THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
It’s never good when a franchise loses momentum because it makes you wonder if their future is worthwhile. This was sadly the case by the time Dreamworks produced their forth Shrek film.
PLOT
Shrek Forever After follows the infamous ogre residing in his swamp with his wife Princess Fiona and their three children (Farkle, Fergus & Felicia). Although he is grateful for the family he's made, he has grown irritation with the lack of privacy due to the fame his adventures gave him, making him miss the days he was feared by humans. After a series of mishaps occur during his children's first birthday, he reaches a breaking point and walks out in anger. He would then lash out on Fiona, wishing he never saved her. As he isolates himself in the forest, he encounters another human named Rumpelstiltskin who offers him a day to be a real ogre in exchange for a day of his childhood. When Shrek signs a contract that gives him such a promise, he is taken to an alternate dimension. After enjoying the morning with lighthearted mischief by scaring humans again, the ogre soon realizes the fantasy isn't what it seems. As the day progresses, the swamp he lives in is deserted/desolate and Fiona is a fugitive. Shortly after this, he gets captured by witches and is taken to the kingdom of Far Far Away. He finds Rumpel as the new ruler and he explains that the timeline is altered because he took the day Shrek was born. With him never existing, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) were forced to sign the kingdom over to Rumpel in exchange of lifting Fiona's curse, causing them to disappear. By next sunrise, Shrek will cease to exist and the timeline will remain to Rumpel's liking. The ogre is able to escape the castle with his friend Donkey, who like many does not remember him. With his help, they figure out that there is a hidden exit clause to nullify the contract, 'True Love's Kiss'. This excites Shrek because that means he'll have to reunite with Fiona to get his life back. Not only does he find her as an ogre still, but is also leading an army of ogres who are a resistance against Rumpel. When finding her camp, Shrek also discovers Puss in Boots to be Fiona's overweight pet. Although his first attempt to woo the former princess backfires, the cat encourages him to keep trying. Knowing that Shrek has a chance to undo his mistake, Rumpel assigns a bounty hunter known as the Pied Piper to track him down. He succeeds in ruining an ambush orchestrated by Fiona by capturing her entire army. Thanks to the help of Puss & Donkey, Shrek & Fiona are able to escape from the trance. After this, Shrek begs Fiona to kiss him to break the curse. She does kiss him, but nothing goes undone because she doesn’t love him. Because Shrek wasn’t retrieved, Rumpel offers a bounty to those who can capture him first. When Shrek hears of this, he chooses to turn himself in and wish to save the other ogres. Surrendering himself to Rumpel, he is imprisoned alongside Fiona. She is not free with her army due to being only half ogre. Rumpel tries to have Shrek & Fiona executed by the fire breathing dragon, but both are saved thanks to the ogres as well as Puss & Donkey. With their help, all are able to overthrow Rumpel. However, sunrise returns and Shrek begins to slowly fade from existence. Having fallen in love with him overnight, Fiona kisses him and she takes true love’s form, remaining an ogre in the process. After this, the alternate reality disintegrates and Shrek returns to his original timeline before he met Rumpel. The film would end with the heroic ogre embracing his loved ones with newfound appreciation.
