Shrek the Third
Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy; Directed by Chris Miller and Raman Hui
When Fiona's father, King Harold, becomes terribly ill, the princess and her husband, Shrek, step up to take over many of the duties that need to be filled around the kingdom. Responsibilities like knighting, hosting parties, and christening ocean voyages don't go as planned, however, and the often disastrous consequences cause Shrek to pine for their simple life back in the swamp.
The hope of returning home is shattered when the king dies, and Shrek learns that he must take over as King of the land of Far Far Away. There is one other living heir to the throne, much to Shrek’s relief, and the ogre sets sail with his trusty friends Donkey and Puss-In-Boots in search of that heir - Fiona's cousin, Artie. After Shrek finally finds the boy, a loner who is suffering from serious self-esteem problems, it becomes an almost constant battle to convince him that he has what it takes to rule. Meanwhile, Fiona, Queen Lillian, and the other princesses of the kingdom find themselves overrun by the bitterly vengeful Prince Charming and his horde of evil minions (a cast including Captain Hook, Cyclops, and the Headless Horseman) whom he's convinced to take back the glory and power that was always rightfully theirs. On top of all of this, Shrek is continually wrestling with one of the scariest prospects of all - fatherhood.
For Shrek’s third swing around movie complexes everywhere, we find a different director and writing team at the helm. Chris Miller and Raman Hui replaced Andrew Adamson (currently at work on the second installment of the Chronicles of Narnia series, Prince Caspian) and the exceptional writing talents of Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio (gone since the first Shrek film) are sorely missed by this point. The lightning pace through which the scattered plot runs is covered by an almost suffocating number of sight gags and pop culture reference jokes. A lack of wit and charm plague the script, and the voice performances suffer because of it. Donkey sounds tired of his own annoying personality, and Puss In Boots might as well have sat this one out, as he was given virtually nothing to do.
I also thought that the death of the frog king was handled very poorly. He would go into seizures, then appear to die. The party surrounding his bed would then begin to grieve for the death of their loved one, and then the frog would pop back to life and begin talking again. This happened no less than three times, and the audience was uncertain whether or not to laugh at what was going on, as the frogs' resurrections were playing very hard particularly on Fiona and Lillian. What was that? There were a few other places where the jokes were done in bad taste as well, something that had never been a problem on the previous two films. The animation was up to par, as was expected, and the film did have a very good soundtrack, with music from artists varying from Heart to Damien Rice.
It’s disappointing to see the third act of a story fall flat on it’s face. It’s even more disheartening to know that Dreamworks is going to try and continue pushing these films out. Shrek the Third is mildly entertaining, but there is no feeling like walking out of the theatre while deep dissatisfaction gnaws through your stomach and wallet faster than greasy popcorn will. Not a great way to start the season either. Still, the rest of the holiday shows promise, with Pixar’s Ratatouille on the way and the fifth Harry Potter installment ready to shoot out the gate, our summer may yet be saved. But with new drivers behind the wheel, the Shrek wagon has gone off course. The magic is gone, the jokes have run dry, and we’d like to get off now please.
Grading:
Story = B-
Originality = C+
DVD Features = N/A
Acting = B
Enjoyability = B-
Visuals = A
Overall = C+
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