Shrek 3 Movie Review

Our favorite ogre Shrek has returned in his third film, along with all the fairy tale creatures as well as a few new ones. As the commercials have been explaining to us for the weeks leading up to the movies release into theatres the king of Far Far Away has died. Shrek sets out to find the last remaining heir to the throne so that he isn't stuck with the job. At the same time Fiona has revealed she is pregnant and Prince Charming plots to overthrow the kingdom. The table has been set rather nicely for a third adventure. Unfortunately the adventure never actually happens and all our questions get answered far, far too easily.

I hate to be a buzz kill on such a great series of films but I just can't enjoy this new film as easily as the other two. Most good films should never be continued because a lot of fans have certain expectations that don't get met the second time around. Oddly enough I actually liked the second movie. But of course that only made the third harder to like. Then there is the fact that the whole movie can probably be told in a single breath. The king dies, Shrek leaves to find heir, Charming takes over kingdom, Shrek returns with heir and saves the day, oh and Fiona has babies. Yes there are things in between this very lame storyline. There is singing and dancing like the other two, but the songs is brief.

The choice of villain is probably where this script went wrong. Prince Charming is hardly the type of villain we expect. His mother in the second movie was an unexpected villain but the same trick doesn't work twice. At least the Fairy Godmother had magic on her side. Charming is an effeminate story book hero gone badly of the sugar plum path. His pretty boy persona completely ruins the film because there is no chance of loathing him. You end up feeling sorry for him for being so bad at being bad. He actually gets all the evil creatures to over throw the kingdom and then when they take over he puts on a play to execute Shrek. Even Shakespeare would consider that to be the most tragic thing ever to disgrace the stage.

One of the only things I found funny was the introduction of Mr.Merlin. He was Arthur's magic teacher before he had a mental breakdown and now lives alone on an island. If I have ever seen anything that screamed New Age Hippie it would have to be this whacked out wizard. He parades around in a robe that leaves very little to the imagination and make you dread him raises his arms above his shoulders. He performs a lovely accidental body switch between Puss and Donkey during a teleportation spell that is completely hilarious. It is too bad he was the only new character I enjoyed.

The struggle Shrek has with the notion of becoming a father is the real focus during the film. The weak story goes on in the background as Shrek has nightmares of avalanches or puke and millions of ogre babies. Shrek had a horrible father and was afraid of being a bad father as well. What doesn't make sense about this to me is how Shrek hasn't figured out that he isn't your average ogre, so why would he be afraid of being exactly like an ogre to his child. I guess this is something I'll have to chalk up to bad writing or the desire to throw in a few ogre parenting jokes, such as, being as nurturing as an ogre.
The film is far better suited for just a child based audience rather than the wider variety that it originally ensured when the first film came out. Perhaps they'll continue making Shrek movies in the style of kid films. It could work, look at the Land Before Time series they are up to about eight or nine movies now. Long story short, this is the end of the Shrek craze and it is time to move on to something else.