"Who the f**k wrote this?"
This June sees Dreamworks' 'Shrek' achieve two decades of keeping us comforted that a grumpy green ogre was able to make friends with a wisecracking donkey.
This year marks many anniversaries (such as 'Bridesmaids' being 10 years old), but one movie that we're most excited to celebrate is an animation that's remained infamous all these years later. 'Shrek' is 20 years old this summer, the animation that saw Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz play animation versions of an ogre, a donkey, and a supposed damsel-in-distress who turned out to also be an ogre (once she tound her true love's first kiss).
The Dreamworks movie spawned a franchise that resulted in the release of video games, comics, a musical, holiday specials, a spin-off movie, and three more movies in the main franchise. Hell, there's even a planned reboot in the pipeline. It goes without saying, people just love Shrek.
However, it seems not everyone is in this category. The Guardian journalist Scott Tobias published an article today which brands the original movie, among other things, as "a terrible movie. It’s not funny. It looks awful."
Clearly, someone is not a fan. Although some points mentioned in the article are true - the franchise failed to keep Dreamworks from selling itself years later - the fact is that many people would disagree with his view.
'Shrek' went on to win the first ever Academy Award for Best Animation movie; the Rotten Tomatoes score from both audiences and critics is between 88% - 90%; even the original Guardian review called 'Shrek' "a laugh a minute"; and still, to this day, the movie is just as quotable as it's ever been ("I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder").
Here's how Twitter users have been responding to the article being shared online.
I feel so stupid! I didn’t notice the flushing outhouse!!! A factual inaccuracy that ruins an otherwise, almost documentary-esque, serious film about love & friendship. This utter lack of plausibility condemns Shrek’s attempt to relay an important message..
Thank you Guardian.— Rab ?? (@ByoR10) May 18, 2021
— Natalie Dyer ? (@natdyerwild) May 18, 2021
come again pic.twitter.com/pPnkzRvglX
— muso moon says revolution (@musomoon) May 18, 2021
Did Lord Farquaad write this?
— The Spectre Haunting Europe (@FrightfulHob) May 18, 2021
Who the fuck had the audacity to slander this art????
— C10H15N (@C10H15N_____) May 18, 2021
The exact facial expression of the author as they wrote this pic.twitter.com/AkTAG8ZvDN
— Alan White (@aljwhite) May 18, 2021
Never been a clearer case of: pic.twitter.com/C2ej0CMOay
— Gareth Roberts (@kentrosaurian) May 18, 2021
What do you make of 'Shrek' turning 20 years old? And do you agree with the movie being "unfunny and overrated"?