Contrarian film and TV reviews

[Discordant Resonance]

How mean-spirited must a reviewer be to write a retrospective hatchet job on Shrek? Fair enough, the third and fourth instalments were derivative and best forgotten, but the original was a fairly vibrant subversion of Disney narratives, the script, cast and soundtrack were all excellent, and it seems odd to suggest that the CGI was shoddy by 2001 standards, when one sequence where Farquaad pours milk into a glass was a gratuitous poke at Pixar, who were unable to film such a scene at the time.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

I remember being distinctly unimpressed with the sassy black sidekick Donkey. I suspect that it really hasn't aged well. It's got Mike Myers in it after all.

[tee rex]

The review is like a parody of clickbait. It relies on that laziest of weapons, the time machine. For example:

Nothing screams “unearned gravitas” like slipping in a cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

Absolutely true ... today. Because in the past 20 years it's been done to death. When Shrek was made, it hadn't yet been.

That doesn't mean it has to be a great film, but it does mean the reviewer is a fraud.

[Sean of the Shed]

The reviewer seems to have gone into this with the intention of taking the most subversive and contrary stance possible to attract the most attention and get as many clicks as possible, even if the vast majority of responders completely disagree.
I suspect he voted for Laurence Fox as well.

[Snake Plissken]

Waiting 20 years to go "actually, it's a bit shit" seems a complete waste of time. I'm happy to say bits of Shrek haven't aged well but the reviewer is dumb enough to try and review it as if it is coming out now.

[E10 Rifle]

I tend to watch these films through the prism of kids, what with them being, like, films for children. Both my kids laughed at it, and loved it. As a consequence, so do I.

And complaining about fart gags in a kids' film disqualifies the reviewer from the right to be taken seriously.

[Patrick Thistle]

re what tee rex wrote, this reflects badly on me I know, but watching Shrek was the first time I'd heard the song 'Hallelujah'. And yes, within a couple of years it was everywhere.

Complaining about the computer generated animation in Shrek being bad for 2001 is absolute nonsense. May as well say that Toy Story is rubbish because the kids and dog don't look realistic.

[Patrick Thistle]

And complaining about fart gags in a kids' film disqualifies the reviewer from the right to be taken seriously.

He's really going to hate Minions when he watches it in 2038.

[Snake Plissken]

To be fair though, I hated Minions when it came out. It is surprising how comprehensively the film killed the entire meme culture around it.

[Hot Pepsi]

To be fair though, I hated Minions when it came out. It is surprising how comprehensively the film killed the entire meme culture around it.

[3 Colours Red]

It is surprising how comprehensively the film killed the entire meme culture around it.

Thank heavens for small mercies and all that, eh?

They were effective enough comic relief in the Despicable Me films (at least the first one anyway) and I could see the appeal in their character designs but how they became that ubiquitous amongst the "nan posting inappropriate image alongside Facebook message saying one of their friends has just died" crowd is beyond my comprehension.