Shrek to star in remake of 'Kiss of the Spiderwoman'

After the shock announcement that Spongebob Squarepants is 'involved' with Patrick Starfish and that Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street are as gay as all get-out, the religious right in the States has come up with yet another wholly pointless attack on a cartoon character with the claim that Shrek 2 promotes transgender acceptance.

Leaving aside my own apparently lunatic belief that promoting tolerance and acceptance is a good thing, I'm left unsure whether to laugh or to bellow in outrage at this latest Christian nuttiness. Fair enough, for anyone with an IQ higher than his waist size this is just funny, but it seems that there are a lot of stupid people in the States (hence the re-election of Bush Jr) and they do have quite a say in how the world is run. Constant bombardment with the hate-laden message of the Christian Right can only push what is already a dangerously high-handed populace into opposing yet more civil liberties and attacking yet more people often less than able to defend themselves.

Whilst a film with a blatantly neo-conservative agenda like The Incredibles continues to be praised to the heavens, and the (very) slightly subversive Shrek 2 gains this kind of mad publicity, I can't help thinking that just laughing it off isn't a wise thing to do.