Burana" to the Waitresses' new-wave "Christmas Wrapping."
Nothing's more endearing, or funny, than the two most engaging characters, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) and Gingerbread Man (Conrad Vernon). Puss in Boots goes cute, with those big eyes; I'm a sucker for that gag every time. Banderas and Vernon sell the charm of the cat and the cookie like nothing else in the "Shrek" universe.
Fourth and fifth "Shrek" movies are in the works, reportedly, as well as a Puss in Boots movie planned to play in between those two sequels. I'd rather Dreamworks focus first on the Puss in Boots flick. Shrek and Fiona are sweet and all. But that is one bad cat.
delfman@suntimes.com
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
Hey, parents of little kids: You'd better set your recorder for "Shrek the Halls" tonight, so the kiddies can watch it 130 times in the next 27 days.
Lucky for you, "Shrek the Halls" is cute and funny enough not to drive adults completely out of their minds. For kids, it's quick and slick Shrek shtick.
I say this as a childless adult who enjoyed "Shrek," hated "Shrek 2" and skipped "Shrek the Third." I'm Shrekked out. And still, I laughed a few times and smiled more often than not.
The story picks up where "Shrek the Third" left off. Shrek (Mike Myers) and Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are bringing up triplets in their ogre swamp, when Donkey (Eddie Murphy) begins pestering Shrek that Christmas is coming.
The only problem: "I have to make a Christmas," Shrek tells a store clerk, "and I have no idea what it is, or how to do it."
Then, for most of "Shrek the Halls," Shrek and Fiona play host to Donkey and the movies' other characters as they run around the swamp house, tell flashback stories about Christmases past and nail things to Pinocchio's legs.
I rolled my eyes only at the 1950s patriarchal nature of Shrek's leading around his woman, in her fuzzy slippers and nightie and passive-aggressive mom-wifery. Also, the third act is a predictable climax of conflict resolution.
But before that, director Gary Trousdale does right by the Dreamworks/Pacific Data Images animation. He finds new nuggets of humor and story in the already overcapitalized Shrek narrative.
Could "Shrek the Halls" become a classic? My guess is no, since it's fluffier than it is profound or touching, which are traits of, say, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (which follows "Shrek the Halls" tonight at 7:30).
But "Shrek the Halls" does a very good job of top-to-bottom production. Even the music fits in bits of charm, ranging from the "O Fortuna" movement from Carl Orff's cantata "Carmina Burana" to the Waitresses' new-wave "Christmas Wrapping."
Nothing's more endearing, or funny, than the two most engaging characters, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) and Gingerbread Man (Conrad Vernon). Puss in Boots goes cute, with those big eyes; I'm a sucker for that gag every time. Banderas and Vernon sell the charm of the cat and the cookie like nothing else in the "Shrek" universe.
Fourth and fifth "Shrek" movies are in the works, reportedly, as well as a Puss in Boots movie planned to play in between those two sequels. I'd rather Dreamworks focus first on the Puss in Boots flick. Shrek and Fiona are sweet and all. But that is one bad cat.
delfman@suntimes.com
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