Lynn B., of our Hollywood Preview crew went to a work-in-progress screening of a new film. Here are Lynn's thoughts on SHREK

Hollywood- March 22, 2001 - Dreamworks SKG's Jeffrey Katzenberg and "Austin Powers" star Mike Meyers spoke at an exclusive work-in-progress screening of the new all computer-animated film SHREK, which Katzenberg describes as a "fractured fairy tale" opening in the U.S. May 18th. The
family film stars Meyers as the voice of Shrek, an "Ogre", Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona, Eddie Murphy as "Donkey" and John Lithgow as the Prince. "Shrek" has been five years in the making and, according to Katzenberg, is the state-of-the-art in presenting computer-generated realistic humans, detailed environments, clothing, hair and realistic fluids and fire".


Mike Meyers told us that the filmmakers have created an amazing world that you can "get lost in". "It's more of a chance (for me) to sort of do a dramatic role. The Ogre's very sweet, I think and it's lovely to play a character that's all about sweetness. In many ways, I'm a straight man to a very, very nice a... uh, donkey played by Eddie Murphy. Seriously, it's a lovely movie and what I think I like about it the most is what it has to say about beauty and uniformity and conformity and body image and what's beautiful and what's not. It's about an Ogre (troll) dealing with his own 'ogreness'. I think you'll enjoy it."

This film can't be fully reviewed until its opening in May but I saw an 80% finished print of the movie and found it to be warm, fuzzy and very hilarious! Eddie Murphy is wonderful as the voice of "donkey" and the animated fur on the little critter seems real! I can just see the rotund, short-legged stuffed animals on sale now. At this point I can only say that this flick is a "must see" for all ages. There's a great soundtrack that includes new tunes by Baja Men and Smash Mouth's cover of "I'm a Believer", the old Monkees hit.This critic found the film a wondrous delight. Stay turned for more details when it is reviewed in May.

SHREK OPENS May 18 This movie is rated "G" Official Website