Up until last year, my mentioning a surly green creature who gets extra
cranky around Christmas automatically would lead most people to assume
that I was talking about the Dr. Seuss's Grinch,
but now the old Christmas stealer has a bit of competition. Shrek (Mike
Myers), the uncouth ogre who's a romantic at heart, got his own
Christmas special last year, hot on the heels of his less-than-smashing
third film installment. Shrek the Halls is much shorter than Shrek the Third,
and the situation is much simpler: Shrek wants his first Christmas as a
family man to be perfect, but he doesn't know how to go about it and
his friends' shenanigans are giving him a headache. Poor green grouch...
This special, which clocks in at twenty-some minutes,
reunites several popular characters from the films, including Shrek's
sweet ladylove Fiona (Cameron Diaz), his hyper best buddy Donkey (Eddie
Murphy), his suave defender Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), the
Gingerbread Man (Conrad Vernon), the Three Blind Mice (Christopher
Knights), Pinocchio (Cody Cameron) and the Three Little Pigs (Cameron).
As in the movies, when they all come together in Shrek's hovel, enough
chaos ensues to aggravate even the most easy-going of folks.
This is a very fast-paced tale, which means the mass confusion comes in
short, manageable bursts. Even so, it's nice to have the rewind option
available, since there are sometimes several things going on at once and
it's easy to miss some of the off-hand remarks by various fairy tale
characters. As always, my favorite of the bunch is Donkey, whose
youthful enthusiasm has him inundating Shrek with good wishes badly
delivered. Donkey has his own idea of what a perfect Christmas involves,
and it doesn't match up too well with Shrek's. This makes for many
amusing moments, though it's easy to understand why Shrek finds him a
bit hard to take.
Those familiar with the series won't be
surprised to find that this special contains a bit of suggestive
dialogue and a fair amount of humor involving bodily functions. It's all
firmly within PG territory, but if you have a low tolerance for belches
and sludge, be warned. It's particularly abundant in the specialized
version of A Visit From St. Nicholas that Shrek finally gets to
recite, after storytime is hi-jacked by Donkey, Puss and Gingy, each of
whom has a brief but memorable tale to tell. Puss's is probably my
favorite, as it affords him the opportunity to adopt his adorable
enormous-eyed expression; Gingy's might be a tad morbid for especially
sensitive young viewers.
Like the movies, the special
incorporates pop music well, though in this case it's Christmas music. I
like the overall theme of familial affection and of togetherness
trumping a "perfect" Christmas, though considering that the special
starts out in the summer with Shrek's triplets already born, I can't
quite work out how it is that this is Shrek's first Christmas with
Fiona. Or during their first Christmas, were they too preoccupied with
other matters to pay attention to the holiday? At any rate, this
potential continuity gap does little to diminish my enjoyment of Shrek the Halls.
I wouldn't quite call it a classic, but those who already enjoy these
characters should get a kick out of seeing them in such a cheery
context.
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