Daddy of all ogres is the first among threequels
by CHRISTOPHER TOOKEY
Last updated at 13:25pm on 4th July 2007
Rating: 3 stars
Rating: 3 stars
Verdict: Funny, but a giant disappointment
This has been a wretched year for blockbusters, with a succession of lacklustre threequels. A step up in quality from Spider-Man 3, Pirates Of The Caribbean 3 and Ocean's 13, Shrek The Third is the most entertaining summer blockbuster so far, but it's nowhere near the quality of Shrek the first or second.
And, regrettably, this is the first family movie to inform children that they were probably unwanted. Nice one, Hollywood.
Shrek The Third shows fairyland's answer to Wayne Rooney, voiced as ever by Mike Myers, reluctantly confronting fatherhood - cue some Exorcist- style nightmares about having babies, dominated, of course, by explosive bodily functions.
The three amigos: Shrek is back with his pals Donkey and Puss In Boats
The none-too-jolly green ogre has to face an even less welcome prospect - that, with the demise of his father in-law, the Frog King (John Cleese, who makes the most of an amusingly written deathbed scene), he might have to rule the land of Far Far Away.
The only way to back out of this irksome responsibility and retire to his enticingly vermin-infested swamp is for Shrek to appoint another, bigger ogre, Gordon Brown, in his place. OK, I made that up.
And, regrettably, this is the first family movie to inform children that they were probably unwanted. Nice one, Hollywood.
Shrek The Third shows fairyland's answer to Wayne Rooney, voiced as ever by Mike Myers, reluctantly confronting fatherhood - cue some Exorcist- style nightmares about having babies, dominated, of course, by explosive bodily functions.
The three amigos: Shrek is back with his pals Donkey and Puss In Boats
The none-too-jolly green ogre has to face an even less welcome prospect - that, with the demise of his father in-law, the Frog King (John Cleese, who makes the most of an amusingly written deathbed scene), he might have to rule the land of Far Far Away.
The only way to back out of this irksome responsibility and retire to his enticingly vermin-infested swamp is for Shrek to appoint another, bigger ogre, Gordon Brown, in his place. OK, I made that up.
No, he has to find Arthur 'Artie' Pendragon (Justin Timberlake) with the help of his usual pals - Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss In Boots (Antonio Banderas), both seriously underused - plus magician-turned-New Age psychotherapist Merlin (Eric Idle, seriously overused).
The first half-hour of the picture is consistently funny, the brutal interrogation of Pinocchio is a great little comedy routine, and the final, action-packed quarter-hour is fun as a tongue-in-cheek celebration of 'girl power'.
The none-too-frightening bad guys are led by Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) and there's amusement value in watching the evil characters of children's stories bond together as 'victims'.
There's a big sag in the middle of the movie, however, and the adventure into Arthurian legend comes across as tasteless pandering to American teenagers addicted to The OC. The Merlin scenes are woefully weak, and few children will understand any of the movie's feeble satirical jabs at psychotherapy.
Too many minor characters, such as the three blind mice and the gingerbread man, are brought back with little to do, and some ideas that ought to be funny (such as a bungled magic spell that leads to Donkey and Puss In Boots exchanging voices) are botched.
Animation quality continues to rise, but the same cannot be said of the writing.
The wit has largely gone, as have the telling sideswipes at the Disneyfication of children's culture. The story lacks emotional depth, the plotting is slipshod and the pacing lethargic in the second 45 minutes.
At least half the jokes should have been replaced with ones that are actually funny.
Formula has been allowed to strangle inspiration, and commercial considerations have triumphed over perfectionism.
Instead of on-screen characters driving the narrative, this film has far too many furtive grown-ups behind the scenes trying to flog us merchandise.
Now there's a topic for Shrek IV to grapple with - the curse of cynical commercialism, a true ogre for our times.
My Response:
I feel that a 3 star rating is a rating that i would have given. Also i agree that Shrek one and Shrek 2 were better, however i feel that the film is still funny and entertaining, but just not as good as the first two. the review states that its due the the writing that the film is poor however my opinion is that it was good, especially the Pinnoicho interrogation scene. If Shrek IV does come out I do feel that it will not succeed and that it would have to do something dramatic to match up to the first two. Also issues such as 'girl power' shown by the princesses illustrates our topic of how society is becoming more equal and how women have more power than before demonstrates theses issues are even touched on in animation.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/reviews.html?in_article_id=465196&in_page_id=1924