THOUGHTS
I’m always gonna have a soft spot for Shrek as a whole because I know it’s heart and handful of laughs go hand in hand, but that ain’t gonna mean I will like everything about it. It’s clear to me that Director Mike Mitchell had a lot of pressure to have audiences entertained of this animated adventure, which only led to something that was alright. The animation is solid and a fair amount of jokes still hit their marks, but what has upset the most was how the story wasn’t feeling so original like the prior entries. It’s common for movies to be inspired by or copy each other, but I’m pretty disappointed that this one copied the premise of It’s A Wonderful Life where the protagonist is out into a position where he has to appreciate what he has before it’s gone. The premise did seem to work for Shrek as a whole, but it only led to what felt like buckets of problems for the story to deal with that are more irritating than anything I’ve seen from the franchise at this point. From the beginning, I’m already thrown off that Lillian & Harold chose to have a last minute convo about dealing with Rumpel when that should’ve taken place way before they rode that carriage. Moving on, you can say Shrek for sure overreacted at the birthday party originally, but you all know that would’ve been avoided had Donkey not licked the frosting or the pigs not eating it completely. In fact, I even got pissed off that no one saw what the pigs did and Lillian would blame Shrek out of instinct. I did think it was a clever gag for Shrek to hide in a carriage of watermelons, but he really overworked himself just to scare two people. I want to be intrigued that we get more ogres but where have they been in Shrek’s original timeline? It’s not like they’re extinct otherwise that would’ve been clear in the first film. Also, why would Rumpel even have hidden exit clauses? Even if the whole point of them is so that they’re never found, he should’ve not had them especially for Shrek. Had he not had one for him, the contract would not get nullified by the end. Nostalgia definitely kicked in when Shrek head to the Dragon’s Keep, but how the hell did he get there in a day? It took him at least two days in the first film so he can’t be that fast no matter how in love he is. That’s more irritating than not knowing if Charming ever tried rescuing Fiona in the altered timeline. Fiona definitely reminds us that she’s smarter than Shrek whatever the timeline but of all the things she doesn’t do in the alternate one, why doesn’t she have guards protecting her tent? We know Shrek ain’t a spy, but it’s not like there wouldn’t be. The one joke that made no sense will definitely be how toilet bowl cleaning tools are mixed with the weapons. I get the whole point is to make Shrek oblivious in his new environment but there was no reason for those tools to be there apart from that. Lastly, I want to be happy that Donkey saves Shrek, but I don’t think his plan should’ve worked because it didn’t really make that sense. It works out of luck because the witches were not suspicious enough to stop him when talking to the ogres, nor were they curious of the disco ball (filled with ogres) before bringing it in. The only reason this movie becomes worthwhile and it becomes capable to ignore at least half of these issues is because due to this being a sequel and getting to know the characters for so long, it makes an understandable approach of the plot that suits the protagonist’s perspective. Mike Myers makes it clear that Shrek always loved his family but got burnt out in being a family man. When one is feeling like that, you’re bound to get impatient. His roar was the symbolism that he needed a break from his responsibilities. He didn’t think he would get that by asking for a vacation with his wife, so he close the unclear route with Rumpel. It was through this unexpected adventure where he learned the hard way to be careful what you wish for because you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Even when being reckless, it didn’t change that his following actions came from the heart, making it the only way for him to set things right. The big treat you get out of stories involving alternate realities is that you get experimental on how different the characters would be in a new setting and we definitely get that whenever focusing on Shrek’s inner circle. Sure you’re laughing that Gingy is a cookie gladiator or in shock to see the three little pigs and the big bad wolf to be Rumpel’s servants, but the real treats go to how Shrek’s loved ones have complete opposite of lives in comparison to what we’ve already seen. It’s easy to find a laugh when seeing Puss out of shape of a car, but Antonio Banderas assures us that his decision comes from losing motivation to keep fighting. But seeing Shrek rekindle what he had with Fiona was enough to not give up on what you love. We always Donkey for his joyful optimism, but that was always possible thanks to Shrek being a part of his life. Without him, Eddie Murphy surprises us this time portraying him as one who lives in fear as a slave to witches. Living in such a depressing scenario, it was hard to maintain happiness and thankfully, Shrek re-entering his happiness sealed the deal. Apart from still loving waffles, it was still funny that he and Puss can still bicker no matter the circumstances. We always admired Fiona for being a princess capable of defending herself, but you feel bad she gets put in a scenario where that’s all she has to do nonstop. Due to a different direction in her life, Cameron Diaz showed this Fiona to be more abrasive and had given up her beliefs on true love when not finding hers. Luckily, Shrek’s path to redemption leads to her realizing true love is possible for everyone as long as you keep believing in it. She fell for him overnight not just out of feeling flattered, but because he was able to see through her persona and relate to the vulnerability. And off of that, they get to continue their happily ever after as it was. For such a wild hijinks, this would not have been possible thanks to a villain who had a bigger grudge than Charming. Getting re-introduced after having a cameo in the third film, Walter Dohrn surprises us in making Rumpelstiltskin the absolute worst of villains in Dreamworks’ animated catalog. You almost respect his work at conning people since he’s that tricky about it, but you love hating him for being so power hungry he tricked Shrek to give up his life to get what he wanted. The grudge originates on almost fooling the king and queen to give up their power until Shrek unknowingly saved Fiona in time. For a second, you can’t really blame him for having this grudge because he got so broke he was scrapping garbage for food. All it would take was fate was for them to cross paths and the rest would be alternate history because destiny cannot always be controlled. To wrap up, Shrek Forever After ain’t the most original of sequels, but it entertaining enough to keep the ball rolling. Whether you like fairy tales or need a quick laugh, it wouldn’t hurt checking this out.
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