I guess coming off the high of Shrek 2 that the next film had high expectations, unfortunately the Third one isn’t exactly terrible but it is a letdown. There are some funny moments but there are also moments that will leave you scratching your head in that they’ve got no heart.
Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are staying in Far Far Away because King Harold (John Cleese) is ill. When King Harold croaks (wakka, wakka, wakka – he is a frog) that means that Shrek and Fiona are next in line for the throne. As you can imagine, all Shrek wants to do is go back to the swamp. So he sets off with Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) to find a distant cousin of Fiona’s called Arthur (Justin Timberlake).
Fiona stays behind with Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews – thank you Peter Cook, every time I even think her name I have to hear you singsong it as the magic word!), but she has some news for Shrek as he sails out of the harbor – she’s in a family way! So now not only does he have to worry about finding a kingly replacement but has to imagine the terrors of fatherhood.
Meanwhile, Prince Charming (Rupret Everett) sees the king’s death as an opportunity to finally get his “happily ever after” and take over the kingdom. So he recruits all the fairytale villains (Captain Hook – Ian McShane, The Evil Queen – Susan Blakeslee, etc.) to assist him in conquering the kingdom. Since Shrek is away it’s up to Queen Lillian, Fiona, Cinderella (Amy Sedaris), Rapunzel (Maya Rudolph), Snow White (Amy Poehler), and Belle (Cheri Oteri) to save the kingdom from the musical theater obsessed Prince.
Even more meanwhile-ier, Shrek finds out that Prince Artie isn’t the king he imagined (and gets his butt kicked by Lancelot (John Krasinski) on a regular basis) and has to enlist the powers of a burnt-out Merlin (Eric Idle) to try and make Artie find his kingly ways and get back to Far Far Away and save the day.
I supposed the childish and mean thing would be to call this Shrek the Turd, but I’m better than that (aren’t I?). Actually any film coming after the excellent Shrek 2 is bound to look bad. Shrek the Third is not really a turd, but the film seems to lack the heart that the others had. The lames jokes only remind you of this.
Take for example the demise of King Harold; this is supposed to be a heart-rending moment as the Queen loses her husband and Fiona her father (and Shrek his father in law). However, we’re subjected to three or four fake deaths and his funeral dirge is ‘Live and Let Die’ (which might’ve worked better during the big finale). This isn’t really supposed to be a funny moment but the filmmakers try and make it one and it seems in bad taste (and yes I know he’s just a cartoon frog).
The film feels like a missed opportunity, but still an entertaining missed opportunity. I did actually laugh out load, but it unfortunately took about an hour for that to happen (and I can’t recall at press time what did it). I did have some grins before that, but that mishandling of King Harold didn’t set the mood for me.
That and some of the funnier bits were in the trailer (Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song coming out of Snow White for one). Shrek 2 seems to have had a better hold on what it took to make a compelling film. That being said, it’s not bad, it just doesn’t have the heart that 2 did and the hope is that the sequels (since 2 was much greater than one) would continue to get better. However, in this case it was not to be – no “happily ever after” for this critic.
Shrek the Third is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. A fullscreen version is available separately. Special features include the “Worcestershire Academy Yearbook” which offers bios of the various students.
The 2-minute “Big Green Goofs” are scenes that the computers messed up (like putting too much hair on the character or their eyeballs not lining up right and appearing to pop out). Next are 18 minutes of “Lost Scenes,” which are various writers acting out the scenes before storyboards. There’s also a 30 second “Donkey Dance” (deleted scene?) that has Donkey showing how to kick it Donkey style.
The 10-minute “Meet the Cast” has interviews with the voice talent. “Shrek’s Guide to Parenthood” has Donkey, Puss, Pinocchio, and Gingy giving Shrek parenting tips. The 10-minute “Tech of Shrek” focuses on how the technology has changed from film to film. Finally there’s the “Dreamworks Video Jukebox” (songs from other films), previews of other Dreamworks films (but not one for Shrek the Third), and Shrektivities on the DVD-ROM side of things.
Shrek the Third is an okay sequel, but falls flat when compared to the previous one. I don’t think that the kids will notice it much, but those adults expecting them to get better (as 2 had shown) will definitely be disappointed.
Shrek the Third is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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