Review: Shrek: Anniversary Edition BD + Screen Caps

THE MOVIE — 4.0/5

Plot: In order to rid of transplanted fairy tale creatures from his swamp, green ogre Shrek (MIKE MEYERS) strikes a deal with Lord Farquaad (JOHN LITHGOW) that in return of his swamp, Shrek will rescue Princess Fiona (CAMERON DIAZ) who is being held at the top of a castle guarded by a fire-breathing dragon; along for the adventure is Donkey (EDDIE MURPHY), an overly talkative ass who was saved from capture by Shrek. After the duo manages to rescue the princess, the real journey begins as Fiona doesn’t seem entirely thrilled to be rescued by an ogre though she has her own secrets as well.

As far as second-tier (i.e. non-Pixar) animated films go, Shrek is one of the better films out there and nearly a decade later, still plays well both in terms of animation and comedy, this despite some old references such as Fiona’s mid-air kick spoofed from The Matrix; aside from that other early 2000s references work on their own.

I actually had not seen Shrek in many years but still found it quite funny and as someone who isn’t the biggest fan of Mike Meyers (though I don’t hate him either), this is one of the funniest roles (albeit just voice) that he’s done even if it’s somewhat a carryover from his Austin Powers movies. Not to be outdone, Eddie Murphy also gives one of his better performances in yet another example of perfection in voice casting.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.75/5

This release comes with a title-embossed slip cover. Inside is a DVD Copy and a redemption code for the Digital HD copy.

The Animators’ Corner – This picture-in-picture function features interviews with various members of the cast (Meyers, Murphy, Diaz, etc) and crew (director Andrew Adamson, etc), some behind-the-scenes recording footage, storyboard artwork and pre-visualization computer graphics.

Shrek’s Interactive Journey I – Here you get a map where you can go to various locations and check out the artwork created and those that “helped inspire the creation of Shrek’s world”. Nothing really noteworthy here and in fact could’ve just been called an artwork gallery instead.

Filmmakers’ Commentary – Directors Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson and Producer Aron Warner sit down for a low-key but still fun and informative commentary track. They divulge where certain concepts came from, praising the voice talent and some of the more typical commentary elements.

Spotlight on Donkey (11:38; HD) – This featurette obviously focuses on the Eddie Murphy-voiced Donkey character. The cast and crew members talk about the character and how Murphy did a great job voicing him. This is a mixture of new interviews with archival ones plus scenes from each Shrek movie.

Secrets of Shrek (3:52; HD) – This featurette spotlights the various fairy tale characters that were shown throughout the original movie.

Deleted Scenes (8:01; SD) – Here we get three storyboard outlined sequences that weren’t animated but we get to see some story ideas, a few of which were used in the sequels.

We also get a set of features under “Shrek, Rattle & Roll”: Shrek in the Swamp: Karaoke Dance Party (2:53; HD), Music Videos for “Best Years of Our Lives” (3:08) by Baha Men (remember them?), “I’m a Believer” (3:15) from Smash Mouth and “What’s up Duloc” (3:57) from Shrek the Musical.

VIDEO – 4.25/5

AUDIO – 4.5/5

OVERALL – 4.0/5

Overall, this quick cash-grab release is the exact the same as the 2010 release (the discs themselves are the same down to the artwork); I suppose if you never grabbed the original it might be worth picking up, otherwise pass this one on by. The Blu-ray offers great video/audio transfers and a fine selection of bonus material.