What A Cartoon Movie! - Shrek

Hmmm. What a coincidence. Wonder if this guy from the Guardian is a listener... https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/may/17/shrek-20-unfunny-overrated-low-blockbuster

I never actually watched Shrek, so thank you for doing this podcast so I never have to! Something about the color pallete, so many browns and greens, wasn't appealing to me. That, on top of the character designs and Mike Myers, I never had a desire to watch it. Being so far removed from it now and how it's become such a joke, I forgot it was legitimately popular and successful in it's time! Loved the history segment as usual and the time and energy it takes to put these podcasts together. I always look forward to listening to them!

This came out when I was 13 which means I watched it and enjoyed it but I have zero nostalgia for this damn ogre and his thin plot

crystalhearts

Even though I still enjoy Shrek, I was enjoying Bob’s grumbling through this, and thank you Henry for balancing things out

Tricia

I remember when the first Hulk movie came out Hershey put out green chocolate syrup. And in recent memory, Walmart had a store exclusive green Nickelodeon slime katchup. It's, just one of those things I think it's best not to question.

MilesDX

I was six when Shrek came out and it at least the decade of All Star when I was in grade school bc my class had to sing a Christmas version of it for the school pageant a few years later

Tricia

Farquaad's motive is that he wants the perfect kingdom, but unfortunately this isn't expanded on enough. Do other kings think little of him? Is he trying to live up to the legacy of his parents? Also, Shrek the Third is the first movie I saw by myself in a theater.

Rhomega

Atlantis had/has plenty of story problems of its own. The crew had to remove some action set pieces due to budget, plus the big twists and turns while in the city itself are convoluted and out of nowhere. CG was so novel and aimed slightly older than “all-ages” it enchanted audiences and critics, meanwhile 2D films were perceived as a kid’s medium. A lot of that blame can be laid at Disney itself, with their whoring out of DTV movies and cheaper theatrical releases like Return to Neverland and Jungle Book 2.

Alex Irish

The great what a cartoon podcasts 🎶Don’t stop comin and they don’t stop comin🎶😎

RB

Damn, Bob is a tough crowd to please!

Great episode. I don't think I've seen Shrek since it was originally out in theaters and this was probably the best way to relive it. I had to laugh at how 4 hours were spent on the 90 minute movie, but the background on how and why the film was made was really interesting. Also, the multiple times it was phrased that Fiona would be an ogre all the time, all I could think in my head was "Fiona wants to ogre all the time, ogre all the time, ogre all the tiiiiime". I hope I'm not the only one.

Jonathon

At age 10, I was the perfect age to see this in theaters. In fact, I think I remember seeing both this and Atlantis: The Lost Empire made kid-me think that the 00s we're gonna be THE decade for animated movies (it wasn't). But now that I'm far more critical of Shrek, I've been wrestling with the thought as to why critics were so enamored with this movie to the point of ignoring its flaws in storytelling, while they were far more critical of 2D animated Disney movies released in this same time period, despite having moved away from Renaisance-style movies and arguably having tighter stories? Was the Hollywood hype machine really that strong? Was it the fact that Jeffery Katzenberg had better clout than Eisner? Or was it the fact that critics preferred the hyper-realistic 3D style because it made them forget they were watching an animated feature film?

KaiserBeamz

As a Shrek apologist I would like to tease out the logic of Fiona's curse that seemed to be a sticking point for Bob. Her curse was to transform into an Ogre every night, basically to test if anyone who claimed to love her would be able to look beyond appearances. Ironically, her parents couldn't and taught her to hide her Ogre side at all costs. And I don't think it's unreasonable to think that Fiona's parents simply made up a convenient witch to explain the curse, so that Fiona wouldn't rightfully resent them for locking her in a tower for her entire life, rather than simply loving their ogre daughter. The logic behind Fiona's transformation at the end is in the line "Until you find true love's first kiss; And then take love's true form". I feel this implies there wasn't a preordained form she was destined to take when she breaks the curse; she took the form of an ogre, because she found true love with an ogre. I theorise if she had fallen in love with someone human (or any species, because apparently, that happens in the Shrek universe!), she would have taken on their form. Could have been interesting to explore the idea that there's a curse on Fiona's family that passes from parent to child. In my headcanon, Fiona's Dad was cursed to become a frog every night but made a deal with the Fairy Godmother to cure him rather than waiting for true loves kiss because of his internalised belief that nobody could love somebody cursed to be nonhuman, a belief he would then instil in his daughter. I don't think I'll ever think Shrek is a bad movie but this podcast did point out a lot of flimsiness to the jokes and plot I hadn't been able to perceive through 20 years of nostalgia. Your Friend and Shrek Scholar, Josh Marchant

Joshua Marchant