Shrek the Third (2007)

Overall rating from 1 to 100: 73

O Masterpiece (95-100)
O Excellent (75-94)
X Good video rental (60-74)
O Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don’t watch (1-29)

Review by Jason Pyles / May 18, 2007

OK. That’s probably good. Yeah, that will just about do it, right there. We have three of them now; let’s stop making “Shrek” movies while we’re ahead. But will we? No. Hollywood will make 14 of these babies. I predict that “Shrek” will be the next “The Land Before Time” series. (There are seriously like 13 of those, and the 14th is probably coming out on video tomorrow.)

The true genius behind the “Shrek” trilogy is its celebration of pop culture. That’s why we love these movies. It abuses fairy tales and their characters with its pop references, and we revel in it. As with the first two installments, the jokes are delivered quickly and many of them are glimpsed peripherally, so be watchful.

“Shrek the Third” has a couple of really funny parts. I did laugh out loud. But honestly, “Shrek” is going downhill. This third movie just wasn’t as good as the second one, which wasn’t as good as the first. This movie feels long and it’s only 92 minutes. That’s a bad sign. In fact, the story itself is quite thin. We can tell that the writers were running out of ideas when they had Merlin accidentally make Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss In Boots (Antonio Banderas) switch bodies.

The frog king (Fiona’s father) is on his death bed. He asks Shrek and Fiona to carry the monarchy’s torch as the new king and queen. Shrek only wants to return to his home in the swamp. There is one other possible option, however, for an heir to the throne: Arthur — who prefers to be called “Artie” and is played by Justin Timberlake. (The word “unnecessary” came to mind for that casting choice, but anyway.) Unfortunately, Artie doesn’t want to be king any more than Shrek does.

In addition to the whole kingdom being placed in Shrek’s lap, Fiona (Cameron Diaz) tells him that he’s going to be a daddy, too. Both of these major life changes elevate Shrek’s rating on the stress scale. Also, to make matters worse, that twit, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), becomes bitter about not getting to be king, so he inspires all of the other fairy tale villain types to wage war against the kingdom of Far Far Away.

The movie is bright, energetic and colorful. Children will enjoy it, but it does have some crudeness and innuendo intended to entertain the adults. (I noted that because some parents have deep contempt for this animated movie trend.)

Should you rush out to the theater to see “Shrek the Third”? No, that won’t be necessary. But if you like the “Shrek” movies, you’ll enjoy this one, too. As with “Spider-Man 3,” it’s fun, but just don’t expect too much.

Directed by Chris Miller and Raman Hui
Mike Myers / Cameron Diaz / Eddie Murphy
92 min. Animation / Comedy
MPAA: PG (for some crude humor, suggestive content and swashbuckling action)

Copyright 2007.
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