Mother Goose meets Mad Magazine!

Here I gush. Have you ever felt that rare and satisfying little 'click' that occurs when you fall in love with a new movie? It doesn't happen often at all, but I experienced it last week as I sat and watched the new cinematic triumph from Dreamworks known as Shrek. Brilliantly and addictively entertaining would be an understatement.

If nothing else, you have to credit Dreamworks with having some brass ones. Jeffrey Katzenberg (former head honcho at Disney and current "K" in Dreamworks SKG) has a venomous good time taking swipes at the Mouse Factory in this movie. Several uproarious sequences feature digs on the Disney machine, in a none-too-subtle implication that maybe Mickey no longer corners the market on the animated movie game. Based on Dreamworks' third effort at a full-length CGI feature (Prince of Egypt and the underrated Antz were the first two) Shrek, I'm gambling that a few Disney execs are starting to sweat right about now.

Because Shrek is quite simply one of the best animated features ever made. Its plot has a sweet and universal appeal and handfuls of laugh-out-loud gags. The voice performances are uniformly perfect, and the clever screenplay maintains a gloriously self-referential and sarcastic tone. The computer graphic imaging (CGI) technology has at last shown its true potential in Shrek, as this movie is almost sinfully gorgeous to look at.

The story tells the tale of a grumpy ogre named Shrek who loves his solitary life, content in his secluded and deserted swamp. Unfortunately, the evil (and ridiculously diminutive) Prince Farquarr has decreed that all Fairy Tale Creatures be rounded up and excommunicated from his Forest of Dulac. (The smallest of the Three Bears complains "My cage is too small!" as the trio is rounded up.) So guess what out-of-the-way spot all these unfortunate creatures get dumped onto.

Shrek awakens one morning to discover hundreds of creatures invading his turf: Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarves (with Snow White's unconscious body in tow), The 3 Little Pigs, Tinkerbell, The Three Blind Mice, The Big Bad Wolf. If they were in Mother Goose's Zip Code, they're now forced to squat in the disgruntled Shrek's back yard.

So it's off to Dulac for Shrek. With his trusty steed at his side (OK, so he's a sensitive and verbose donkey and not a steed), Shrek explores Dulac (which proves to be a brilliantly sly parody of Disney World) before coming to a reluctant arrangement with Farquarr: Rescue the fair princess Fiona from a distant castle guarded by a fierce and massive dragon in exchange for Shrek's beloved swamp. Sounds like your typical fairy tale heroics, right? Wrong. Actually, it's the viewer's familiarity with these Fairy Tales that make most of Shrek so darn appealling. (Who ever thought we'd see a catfight between Snow White and Cinderella, or The Three Blind Mice playing Limbo under Pinocchio's nose?)

While Shrek is a strong enough movie to stand as a whole, there are several standout scenes that are particularly clever, such as The Gingerbread Man's ill-fated interrogation scene, or Shrek and Donkey's initial confrontation with the Dragon. And while Shrek features probably the most amazing and impressive CGI ever put to film, the movie never seems like a "cool animated movie". The fantasy is presented in such a hypnotic fashion, that you'll forget that what you're watching is computer generated pixels. The strength of the characters and the charm of the screenplay are easily the equal of the technical masterworks.

This is a movie that is gleefully childish and subtly adult at the same time. Shrek's gross-out antics (he uses ear wax to make candles and catches fish by farting underwater!) are sure to delight the kiddies, yet they're offered in such a jovial and child-like style that the adults won't mind laughing either. And there more than a few double entendres and adult-oriented gags that will sail right over the kiddies heads while Mommy and Daddy struggle with tears of laughter rolling down their faces. If ever a family film had equal appeal to children and adults alike, then Shrek is it.

Mike Myers fills the massive ogre with a grumpy yet lovable (and a slight touch of Irish) sensibility, and Cameron Diaz is obviously having a lot of fun with her characterization of Fiona. John Lithgow is suitably evil as Farquarr, and his character is handed some of the best jokes in the movie. But the standout in the cast is Eddie Murphy. His voice work in Disney's Mulan was the highlight of that film, and Murphy's work here proves that it was no fluke. This comedian has a perfect voice for animation, and few comics know how to deliver a punch line as perfectly as Murphy. As is often the case in an adventure/road movie, the sidekick steals the show and Murphy is simply hysterical as the loyal Donkey.

Although the four main characters are the heart and soul of Shrek, the scenes featuring the various Fairy Tale creatures are absolutely priceless. It's a cunning stroke of creativity to incorporate such universally adored (and copyright free!) characters like this, and the endlessly funny script take full opportunity of this. My personal favorites were the droll and surly Magic Mirror, the pompous Robin Hood's ill-fated rescue attempt and (again) The Gingerbread Man, who delivers the movie's funniest line of dialogue by speaking only two words. I predict that Gingerbread Man will become a media darling with his debut performance.

Since news of this movie was announced several years ago (the late Chris Farley was originally set to voice Shrek), I was pretty confident that this movie would be pretty good at the very least. But as I sat watching this animated storybook sitcom masterpiece unfold, the smile simply would not fall from my face. Shrek is the kind of movie that new cinematic advances are invented for, proof positive that the marriage between art and technology can sometimes be a blissful one indeed. Shrek is one of the funniest movies I've seen in the past five years. It's easily one of the most beautiful pictures I've ever seen. Time to catch up, Disney.

Only in today's amazing technological world could a film like Shrek ever hope to be created. After seeing film after film use CGI gimmickry as a cinematic distraction or a hollow afterthought, it's with triumphant relief that I sincerely recommend Shrek as highly as possible. Parents, bring your kids. Kids, bring your parents.