>>REVIEW
SHREK THE THIRD
STARRING Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas DIRECTED BY Chris Miller
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It’s a very bad sign for DreamWorks when you ask a five year old what her favourite part of Shrek the Third was and her one word answer is "zero!" A very bad sign indeed.
It’s a fact – few movies make it to the third instalment without losing the magic and excitement that made their predecessors so good. Shrek the Third tries to keep the series’ heart beating but comes up short.
Shrek and Fiona are still living in Far, Far Away as they fill in for the King who is horribly ill and on the verge of croaking. Not so far away the revenge-obsessed Prince Charming is scheming to make himself King. Cue the adventure and comedy as Shrek, Donkey and Puss sail off to find the next heir to the throne while mom-to-be Fiona and her princess friends stay behind to protect the Kingdom.
As with the first two Shreks, there’s a life lesson to be learned, and thank God at least this time it wasn’t another take on "loving people for who they really are on the inside." Of course it’s not the moral of the story that makes a Shrek movie great anyway. For the kids, it’s the fun of watching Donkey annoy the crap out of Shrek and Shrek getting stuck in silly situations. For the adults it’s the abundance of pop culture references and not so subtle jabs at other films. Unfortunately, for both groups, there’s not enough of any of those things this time around.
Shrek the Third feels more like The Adventures of Shrek and Friends, offering nothing more special than the average weekly kids’ show does. Myers, Diaz, Murphy and Banderas go through the motions with their characters and take a back seat to the far more entertaining secondary players that get 90 per cent of the laughs. Newcomer Merlin, voiced by Eric Idle, is quite funny as are audience favourites Pinocchio and Gingerbread Man, but even these performances aren’t enough to save this bland tale. It’s definitely time for the folks at DreamWorks to start rethinking the future of their flagship franchise.
The one huge plus for the movie is its incredible visuals. Many scenes border on breathtaking. For this reason alone it would be a shame to see such great characters relegated forever to the small screen, but unless filmmakers find some enchanted story worthy of the big screen, direct-to-DVD will be the next place the little ones will be watching Shrek Goes Fourth. |
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