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Shrek The Halls (TV)
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Rob Fields (27th November 2008). |
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The Show
 It’s been many years since I had actually gone to the movies to see the very first “Shrek” (2001). I actually liked this movie. It was about a green ogre who was a resident in a land where many Fairy Tales had seemed to have gone amok. I guess this was one of the reasons why I wanted to go and see it. Then I found out that a sequel would be coming out and I knew right away I had intention of going to see it. The way I saw it, DreamWorks was going to milk this franchise for everything it was worth, even if it meant running it into the ground. To this date, I still haven’t seen “Shrek 2” (2004) and “Shrek the Third” (2007). To date, I still have no intention of seeing either film. However, since I have a review to do here and this Shrek title has been presented for that very reason, I guess I have no choice but to watch another Shrek movie. And what’s worse is that I don’t really enjoy Christmas, either. Hopefully, something good can come out of this review. I guess you’ll just have to read on to see if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel here. “Shrek the Halls”: The Christmas tree isn’t the only thing green in this new holiday classic. Shrek (Mike Myers) is back and trying to get into the spirit of the season. After promising Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and the kids a Christmas they’ll remember, he is forced to take a crash course in the holiday. But just when he thinks he has everything for their quiet family Christmas just right, Donkey (Eddie Murphy), Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), Gingy (Conrad Vernon) and the rest of the gang decide to crash the party. “Shrek the Halls” is the greatest holiday tale that’s never been told...until now. This movie has everything you could want in a Shrek movie. Only this time all of the Christmas tales that you grew up listening to are going to be twisted – in more ways than one. I guess this is one of the only ways that I can actually cope with the institution that is Christmas. It was also good in the Shrek fashion that the original voice actors returned to reprise their roles. This can definitely be a plus for those who are keeping score. This particular Christmas tale also has a hint of “A Christmas Carol” in it. Shrek would be the Ebenezer Scrooge of this story. However, you won’t get the three ghosts that come along and try and change Shrek’s mind. But, this IS a DreamWorks animation movie AND it is Christmas, so you know there’s going to be a happy ending. The downsides? I still don’t like Christmas and I still won’t see the other two Shrek films. I guess those are the only two downsides this time around. And, no, these won’t affect the final grade for the film. That wouldn’t be fair of me to incorporate that, now would it? As much as I hate to say it, I actually enjoyed this brief short. At least there was some heart here. My final word: It’s definitely worth having for the kids. But please... wait until AFTER Thanksgiving. It seems that too many people are forgetting that there IS a holiday between Halloween and Christmas.
Video
The film is presented in two versions: original anamorphic widescreen format (1.85:1 ratio) and a cut-to-fit-your-TV Fullscreen version (1.33:1). The picture really looks great. But then when you’re putting out a 3-D animation film, you’ve got to make the film look at its best for any home video release. DreamWorks definitely went the extra mile to make sure that that was the case here. There are no noticeable defects here, not even a sign of a single pixel.
Audio
There are three Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtracks (English, French, Spanish) and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack. Obviously, we will be using the original English audio tracks for this review. There are optional English, French and Spanish subtitles. On the 5.1 audio track, the sound seems to be more localized towards the front of the room closer to the TV. You can hear a little of the background noise and music in the rear ones. Upon switching to the 2.0 surround track, I noticed just how quickly the rear noise disappeared. But it is not an inferior audio track by any means. In this case, it just means that everything is more localized at the front of the room.
Extras
Paramount has released this film with a couple of sing-a-long features, an interactive game, a video game demo, and a video jukebox and a bonus trailer. Read further for insight into these features. The “12 Days of Christmas” sing-a-long runs 4 minutes and 6 seconds. Here you will see and hear the "Madagascar" characters sing their version of The "12 Days of Christmas." Also, there are karaoke-style lyrics, so you won’t have to worry about missing any of the lyrics. The “Deck the Halls” sing-a-long runs 2 minutes and 40 seconds and again features the "Madagascar" characters as they do their version of "Deck the Halls." If you think they’re going to stick to the original lyrics, think again. Like in the previous sing along, there are karaoke-style lyrics, so you won’t have to worry about missing anything. There is an interactive game called “Gingy’s Dunking Game”. The object of the game is that you need to save Gingy’s precious gumball buttons by selecting matching decoys to avoid the Milk-Dunk of Doom. Basically, the pan of gingerbread men will be placed in front of you. Gingy will be standing next to it. You have to pick the one on the pan who looks exactly like him. Easy enough. The DreamWorks Animation Video Jukebox is next and will give you a song video clip from the following 8 movies: - "Shrek" runs for 1 minute 15 seconds. - "Shrek the Third" runs for 1 minute 34 seconds. - "Bee Movie" runs for 1 minute 20 seconds. - "Flushed Away" runs for 1 minute 57 seconds. - "Over the Hedge" runs for 1 minute 55 seconds. - "Madagascar" runs for 1 minute. - "Shark Tale" runs for 2 minutes 26 seconds. - "Shrek 2" runs for 1 minute 21 seconds. There is a bonus trailer, which plays before the Main Menu only for: - "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" which runs for 1 minute 50 seconds. Finally there's a DVD-ROM feature: - The “Shrek Carnival Craze” video game demo. When you select this option, you will be given the system requirements for the Windows platform only. Sorry, MAC users.
Overall
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