Shrek (voice: Mike Myers) is an ogre who wants to get his swamp back after it is overtaken by fairy-tale characters forced out by Lord 'shorty' Farquaad's (voice: John Lithgow) terror regime.

Lord Farquaad is lonely and needs a Queen to take the throne. The mirror on the wall gives him instructions that Princess Fiona (voice: Cameron Diaz) is his mate. She is held prisoner in a castle surrounded by a firey mote and a dragon, in classic fairy-tale styling. Farquaad holds a tournament to find the best knight to get Fiona. Shrek, who just happens to be in the area, wins in professional wrestling mayhem.

Shrek and his sidekick Donkey (voice: Eddie Murphy) go to find Fiona. They capture her and on the way back discover her dark secret..

"Stupendous. An animation-marvel the likes we had never seen to then. Stunning. Wonderful. Funny. Any age would love it. Not patronizing. Superb. A triumph!"

"That Donkey reminded me of Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop III... such a terrible movie... apart from that the movie is stunningly stupendously marvelously gratifying. Bravisimo."

"Did that dragon really kiss his ass? Bravisiomo! Encore. A triumph. Totally awesome. Brilliant. Brilliantismo. Oooooweeee!"

"300 animators 3 years to make... now there's dedication, I presume they were paid during that time?"

The dark secret is: At night Fiona turns into an Ogre.

The love interest between her and Shrek, seemingly implausible to him, is snuffed out after he mishears her telling Donkey that she could never love someone who is ugly.

When Shrek is rude to Fiona she gets in a strop and goes off with Lord Farquaad who has turned up to collect her from Shrek, they are set to marry. Shrek gets his swamp back.

Donkey persuades Shrek, eventually, that it is all a misunderstanding and that she loves him. So our heroes go to the wedding ceremony, just before dark they marry and she turns into an Ogre before everyone's eyes.

Once in a while a movie comes along which stands out for its quality, but still manages to find a mass audience.

This is one of those movies. Perhaps in 20-30 years time this movie will merge into the crowd, however in its day it truly blew the skirts up of a whole generation.

Young or old. Medium or teenage, all ages will love this movie and there is something for everyone. Try not to miss it, the DVD is very good too.

Donkey: "Did you just crack one? You gotta tell people when you do something like that, I had my mouth open and all."

Dogs will whimper uncontrollably. Make sure the door is open in case he completely freaks out.

Cats will try to slam the door just at the time the dog is trying to run away. Cats, on the whole, like the movie, although would have preferred a feline in the Fiona role.

Mice and rats will party uncontrollably at the end. Hide all cheese and nibbles or your house could be taken over.

An evil baddies live action version

Never befriend a talking Donkey.

Stunning.