Power of Shrek at Cannes Film Festival

If there is such an award which audience gives to its most favorite film at Cannes film festival, it will be Shrek. Shrek is the first animated film to premiere at Cannes in nearly 28 years. Audience at Cannes first expected a spectacular scene of 3 D animation film. Shrek, instead, made them burst into laugher by giving burping jokes and high sense of humor. Unlike any other fairy tale, Shrek breaks the mold of fairy-tale convention, turning traditional characters on their heads.

The film begins with an introduction to Ogre hero Shrek in his smelly and dirty swamp. The reason Shrek seeks to save `the beautiful but feisty Princess Fiona` is not out of love or justice. It is because he wants to keep his precious solitude. Fiona is different from other fairy tale characters. Although she is beautiful, she is anything but a typical damsel in distress. The evil Lord Farquaad is a villain standing only three feet tall who sends Shrek on his daring mission, determined to marry the princess and become king. Especially, the evil Lord Farquaad`s castle can be interpreted as a direct attack on `Disney`.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, president of DreamWorks, was sacked by Disney`s chairman Michael Eisner in the 1990s and he continued to work hard to break the power of Disney. However, Katzenberg said, `I don`t believe that any of the things we do will diminish what they do`.

Shrek makes all kinds of subversive movements as it stands against the existing popular culture. Shrek is an astonishing breakthrough in computer animation, with sophisticated human body movements for its characters. Shrek is far and above anything that has been done in computer animation breaking the limits of 3 D animation films, such as `Toy Story`, `Ants` and `Dinosaur`.

Katzenberg said, `In ways not imaginable three or four years ago, we are able to imagine amazing things`. `I fell in love with animation because it allows us human beings to have belief and hope for the future world`.

Shrek, with the voice casting of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz, will open in July.

Kwon Chae-Hyun confetti@donga.com