Shrek and his animated compadres are getting racier by the minute; the characters will be shown in a sexy “photo shoot” in an upcoming issue of VMan fashion magazine. Dreamworks is having second thoughts about the photo shoot because of the semi-explicit nature in which the characters are portrayed.

Dreamworks publicly stated that they failed to anticipate exactly how photographer Ellen von Unwerth would portray the characters and that they were less than thrilled with the results. The studio was not the only one to criticize the magazine’s spread; NY post film critic wrote that he didn’t, “think Walt Disney would have allowed Snow White and Cinderella to appear in a magazine spread that made it look like they were in a menage a trois.”

He further went on to criticize the studio for such a cheap publicity stunt to get attention for the next Shrek film, which will open at Tribeca. In reality, however, Shrek is such a huge movie franchise that I doubt this will really help the merchandising or box office sales of the film at all. The benefit of the photographs will pretty much be limited to the photographer, Ellen von Unwerth who is sure to gain some national attention for this work, and to the magazine, whose online hits should soar as a result.

As for whether or not this was a bad move by Dreamworks, I tend to agree with the fans who said that given the facts of what today’s children are exposed to, the VMan photo spread probably will do little to corrupt the youth of America. I am also highly doubtful that the reputation of Donkey, Shrek, or any of the rest of the cast and crew at all will be affected negatively.

At the very worst, Lou Dobson will condemn the movie, the characters, the photo shoot, and probably the entire Motion Picture industry of America, just because he has the platform and is in serious need of attention. Perhaps he will try to enrage the citizens in the middle of the country who are already angry about the loss of family values in the United States.

All in all, though, I would have to say that I like the pictures, appreciate their bawdiness, and don’t think that many children will be reading VMan either on the net or offline.