Do we like them?

Do we like Lord Farquaad?

A character from Shrek (2001)

Our score: 2 out of 10. No. He's a petty tyrant who rounds up fairy-tale folk and cares only about his own power. He is very funny, but we wouldn't back him.

Lord Farquaad rules the spotless, regimented town of Duloc. He is obsessed with order, status and his own image. He has made himself the ruler of a neat kingdom with no room for anything strange, so he rounds up the fairy-tale creatures and dumps them in Shrek's swamp.

He wants to become a king, but he needs a princess to marry first. Rather than risk himself, he holds a tournament and sends the winner, and then Shrek, to do the dangerous rescue for him. That tells you most of what you need to know: he is a coward who hides behind power and bullies anyone smaller.

He is great comedy, with a deadpan pettiness and a running joke about his height, and John Lithgow plays him with relish. As a person he's cruel, vain and cowardly, and he does real harm to people who did nothing wrong. We like watching him, but we don't like him.