Shrek, fais-moi peur!

I marvel at how much Dreamworks has exploited their Shrek franchise. I mean, how many movies, specials and short films can they make until enough is enough? While I clearly am worried about the future of the series, I must admit that despite everything, "Scared Shrekless" clearly has gorgeous CGI. So, despite being a short and having a substitute voice for Fiona, it is still amazingly nice to look at and features a lot of what made the other films enjoyable.

The episode is set at Halloween. Many of the old storybook characters come to Shrek's house to celebrate and tell scary stories. The Gingerbread Man tells a story about his mate--how he and a crazed baker made what SEEMED like the perfect partner. But, things go awry and the story is frighteningly cute. Then, Puss tells a story that is clearly inspired by "Psycho". But, again and again, Donkey keeps interrupting the story--making a mess of it and forcing Puss to tell what REALLY happened. Finally, Shrek tells a story he says is a cute version of "The Exorcist".

All in all, I was surprised that I enjoyed this film as much as I did. All three stories were very enjoyable and worth seeing...surprise! Nice, light viewing for the entire family.

On Halloween, Shrek and several fairy tale characters go to the castle of Lord Farquaad, where they compete in telling scary stories. The last one remaining in the castle wins. This twenty-minute cartoon consists of three stories done as a homage to cult horrors. Gingerbread's story is inspired by the film "Bride of Frankenstein", Puss and Donkey squabble in their usual way through a parody of Hitchcock's "Psycho", and Shrek wins the night with scenes from the movie "The Exorcist" applied to Pinocchio. Imaginative, witty and technically well done. I enjoyed it very much.

8/10

Shrek challenges the cast of regulars -- with Eddie Murphy replaced by Dean Edwards as the voice of Donkey -- to a competition at telling scary stories for Hallowe'en. But for purposes of this TV special, they have to hold the competition in Lord Farquaad's ruined and spooky castle.

There are a couple of gags repeated from the feature movie, and Mike Myers doesn't seem to be using the exactly the same voice, but for a half-hour TV special, it's certainly amusing. The scariness of the stories seems to be muted for appropriateness of a TV audience. This seems a bit odd to me, considering some of the scatological gags of the original movie, but it's fun.

Scared Shrekless is a brilliant Halloween special, of the two Dreamworks specials(the other being the Monsters vs Aliens one) this is the better one of the two. Gorgeously animated(the backgrounds are always colourful yet wonderfully atmospheric at times too) with creepy music, hilarious, witty writing, inspired storytelling, all our favourite characters at the top of their game(especially Puss and Gingerbread) and great voice acting(even with the replacement of Eddie Murphy for Donkey's voice). The special is made up of three parodies, the best being the parody of Bride of Frankenstein with Gingerbread, hysterically funny, full of creepy atmosphere and often cute. Shrek's Exorcist parody was also amusing and effective in its creepiness, if not quite as terrifying as the real thing(understandably). Puss and Donkey's Psycho parody was good, it was funny with great voice work and storytelling, only let down by a couple of Donkey's comic interruptions, occasionally coming across as forced. Overall though, Scared Shrekless is brilliant, if you love the first two films(I do) or love horror(the more I see the more I highly appreciate it) you will love it. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Scared Shrekless is a very fun animation that plays out as a compilation of horror shorts (obviously not too scary with it being for kids) spoofing original thrillers. You have Psycho, starring Puss and Donkey with Prince Charming being Norman Bates and Night of the living dead featuring Gingerbread men, you get the idea.

It's a joy to see all the Shrek actors playing their parts with such enthusiasm and the animation is really great being colourful in parts and suitably spooky looking in others.

8/10: Great fun