[ENTERTAINMENT]And They All Lived Miserably Ever After

If you still enjoy hearing stories of a prince charming coming to the rescue of a maiden in distress, "Shrek," a new animation from DreamWorks, would not be a good movie for you to see.

On the other hand, if you are fed up with mediocre love stories in which the main characters are picture-perfect, this movie will probably suit you just fine.

The uniqueness of this film was recognized at the 54th Cannes Film Festival, and it is only the second animation to receive an invitation to the prestigious event, after Disney's "Peter Pan" in 1953. "Shrek" earned much credit for its original idea of parodying fairy tales, Disney animations and other hit movies such as "The Matrix," (1999) "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) and the "Indiana Jones" series. DreamWorks also made "Prince of Egypt" (1998), and proudly suggests on their Web site that the new three-dimensional animation is the "greatest fairy tale never told."

Instead of a handsome Mr. Right, a greenish, ugly, pointed-eared ogre named Shrek is the unlikely hero of this story. His mission is to rescue Princess Fiona, who is confined to the castle of an evil tyrant named Farquaad. Disgusted by Shrek's unacceptable behavior, Fiona is further shocked when she offers her handkerchief in a romantic gesture and he uses it as a dust cloth.

Rejecting existing formulas for fairy tales, this movie is void of ideas like breaking an evil spell with a kiss from a prince. Shrek is far from your average hero and doesn't even seem to mind not kissing the princess which makes her wonder, "What kind of a knight is he?"

Though at first glance Fiona fits the stereotype of a princess, there is more to her character than first meets the eye. At sunset, the princess becomes a hideous woman, for she is under a curse that not even the love of the Shrek can break.

This out-of-the-ordinary kind of storytelling came from the idea of twisting Disney themes. While Disney always focuses on making sweet fairy tales for children, DreamWorks has besieged the stronghold of the animation mogul by doing the exact opposite.

You won't be surprised to learn that Jeffrey Katzenberg, a producer on notoriously bad terms with Disney, is the man behind these tactics.

Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy are the voices of Shrek, Fiona and Donkey. Their performances are especially notable in that Myers sounds like the British swinger from his previous movie, "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," and Diaz sounds a lot like her character in "Charlie's Angels." As in "Mulan," Murphy plays a witty sidekick who spices up the general atmosphere of the animation.

"Shrek" is scheduled for release on May 18 in the United States and on July 14 in Korea. One more distinctive difference between Disney animations and "Shrek" is that parental guidance has been suggested for the latter; some of the material may not be suitable for children.

by Ki Sun-min