As for Ms. Zacharek getting the creeps at computer animation, go read up on the uncanny valley and be done with it already. Please?

Anyway, in Shrek, "Hallelujah" is sung by Rufus Wainwright. John Cale's version is on the "Scrubs" soundtrack. Just FYI.

I was tired of this franchise by the end of the first picture, so yes -- definitely agreed on all points. The thing I dislike most about Shrek is that it's so utterly disposable -- the pop-culture references that are the backbone of the humor will be utterly dated in five years, let alone fifty. Certainly, not every children's animated film can become a beloved classic, but what's wrong with at least trying?

DreamWorks has always been very opaque about its upcoming projects; they've put up displays at conventions with lots of pictures and cheap giveaways showing the characters, hosted by interns who have no knowledge (I think deliberately) of what the film they're promoting is about.

It might be claimed as protection of unique characters and material, as if Goodtimes Video (the world's premiere idea thieves in animation) was going to churn out a movie in weeks about a suspiciously familiar-looking green ogre. I always thought DreamWorks was hiding how shallow their material was, and how little they had thought out their stories in advance.

Zacharek was dead-on about the use of music in the Shrek films. The little "extra" put on the DVD of the first film sent the wrong message. The second had a "Far Far Away Idol" show with various characters singing pop songs - badly, with no relevance to their characters. I know I'll dread the recycled pop songs in this film - wherever I end up seeing it, although probably not in a theatre.

There is no phony intimation of shared experience. No “we” love Banderas, or “we” find the inside jokes mostly tolerable. The hyper-realistic animation is not assumed to give “us” the willies. This a critic sharing her previous responses in relation to her current response, and leaving our own reactions to ourselves.

Her responses are well-considered, and she effectively brings the movie to life on the page (I feel like I’ve already seen it, which I consider the hallmark of a good critic).

Please, Stephanie, please keep writing in this manner. Let me know your response, because I’m interested. But don’t go back to pretending your response is mine.

But I have to remind people of the message of the first 2 movies that is getting forgotten here: it ain't about the surface, babycakes. Shrek and Shrek 2 both offered a refreshing alternative to Disneyfied fairy tale pefection of Beautiful Princess and Prince Charming. As a mother of daughters, I appreciated this central theme more than the pop-culture references. Fiona worries about her Orge looks, but Shrek reminds her that she is beautiful inside and out. Big splashy gestures don't mean as much as feeling "at home" with someone. I think Shrek 2 is at least as good as the original, in terms of delivering this message. Shrek risks his very ofreness to keep Fiona's love, but she'd rather stay with the Ogre she married. "Beautiful" people can me ugly on the inside, "good" people can make mistakes (and still be redeemed), and you don't have to be "good" all the time to be perfectly human (ogreish?).

And I like the slightly bitter (as opposed to nauseatingly Super Sweet) edge as well: Happily Ever After doesn't mean you can't be grouchy sometimes, and even people who are in love can argue (and then make up).

I hope that this core remains in the latest installment of the Shrek franchise, though there are few movie franchises that consistently deliver time after time.

With Hollywoods near complete abandonment of live action in favor or blue/green screen and sfx, movies have largely become plays with each scene consisting of two characters talking shit to one another face to face. I was watching a Naked Gun movie yesterday and notices that crowd scenes used real people. And part of the charm was the funny wardrobes they put people in. Clothing you'd actually see in the world. You don't get that now. You get a deep shot from a quarter mile away of 3000 CGI replicants. But straight animation like Shrek actually has a little more freedom and tries to simulate three dimensions and shots that encompass depth, distance and movement. Shrek walks through the forest. You don't even see people walk through a forest anymore because it's too hard to synthesize a forest foreground and background. Plus, according to Hollywood, the sun must have exploded or it's nuclear winter everywhere now because everything takes place in easier to CGI twilight or night. But again, Shrek doesn't suffer from the same limitations. It's in daylight.

Jeramia says that Wainwright did "Hallelujah" on Shrek. But if I'm not mistaken Cale did the song on the film itself, and Wainwright's version was for some reason substituted on the official soundtrack.

Thank you for pointing that out.

And most of them listened to Bon Jovi :p, not Sebadoh. That stuff wasn't really the 'popular' culture. Check the "Top 40" listings of the 90's. I wouldn't hold my breath for too many hipster movies. Do ya think Spike Jonze would do one in a few years? Linklatter has done animation...

I love a new insurance ad where the daddy is obviously an aging, shaved headed gen X-er with a gaggle of unruly, joyful tots. One of whom has tossed cheetoes all over the house. I told my husband, "Look! They finally are figuring out who has kids under 10! Yay slacker dad!"

That being said, most of OUR parents were Boomers, so we get the jokes. That was the music we grew up with as kids. It's what mom and dad played around the house. We understood most of the jokes of Pee-Wee's Playhouse, even though we didn't grow up with live TV shows. That was the stuff our parents talked about having when we were kids. So "the grown ups" still get it. Even if it is sort of tired...

Oh and to hipster Anglophiles, Jen Saun is OUR fairy godmother. She was the Boomer parent FROM HELL in Ab Fab. I had many a Saffie moment growing up!