Shrek The Third Review

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"Shrek The Third" reviews

Movie

Shrek The Third

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-06-28 00:00:00

Provider

MyMovies

Review

Can you ever really get too much of a good thing? Well perhaps you can if "Shrek The Third" is anything to go by. There's no denying that the first two "Shrek" movies were not only groundbreaking when it came to their production and the level of their animation but their scripts also sparkled with wit, irreverence and satire. However "Shrek The Third" does feel rather limp in comparison.

The movie opens with Shrek (still voiced by Mike Myers) being lined up to replace the dying King Harold as the ruler of Far, Far Away. The grumpy green ogre isn't interested through so sets off with Puss (Antonio Banderas) and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) try and find distant heir Artie (Justin Timberlake). Meanwhile back at the palace, a pregnant Fiona (Cameron Diaz) finds herself - and the monarchy - under threat from the bitter Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) and his band of disillusioned fairytales villains.

While the writers look to expand the Shrek universe by throwing in baby ogres and a visit to Artie's high school, you can't help but feel things might have been better if they'd stuck with what they know best. By introducing more new faces (Artie, Merlin, Captain Hook etc.) the characters we know and love are sometimes left high and dry with really very little to do. Also there's very little new that catches the eye here. Where "Shrek 2" introduced Far, Far Away and the fabulous Puss In Boots, Justin Timberlake's Artie and his school seem rather uninspired by comparison.

Still let's not bury "Shrek" here - the movie's target audience will undoubtedly lap it up while a flashback looking at the Gingerbread Man's life is inspired. It's just a shame the same can't be said for the rest.

Movie

Shrek the Third

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-06-22 14:40:15

Provider

Review

That the third Shrek outing finds everyone's favourite ogre happily married and bored suggests, maybe, that it's time this very fine franchise has come to its natural end.

Shrek is still brilliantly voiced by Mike Myers but now, regrettably, he's increasingly middle class while Eddie Murphy's Donkey is no longer the motor-mouth of old. Nor, come to that, is he as funny as before.

As for poor Shrek, he's lost his appetite for royal life, preferring to be back in his shabby hut. So when his dying father-in-law (John Cleese) informs him that a second heir exists – a geeky high-school kid called Arthur (Justin Timberlake) – Shrek grabs the aforementioned Donkey and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) and resolves to drag the kid to the throne, no matter what it takes.

Meanwhile Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), unable to come to terms with the fact that his girl was nicked from under his nose by Shrek, rallies dozens of storybook villains (Captain Hook, the Evil Queen etc) and persuades them to descend upon the Far Far Away kingdom and take it by force.

As ever, when it's funny Shrek is very funny – Shrek has a particularly amusing dream about babies, while Arthur's medieval high school is a nice gag at the expense of Harry Potter's Hogwarts – but Shrek the Third feels less like a film than a decent episode of a TV series which has lost the capacity to surprise.

Movie

Shrek The Third

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-07-09 23:52:59

Provider

CinemaSource

Review

Shrek the Third pretty much serves up the same tired fairytale shenanigans with little of the original's magic. Still, the franchise's undeniable charm alleviates some of the Third 's banality.

Story

Poor Shrek (Mike Myers). The irascible ogre just can't catch a break. First he has to leave his beloved swamp to rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz). Then he marries her and has to go meet the in-laws. NOW, he's stuck in Far, Far Away as its de facto ruler after the frog king croaks. Oh, and he finds out Fiona is pregnant, too. All this throws the great green one into a tailspin because 1) impending fatherhood scares the bejeezus out him and 2) he believes he has no business being king. So, Shrek sets out with his pals Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) to fetch Artie, aka Arthur (Justin Timberlake), Fiona's cousin and next in line for the throne. Thing is, Artie's just a teenager—and kind of a loser one at that; he really doesn't want to be king either. Meanwhile, on the home front, Fiona and her merry band of princesses have to defend the castle against the vain Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), who's hell bent on getting revenge and taking over Far, Far Away. And so the high jinks ensure. But it's OK, it all works out in the end.

Acting

Certainly part of Shrek's charm is its vocal talent. Myers, Diaz and Murphy are all old pros by now—which is actually a good and bad thing. They are definitely more comfortable with their roles, but Shrek isn't nearly as charmingly irritable as he once was and Fiona not as feisty. Guess they are growing up. And Murphy used to get all the best lines as the jittery Donkey. Now, that job has been delegated to the likes of Banderas as Puss, as well as side characters such as the Gingerbread Man (Conrad Vernon), Pinocchio (Cody Cameron) and the Three Little Pigs (also Cameron). Also adding to the humor are the various princesses, especially SNL alums Amy Poehler as the sardonic Snow White, and Maya Rudolph as turncoat Rapunzel, plus Amy Sedaris as the dimwitted Cinderella. Timberlake is sweetly goofy as Artie, while Brit comic legend Eric Idle voices the New Age-y, on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown Merlin the magician with aplomb. It's these characterizations that make Shrek the Third zing.

Direction

Much like Shrek 2, this third installment ultimately comes off as a retread. They just haven't been able to recapture the magic created in the original. Instead, the filmmakers regurgitate the same comic set ups and, in some cases, the same jokes. Maybe they won't ever be able to reach that same plateau. But you've still got to give the Shrek franchise props for being the granddaddy of fairy-tale spoofs. Even if the sequels don't measure up, the Shrek phenomenon on the whole has set the bar, creating a certain charisma in the let's-make-fun-of-traditional-lore milieu. Shrek the Third highlights include: Worcestershire High School, where Artie goes to school, which is full of John Hughes teenagers talking in medieval, oh-thou-di'nt-just-say-that speak; Charming being relegated to doing third-rate dinner theater; Pinocchio trying to talk his way around not lying, and more. Oh, who cares what us dumb critics say anyway. Kids are going to love Shrek the Third regardless of whether it hits the mark or not.