Shrek the Third

Today I went to the local multiplex to see the third Shrek movie, aptly titled Shrek The Third. The first two Shrek films had the right balance of kiddie fun, grown up pop culture snarkiness and engaging fairy tale storytelling. Mike Myer's gruff ogre Shrek, Cameron Diaz' compassionate Princess Fiona and Eddie Murphy's silly rambling Donkey all return and retain the good will built up over the previous movies. Despite the likeability of these characters plus Antonio Bandera's ladies man version of Puss N Boots the third movie is not able to live up to the previous two.

The story this time revolves around Shrek and his friends trying to recruit a wimpy teenage Arthur Pendragon (King Arthur) to take the place of ruler over Far Far Away instead of the initially appointed Shrek. Meanwhile, Prince Charming decides he and the other fairy tale villians don't deserve the fate they've been handed and conspire to overthrow Far Far Away's ruling class.

Shrek the Third moves along at a good pace and the high level of animation continues to improve. The movie tries to have something for all ages, for example when the Gingerbread Man is threated by Prince Charming and Captain Hook his response is to call Charming "King of the Stupids!" and then goes into a Six Million Dollar Man / Brazil inspired delerium. A clever classic rock inspired soundtrack (includes Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Heart and the Ramones) also helps old folks like me feel comfortable. All things considered, Shrek the Third still holds your attention and gives a few good chuckles along the way.

Despite doing everything reasonably well, Shrek the Third simply feels uninspired and workmanlike creatively compared to the previous movies. It lacks the zippy sense of zeal the other movies had, you could sense the performers and filmmakers pushing their digital animation as far as their creativity could go on the other films. After last summer's dismal ticket receipts, it seems the call went out in Hollywood for all sequels to report in for duty. At the end of the day, the big green guy still wins but it's not Shrek...it's the guy at Dreamworks holding all the cash.