Shrek Press Event

Judge Patrick Naugle

October 22nd, 2001

Hey Folks!!

I Just returned from this week's press junket for the new two-disc DVD release of Shrek (released November 2nd), and it looks pretty darn cool! As most of you know Shrek was the biggest hit of 2001, grossing more than $266 million in box office revenue! While meeting with some of the Dreamworks folks they shows us a sneak peek at what's to come on this eagerly awaited set. Dreamworks says there is at least eleven hours of entertainment on this disc, and I am apt to believe them after seeing how in-depth this two-disc set is. By the looks of it, Shrek is going to be a big seller, and a big hit with DVD aficionados.

Disc one includes the full frame version of the film, as well as some character interviews, a behind-the-scenes featurette, a preview of Dreamworks' next animated film Spirits, and a bunch of features designed for kids (though I'm sure you adults will get a kick out of them as well). The new "Kids Zone" features all kinds of music videos (i.e., Smash Mouth's "I'm a Believer"), as well as some interactive games and a magic mirror eight-ball that is a real gas (ask it "yes" and "no" questions and get zany responses). Also included on this first disc is some DVD-ROM content that should entertain for hours!

Disc two is even better than the first one (and made for you DVD and movie addicts). Of course, an anamorphic widescreen version of the film is featured, as well as a filmmakers' commentary not available on the first disc. Audio options include Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround as well as DTS, plus as a bunch of other featurettes and behind-the-scenes stuff. A pitch session of a few deleted scenes was really entertaining, as well as a very funny deleted scene that I won't spoil here. Dig deeper and I guarantee that you're going to find a whole lot more stuff on this disc (among other things, some pretty entertaining "Easter eggs").

One of the best features on this disc isn't available through your DVD player. If you pop Shrek into your DVD-ROM on your computer, there are all kinds of bells and whistles that should be fun to tinker with. The best of these is the "Shrek ReVoice Studio" which allows viewers to actually sync up their voice to different character's movements in 12 different scenes. The technology on this is so sophisticated that the computer program actually syncs your voice up with the character's lip movements! After watching a few volunteers demonstrate this feature, we were all very impressed at how accurate and fun this program was!

And if all that isn't good enough for you, Shrek will be available NOT at the usual $29.95 price tag you'd expect, but for only $19.95! How can you beat that deal? I will be the first to admit that I had a few trepidations about picking up Shrek on DVD, but after seeing this great demonstration at Dreamworks, I can easily say that this might be one of the best DVD releases to come along in a long while.

And I'd bet my talking Donkey on that.