A misunderstood ogre confronts a midget-sized lord when he is forced to live with rejects from fairy tales. Hmm, I guess this isn’t a “true story”.

Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz , Eddie Murphy and John Lithgow lend their voice talents to the new computer-animated film, “Shrek” from DreamWorks Pictures. The plot is as simple as the first line of this review but has a lot more layers then one would suspect.

Shrek has an inner strength that is closely connected to the literary elements found in Aesop’s Fables. In each of those fables there is a morale of the story and the stories teach kids about everyday things. Shrek teaches kids about being misunderstood and that beauty does in fact lie within. I liked that this mature concept was woven into such a delightful comedic yarn.

What’s great about Shrek is that it’s smart, full of wonderful animation and will make you laugh uncontrollably. If the film isn’t pulling from its bag of tricks and gags, its clever dialogue will make you giggle. Murphy’s sarcastic talking mule is a definite scene-stealer and Murphy hasn’t been this funny since he lent his voice to the Disney film, Mulan. Forget the Professor and the Doctor, this is the Eddie we know and love.

I also liked John Lithgow’s over-acting within the voice of the midget lord. Lithgow’s brilliant display of dialogue makes you feel sorry for this pathetic lord and also hate him at the same time. It’s a brilliant voice casting.

Cameron Diaz’s princess could have been any Hollywood actress because her voice really didn’t flesh out the princess any more or any less. To be blunt, she was sort of just there.

Mike Myers as the film’s lead character Shrek sounds the exact same way he did in “So I Married an Axe Murderer”. The character was originally designed for the late Chris Farley which I am sure could have brought more sarcasm and over-acting to Shrek giving him a very unique personality. Myers was good but could have been a lot more interesting.

I have pushed off the dazzling animation long enough. The scenery, multi-textured surroundings and flowing backgrounds encompassing a lot of Shrek’s world are utterly amazing. How the detail and lighting is displayed is magical. This is one of the key reasons why Shrek is so filled with awe and makes believe so much in that world. DreamWorks has impressed and amazed this critic once more.

In a lot of the situations in Shrek you can also see DreamWorks partner Jeffrey Katzenberg’s rage towards Disney. A couple of the situations kind of go like this. The midget-sized lord lives in a castle very similar to Disneyland and the theme-park idolizes the castle’s owner. Another situation has the princess singing to some birds and the whole scene ends in utter disaster. These are just two of the obvious jokes aimed at Disney but this film is filled with them and they all are highly entertaining. You may in fact have to see the film numerous times just to find all the little hidden jokes and characters.

Shrek isn’t as good as DreamWorks’ last summer animated film, Chicken Run, but Shrek is a different level of entertainment. This film goes for the laughs instead of the drama and succeeds. The humor here is so thick on the surface that it can be a lot funnier than Chicken Run. To sum it up, Shrek is so original that it will be like no other experience, you’ll have this summer.

(4 of 5) So Says the Soothsayer.