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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
July 20, 2023     Shelton Mason County Journal
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Page 14 - Shelton-Mason County Journal — Thursday, July 20, 2023 ReView: ‘Shrek’ should feel more dated than it is continued from page 13 Louis Sachar wrote the screenplay, based on his own 1998 young adult novel. For as much as modern young adult novels are in— clined to try and front-load en- tire epic sagas of backstories into becoming the next multi— media franchises to dominate the pop culture landscape, Sachar weaves a rich historic tapestry out of a forbidden frontier romance, a defiant female outlaw, a literal buried treasure chest and the worst family curse this side of the House of Atreus, without ever borrowing from ancient Greek, Roman or even Norse myths, and without resorting to a dystopian future whose highly regimented social structures recall adolescent cliques. Which is not to say that “Holes” doesn’t speak the lan— guage of aggressively crude, hot-tempered teen and tween boys, who brawl and posture for dominance among them- selves, but ultimately show solidarity against the cruelty of their adult captors. As much as Sachar sets a gold standard for fictional world—building, “Holes” also relies on an insanely qualified cast, all ol‘whom clearly un» ' derstood what a multifaceted gem of a story they were work— ing with, from Henry Winkler as Stanley’s hapless inven— tor dad, and Eartha Kitt as Book by William film and James Lupine, Music and lyrics by William Finn “M Kids play basketball Friday at Kneeland Park prior to the showing of the 1995 movie “Jumanji.” Journal photo by Gordon Weeks a vengeful old—world fortune— teller, to Patricia Arquette and Dulé Hill as ill-fated Old West pioneers, and the sin- ister trio of Jon Voight, Tim Blake Nelson and Sigourney Weaver as the sketchy crew who runs the detention camp, with mysterious ulterior mo- tives and a reckless disregard for the kids in their care. Let the layers of this one unfold like a flower, because whatever your age, it’s worth your while. Which brings us to “Shrek,” whose in—yoin--lace gross-out antics are well-suited to the tastes ol‘younger audiences, while its more adult innuendo is just barely obscured by the fig leaf of going over a lot of kids" heads. JUNE 30 — JULY 30 — STATE THEATER Hilarious, heartbreaking, and utterly unique, Falsettos revolves around the life of a charming, intelligent, neurotic gay man named Marvin, his wife, lover, about- to—be—Bar—Mitzvahed son, their psychiatrist, and the lesbians next door. It’s a hilarious and achineg poignant look at the infinite possibilities that make up a modern family... and a beautiful reminder that love can tell a million stories. HARLE www.harlequinproductionsmrg What’s ironic about all the ways in which “Shrek” codes as an anti-Disney screed —- from its shameless appropria- tion of multiple famous fairy tales, to its send-ups of the Disney theme parks’ militant cleanliness and traditional “It’s a, Small World” chorus, all the way up to the unflatter— ing resemblance between the villain Lord Farquaad (voiced by John Lithgow) and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner is that Disney as we know it now arguably wouldn’t exist without “Shrek.” Well before Disney ac— quired Marvel in 2009, “Shrek” beat the Marvel Cin— ematic Universe to the punch, by borrowing from the most recognizable public domain My . U l N fairy tales, which Disney has made its bread and butter, and shoving them all into the same setting. Perhaps more importantly, “Shrek” presaged the tone of the MCU, by having its fairy tale characters comment on their own genre tropes as ir- reverently as Marvel’s on- screen superheroes have done in the MCU, especially in the wake of “Guardians of the Galaxy.” For this and a number of other reasons, “Shrek” should feel more dated than it does. And yet. Although the CGI anima— tion did a yeoman’s job of cap- turing the facial expressions of Lithgow as Farquaad, Cam~ eron Diaz as Princess Fiona, Eddie Murphy as Donkey and Mike Myers as Shrek, in ways that allowed the real-life ac- tors’ personalities and per- formances to shine through the data-processing, the more human the characters were meant to be, the more flat their physical movements came across. And just in case you’d for- gotten this movie was made during the turn of the mil- lennium, between the late 1990s and the early 2000s, the “Shrek” soundtrack includes Smash Mouth’s “All Star” and John Gale’s version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” along with hip, contemporary ref— erences to “Riverdance,” the macarena and Carrie-Anne Moss’ midair “bullet time” spin-kick as Trinity in “The Matrix.” As much I might talk smack, it still works, because not only are all the actors ide- ally suited to their roles and firing on all cylinders, but it’s also just undeniably, viscer— ally appealing to see the char- acters in a trope-bound genre, like fairy tales, choosing to pitch the traditional script for what “should” happen straight out the window, especially when the one character who demands order and obedience gets done away with in a de- liberately undignified manner (minor spoilers). However much Mike My— ers might have fallen out of favor since “Shrek,” his mock— Scottish accent actually works here. You’ll feel for his filthy ogre, because like he says, he’s like an onion. He’s got layers. Following the “Barben- heimer” blitz next week, you can expect reviews for the re- maining “Movies in the Park,” which are: I Aug. 4: “The Mighty Ducks” from 1992, starring Emilio Estevez and Jess Ackland. I Aug. ll: “Space Jam” from 1996, starring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. I Aug. 18: “Back to the Fu- ture” from 1985, starring Mi- chael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd.