Shrek (2001) |
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Shrek (2001) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Animation |
Menu Animation & Audio Scene Selection Anim & Audio Audio Commentary DVD-ROM Extras-Shrek's ReVoice Studio Featurette-The Tech Of Shrek Interviews-Cast-Character Interviews Production Notes Featurette-International Dubbing Featurette Featurette-Shrek In The Swamp Karaoke Dance Party Game-Shrektacular Trivia; Game-Decorate The Gingerbread Man Biographies-Cast & Crew Game-Character Morph |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2001 | ||
| Running Time | 86:20 (Case: 133) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (51:11) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By |
Vicky Jenson Andrew Adamson |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
Mike Myers Eddie Murphy Cameron Diaz John Lithgow |
| Case | Amaray-Opaque | ||
| RPI | $39.95 | Music |
John Powell Harry Gregson-Williams |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Catalan Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0  (192Kb/s)
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.66:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English for the Hearing Impaired Spanish Portuguese English Audio Commentary Spanish Audio Commentary Portuguese Audio Commentary |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | Yes, Shreks Dance Party played at end of credits | ||
Produced entirely with computer-generated animation, Shrek is a visually amazing film. The numerous different scenes portrayed give a grand-scale appreciation of the world that Shrek inhabits, as well as mountains of respect for the artists and animators behind the scenes. Shrek was produced by the same company that did Antz, Dreamworks PDI, but they have pushed the envelope again. Character models have up to 800,000 polygons, a fully animated skeletal and muscular system, and life-like facial features. For anyone familiar with computer animation, these are very impressive statistics. For those that aren't, just watch the film to gather an appreciation of the work done. Particle and liquid systems were designed specifically for this film, as well as complex lighting and shading systems. The end result is truly remarkable.
Shrek (Mike Myers) is an ogre comfortably living a hermit's life in his beloved swamp. Besides the occasional, and very brief, skirmish with pitchfork-wielding humans, he lives a peaceful life. Shrek really likes his privacy. Unfortunately, this all changes when Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) rounds up all the fairy-tale creatures and relocates them right into Shrek's swamp. Here Shrek meets the lovably boisterous Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and, grudgingly, they set off to clear out Shrek's swamp by having words with Farquaad.
Farquaad agrees to clear the swamp if Shrek rescues the beautiful Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) from a terrifying dragon's lair and brings her back to be Farquaad's bride. Shrek agrees and thus begins a wonderfully amusing adventure to free the beautiful princess. Along the way there are numerous encounters with fairy-tale creatures, including the ginger-bread man, Snow White, dwarves, the big bad wolf, and Robin Hood. It is almost a game of "Spotto", recognising all the characters from the tales you heard as a kid. Wonderful stuff!
Shrek is a wonderful story filled with charming characters, presented on an amazing DVD. If you have kids, you should buy this movie. If you don't have kids, you should buy this movie. You won't regret it!
Shrek is presented in the 16x9 enhanced aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The video was encoded at the impressive average bitrate of 9.8Mbps. An interesting aside - the video was actually produced at 1.66:1 after the animation process, and was then cut back to 1.78:1.
This DVD has been produced straight from the digital source. For this reason, there are no film artefacts or film-to-video artefacts at all. It is almost disturbing not to see the occasional speck of dust.
Colour, sharpness and shadow detail are all impeccable. Being an animated feature, colour is very important. This DVD rises to the challenge with perfect saturation throughout. The landscape is simply amazing, drowned in vivid colours, with every leaf, blade of grass, and movable object swaying slightly in the breeze. Another interesting aside - the grass is actually modelled as fur! It was grown onto the landscape. Shadow detail leaves nothing to be desired and is absolutely solid throughout.
As I mentioned earlier, there are no artefacts whatsoever throughout this transfer. MPEG artefacts are non-existent, and there were no instances of aliasing or edge-enhancement either. This is a truly incredible achievement with all due congratulations going to the team responsible for the DVD mastering.
I sampled the English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles and they were accurate to the spoken word.
This disc is RSDL formatted with the layer change occurring at 51:11. It is not perfectly placed but does not disrupt the movie.
| Sharpness |  |
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There are five audio tracks available on this DVD. The four main tracks are English, Portuguese, Spanish and Catalan Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks at 448Kbps and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Audio Commentary track at 192Kbps.
Dialogue is perfectly reproduced throughout the main feature and audio sync is spot on. The "Tech of Shrek" feature suffers from audio sync issues but I will talk more about that in the extras section. The main feature is perfect with all sound effects being timed perfectly with the on-screen action.
The soundtrack for Shrek combines contemporary music with an original musical score by Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell, with a number of favourites thrown in for good measure. The original score is very immersive and emotive, suiting the movie very well. The contemporary soundtrack really gets your feet tapping and comes across very well on this transfer with songs such as "I'm A Believer" (Smash Mouth) and "I'm On My Way" (The Proclaimers). Doesn't everyone love The Proclaimers?.... anyway, moving right along.
The surround channels are used throughout for ambient noises. Admittedly, the volume of the surrounds could be increased a little, but there is no denying that they are well-used. Action sequences are very well supported by the surrounds, such as the meeting with the dragon while rescuing Fiona.
The subwoofer is used to good effect during the action sequences (think dragon again) and to accompany the music. The subwoofer does not call too much attention to itself but is well utilised throughout.
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NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
The video transfer is of reference quality.
The audio quality is excellent.
The extras are excellent, both in quality and quantity.
Also available: Our interview with the co-Director of Shrek, Andrew Adamson.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using S-Video output |
| Display | RCA 80cm. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Onkyo TX-DS787, THX Select |
| Speakers | All matching Vifa Drivers: centre 2x6.5" + 1" tweeter (d'appolito); fronts and rears 6.5" + 1" tweeter; centre rear 5" + 1" tweeter; sub 10" (150WRMS) |