Movie Info:
Writers: Gary Trousdale, Sean Bishop, Theresa Cullen, Bill Riling, William Steig
Director: Gary Trousdale
Cast: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Cody Cameron, Susan Fitzer, Christopher Knights, Gary Trousdale, Conrad Vernon
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Paramount
Release Info:
Original Air Date: November 28, 2007
DVD Release Date: November 4, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon for $11.99
When I initially heard about Shrek the Halls, I had to groan. I figured this was just another movie to profit off a series that was dying with each and every film that was made in it. Don’t get me wrong, the original movie was brilliant. Two and three weren’t that bad either, but after three, it felt like it was about time for the story to be over. Apparently not, considering all of the original cast members came back to reprise their roles for this exciting, holiday special.
While Shrek the Halls is set sometime after the ending of Shrek the Third (the Shrek babies are still little), I actually think that this is actually better than Shrek the Third. I can’t imagine how the next two Shrek films are going to turn out. I had thought that this holiday movie would be boring and trite, merely because the third film was a declining version of the original two in the series. If four and five return to the humor level of one and two, they could be good. Shrek the Halls has given me hope of that, but, if for some reason they don’t, it will be just another wasted series of movies, made just to gain a profit.
The thing I like about Shrek the Halls is that it had humor, even some dirty humor (dirty diapers), but it wasn’t all stupid humor. The movie also had a lot of heart. Shrek reminded me of the lovable yet disgusting ogre he was in the first film. Shrek is a gross, nasty ogre with a bad temper who smells bad and likes anything completely disgusting. Shrek is incredibly likable despite these flaws. I didn’t feel that the third movie accurately captured Shrek in all his glory. Since this pretty much sums up Shrek in Shrek the Halls, I feel this movie should be more of an extension of the first two movies (though pertinent information from the third movie is helpful to understand how Shrek got all those ogre babies).
As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, I really like Shrek the Halls. While I’m not sure if I’d call it a budding Christmas classic, the movie is something the family can watch and enjoy during the holidays. The nice thing about Shrek is that he has an appeal that transcends generations. From grandparents (Great?) to the smallest child, Shrek and his Christmas story is bound to put a smile on everyone’s face. I plan to watch this with my family during the holiday season and recommend you do the same.
The Shrek the Halls Plot
I only gave the acting a 4 because I don’t like Cameron Diaz in much of anything. While I feel the role of an ogre suits her better than most of the other roles she plays, I still don’t think she’s that talented in the acting department. If this were based on the performances of Myers and Murphy alone, the acting would have received a score of 5. As Donkey and Shrek, the two have great chemistry, even if Donkey is slightly annoying in every imaginable way.
This isn’t supposed to be as comprehensive as the Shrek movies. This is a half-hour special designed for television. This means that the special gets right to the point of the plot. The plot is pretty simple as far as Christmas movies go. It’s Shrek’s first Christmas and he must learn its true meaning to be able to celebrate properly with his family.
Shrek, Fiona and the ogre babies are going to be celebrating their first Christmas together. In fact, this is Shrek’s first Christmas, period. He isn’t exactly sure how to go about celebrating Christmas. While he pretends he’s not interested, because Christmas seems like such a happy holiday for his friend, Donkey, he actually wants to give Fiona and the kids the best Christmas ever. Shrek has promised Fiona a nice Christmas, so when trying to find her a present at the local bookstore, the shopkeeper sells him a book, “Christmas for Village Idiots.”
This step by step guide book teaches Shrek everything he needs to know to celebrate Christmas with Fiona and his children. They put a spin on Christmas, ogre style with the intent of celebrating Christmas Eve alone with each other. The only problem is that his “extended family” shows up, to ruin the alone time and family fun he’s having. Of course, ogre-style is not acceptable and Shrek’s friends try to show him how to have a proper Christmas.
With Shrek just wanting to make Christmas perfect, he has to find a way to get Donkey, Puss in Boots and the rest of the gang to go away so he can give his own family the perfect Christmas.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
If you’ve seen the Shrek movies, then expect the same, if not slightly better, visual quality from Shrek the Halls. This is CGI animation, so you can expect a pretty good image. You can choose to watch Shrek the Halls in anamorphic widescreen or in full frame. I generally choose widescreen, as it suits my television set. Dreamworks puts its all into this video display, which is at a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The animation is colored brightly with a rich color palette. The black levels are solid and everything is quite sharp. There are minimal, if any, visual errors, making this display, for a standard DVD, near perfect.
There are a variety of soundtracks on the Shrek the Halls DVD. I recommend English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. This is your standard, run of the mill track for an animated feature. While I didn’t have to toggle the volume, it wasn’t impressive like those action-packed tracks that make use of all parts of the speakers. There are also multiple other tracks including an English Dolby Digital Stereo, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Closed Captioning is available in English. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French.
Visual: 
Audio:
Bonus Features:
I wasn’t too impressed with the bonuses. I don’t really feel that Paramount added them for fans of Shrek. I think this was just a way for this movie to have bonuses. The first bonus is the “12 Days of Christmas Sing Along” and the “Deck the Halls Sing Along.” These sing alongs are set to animation from the Dreamworks movie, Madagascar. More music is available with the “DreamWorks Animation Video Jukebox” featurette. There are eight different musical numbers, all from various Dreamworks animated movies. This may sound fun, but it’s actually pretty boring.
In “Gingy’s Dunking Game” you can play against family members to see who gets the best score. This is a matching game, but its not that engaging. One or two games and I was ready to quit. Finally there is a self-explanatory feature called, “Shrek Carnival Graze Video Game Demo & Cheat Code.” That’s all that’s on this DVD. Considering I wasn’t expecting much on this release, I’m not surprised by what’s been offered.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
Shrek the Halls is a cute and fun holiday flick. It doesn’t matter if you have kids or not, I can see this becoming one of those holiday movie traditions in a wide variety of families. It’s so much fun to see Shrek and his family of ogres discovering Christmas for the first time. As Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Puss in Boots and the rest of the Shrek gang discover the true meaning of Christmas, you and your family can, too along with them! With the holidays right around the corner, this movie comes highly recommended.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Shrek the Halls, DVD Review, Movie, Mike Myers, Original Cast, Christmas, Holiday Movie, Paramount, Family Film
Written by Dominick Evans – Visit Website
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Dominick is in his late 20s. He lives in Michigan with his life partner, Ashtyn, their 14 year old son Robert, and their Shih-Tzu, Oliver. Dominick is a writer and the head editor for both LI Kids and Literary Illusions. He enjoys composing music and is an aspiring director/screenwriter. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, playing video games, watching movies, and singing.
