Shrek the Third

'a short trek for Shrek'

Most people this summer were psyched about the three new releases of Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and lastly, Shrek 3. It's definitely a three-quel summer. Well, Spiderman 3 was a let down, especially at the end and it destroyed a lot of what the previous two films worked to build. The Pirates was recently toppled by Knocked Up at the box office and by most accounts is...bad. Then there is Shrek 3 which is probably using its time wisely to gain as much money as possible before any other CGI flicks come out like Ratatouille. However, like the other two movies, it is also receiving lukewarm reviews...and here's why.

Shrek I : Shrek falls in love with a princess and has to overcome his natural ogrishness to get her to fall in love with him.
Shrek II: Shrek meets the parents and tries to impress them while they desperately seek a replacement in the form of Prince Charming who turns out to be a jerk and fool aided by the fairy godmother with magic.
Shrek III: Shrek must go find an heir to the throne and deal with the new issue of being a father.

Now, the main things that have characterized Shrek in the past is its love of satirizing and making comedic interpretations of folklore, fantasy, and fairytale elements while at the same time using these elements as a commentary on the real world...for example, the town of Far Far Away is a mock up of L.A. and Hollywood. The third Shrek film continues the tradition of Fairytale mishmashes and social commentary in its normal comedic tradition...so why so eh?

The reason why is, the film feels like it has less heart. The setup is good with the king dying and Shrek being too afraid to take over since he is an ogre and people hate him. Then you have the whole revenge thing with Prince Charming and Hook and Rumpelstiltskin. Of course, as Shrek leaves he finds out that he is going to be a father and his nightmares set in. Then he finds Arthur who is the social reject of his class and is hated by most and has never known his own father really. This setup is perfect for the heart moments that would be necessary to preparing Shrek for the arduous task of child-raising. Now, remember, there is a revolt and an usurper to the throne. Plus Arthur has to come to terms with whether he wants to be king and somewhere in there is a turn where Shrek lies to save the kids life but in turn hurts the kids feelings. Blah blah blah. The movie is only an hour and a half, a short feature film by most standards and it shows because the triumphs and tribulations necesarry to be won together don't occur. The team doesn't overcome the obstacles necessary to make it believable that Shrek and Arthur like each other and that Shrek has warmed to the idea of being a father. The quick pace and desire to get back to the funny parts while skimping and shortening the story hurts this film drastically in the end by making it an interesting tale but effectively killing most of the commentary and heart that Shrek is known to envelope as a series. That and soem of the jokes were much lamer. Seriously fellas, the movie was decent and maybe that's because Andrew Adamson helped in the writing of it, but he didn't direct this time and I think that he would have known it needed to be longer with more story thrown in and perhaps a bit more of the fairytale parody.

As for voice acting, well there is an interesting bit at the end about Puss in Boots and Donkey getting mixed up. The normal voice actors for their parts do fine. Cameron Diaz for some reason really drew me into her character this time around. Not sure why, can't explain it. Although, when the credits role, my hat goes off to the fine actors who played parts and I had no idea they were even in the movie. Yes, that includes Rupert Everett, Justin Timberlake, and the almighty John Cleese who needs to do more work every day all day....he should just have his own channel, I love that man.

Conclusion:
All in all, the film is well done. The effects budget is improved and the visuals are noticeably nicer than in the first two. Unfortunately, the story is rushed and crunched down into a really small box when simply by its premise and what it tries to do it needs more room to breathe and accomplish its goals. Its frustrating because it isn't a bad movie, but it is nowhere near as good as the others and you want it to be because it is easy to recognize that it could be if given more time. Perhaps the only time I will complain about the time for a movie.

3.1 out of 5

Wannabe