Publicity Stills of "Shrek The Third"
(Courtesy from UIP)



reviews...

Release Date: 31 May 2007

Synopsis :

When Shrek married Princess Fiona, becoming the next King and Queen of Far, Far Away wasn't part of the plan. So when his father-in-law, King Harold, falls ill, it is up to Shrek to find a suitable heir or he will be forced to give up his beloved swamp for the throne. Recruiting Donkey and Puss In Boots for a new quest, Shrek sets out to bring back the rightful heir to the throne, Fiona's rebellious cousin Artie. Back in Far, Far Away, Fiona's jilted Prince Charming storms the city with an army of fairy tale villains to seize the throne. But they have a surprise in store because Fiona, together with her mother, Queen Lillian, has drafted her fellow fairy tale heroines to defend their "happily ever afters." As Shrek, Donkey and Puss work on changing Artie from a royal pain in the you-know-what into a future king, Fiona and her band of princesses must stop Prince Charming to ensure there will be a kingdom left to rule.

Movie Review:

Shrek 3 has an unenviable task as a sequel to two wildly entertaining movies became the most successful animated franchise for Dreamworks. As far as sequel goes, in order to capitalize on the success of the predecessors, elements that works before need to be reproduced while introducing new characters or subplots into the mix and that combination was the stumbling block for Shrek 3.

The first and major obstacle in Shrek 3 was the tiresomeness of repetitive events that already occurred in the Shrek franchise. The characters and certain events felt exactly the same as those that were portrayed in the first two movies. Shrek still wrestle with confidence issues, Donkey still an irritating ass and Puss n’ Boots still trying to act cute (there was even the exact scene of Puss giving his Big Eyes look, hopping to get his way with it). And as usual, there will be scenes that Gingerbread Man will undergo some form of torture while still coming out as one tough cookie and Pinocchio had to lie thru his nose again. Even the quest for Shrek and gang this time round felt like a direct copy for the previous installments that requires Shrek and company to travel for some quest.

While Shrek 3 had the tendency to repeat the plotlines and characterization of the previous installments, it does not have the means to replicate the humor from the first two. The first two has audience grasping for air with side splitting punch lines one right after another and there are only a few moments to rest before the next great satire comes along. But sadly, those fondly remember moments are just a handful here and are no where as memorable as the previous two.

Like Shrek 2, Shrek 3 also introduced new characters and for Shrek 3, the producers seem to be banking on Artie (Justin Timberlake). While Justin Timberlake is extremely popular with the teens, his whining character will not leave a deep mark like Puss n’ Boots did in the second one. Let just say that even the forgetful Merlin stole the spotlight from him and Merlin wasn’t even that entertaining. Among all the new characters introduced in this film, the targeted audience will probably be clamoring for more Ogre babies and the flying Dronkeys instead.

It’s not all that bad for Shrek 3. It’s still has a decent story with good morale to educate the kids but it just that there are nothing new or great in this Shrek movie which Fans of Shrek movies had grown accustom to. Perhaps the bar was set too high by the first two movies that it was just too hard for the film makers to infuse something new and amazing in this movie to make the audience want to come back for more. Or perhaps this film is targeted towards the younger wards and therefore recycled materials are unlikely to be such an issue with those crowds as long as they get their cutesy characters doing cutesy stuff.

Will there be a sequel after this disappointing sequel? Well It’s been announced that there will be a Shrek 4 and a Puss n’ Boots spin-off when Shrek 3 started it’s production. For the producers, the Shrek 3 box office collection in the USA should reaffirm their faith in this franchise but sadly from this reviewer’s point of view, there’s nothing magical about the latest addition to the Shrek franchise.