Starring:Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Justin Timberlake, Rupert Everett, Julie Andrews, Eric Idle
Director:
Chris Miller
MPAA Rating:
PG for some crude humor, suggestive content and swashbuckling action.
Release Date:
May 2007
Synopsis:
Life in the swamp seems better than ever for Shrek and Fiona, until King Harold suddenly falls ill and the ogre must find an acceptable heir or he'll have to assume the throne. Joined by his faithful companions Donkey and Puss-in-Boots, Shrek tracks down Cousin Artie, the future king, as Fiona and Queen Lillian defend the kingdom from the insidious Prince Charming.
My Two Cents:
CG movies are now the standard when it comes to animated movies, replacing the hand-drawn techniques of older Disney movies like Pocahontas and Fantasia. I believe it was Pixar’s Toy Story that started it all in 1995, but Shrek is the undisputed king of CG movies, having amassed over $2 billion dollars worldwide. Combining state of the art technology with top Hollywood voice talent and witty screenplays, Shrek has been enjoyed by pretty much everyone.
The first Shrek movie was fantastic. It was funny, smart, beautiful to look at, and just plain fun. Shrek 2 was a bit of a letdown, not at the box office, but for me. It wasn’t bad, but the first one was so much better it was hard to compete. Now that I’ve seen Shrek the Third I realize DreamWorks has pretty much run out of ideas and jokes and it’s time to let the series retire. But no, they’ve already announced Shrek Goes Fourth and Shrek 5, so this cow will continue to be milked for years to come.
Fantasy should not be mixed with reality, so having Shrek deal with the anxiety of being a father is not something the kids can relate to, or parents need to be reminded of. I rather watch Shrek fighting dragons than changing diapers. The villain once again is Prince Charming, who tries to take over Far Far Away, but we already saw this in Shrek 2. The new characters Artie (Justin Timberlake) and Merlin (Eric Idle) are not as funny or memorable as I’d hoped. They try their best to shine with the dialog they are given, but it didn’t work for me. All the returning cast did a good job, as expected, and Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy are still hilarious, and by far the funniest.
If you’re not into the Shrek series this one won’t convert you, and casual fans like me will be disappointed. I recommend watching the HD DVD version because even if the jokes are not funny at least everything looks gorgeous, vibrant and alive. I really hope they get it together for the next installment and bring Shrek back to its former glory.
Score:
2 Comments:
I've never been a fan of these movies. They're just....far too cornfed....I mean, really, the jokes and humor are just awful. The movie is clearly aimed with children in mind first, but I don't fault the movie, or the makers rather, for that; kids need their own movies, too. We shouldn't have all movies be R-rated blood and swear fests.
I also heard that that his entry in particular wasn't too good, yeah. A lot of people didn't like it, comparatively. But it still made mad proverbial fat cash.
That's the one funny thing about last summer; it was the Summer of Trilogy Conclusions; we had this, Spider-Man 3, AND Pirates 3; and possibly something else I'm forgetting..And most critics said all three of these movies were 'bad'. I of course, certainly disagree with SM3 and PotC3 being 'bad'. They have legetimate criticisms, but not 'bad'. I can't say about Shrek 3, as I didn't see it, and don't plan to. :P
I definitely believe you when you say they seem to be running out of ideas. Well, yeah; of course they are. This kind of movie in particular, with the kind of humor it focuses on, how much can you really do with it? I'm not surprised at all.
I also thought these movies were aimed at children, but there are plenty of pop culture references only adults would get. It's nice they throw something in there for the parents, but it's obvious they have run out of ideas.
As long as Shrek keeps making millions of dollars DreamWorks won't stop milking it, and I can understand that. But they are not trying hard enough to keep things fresh and original. Perhaps they have run out of fairy tales to spoof on.
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