THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
In Hollywood, you don’t have to be perfect to get attention. That was definitely the case with Dreamworks’ Shrek franchise because while the first two struck like gold, their third entry was not great like some had hoped.
PLOT
Shrek the Third follows the titular ogre who lives in the Kingdom of Far Far Away with his wife Princess Fiona. His father in law King Harold (John Cleese) sees him to be next in line to helm the throne but because the protagonist refuses to believe an ogre can be king, he suggests someone else should take responsibility. In his dying breath, the king would consider Fiona’s cousin Arthur Pendragon. Before Shrek would sail away alongside his friends Donkey & Puss in Boots to retrieve the new king, Fiona would surprise her husband that she is pregnant. Although Shrek tells her he’s happy to hear it, he’s deeply horrified because he never imagined being a parent before. Once they reach Worcestershire Academy, a magical boarding school, they discover Artie to be an outcast. He does gain excitement with his newfound entitlement but on the way back to the kingdom, Donkey & Puss accidentally scare him with the responsibilities. He tries to take control of the ship and hopes to go back to Worcestershire, only for him to crash on a remote island. Looking for help, the group end up finding Artie’s retired wizard teacher, Mr. Merlin. During this adventure, Prince Charming vows to avenge Fairy Godmother by taking over the kingdom. With the help of other fairy tale villains, he ends up succeeding on the day of Fiona’s baby shower. When she sees what’s going on, she goes into hiding with her mother Lillian (Julie Andrews) and a few princesses whereas the likes of Dragon and the other fairy tale creatures align with Shrek get captured. When one of three little pigs inadvertently shares Shrek’s whereabouts, Charming has Captain Hook go after him. Rapunzel would betray Fiona by having her and the other women locked in a tower, having fallen in love with Charming. When Hook finds Shrek, the ogre overpowers the pirate and his band to the point of retreat. Knowing that his wife is in danger, Artie convinces Merlin to use magic to send them back to Far Far Away. However, his magic proves to have side effects when Puss & Donkey switch bodies. When they return to the kingdom, Shrek finds Pinocchio imprisoned, alerting him that Charming plans to kill him as part of a play. When he confronts his enemy, the latter gets the upper hand by outnumbering him and his friends. He threatens to kill Artie but Shrek saves him by admitting he was just his replacement. With the heir feeling disheartened, Charming lets him go. When Donkey & Puss get put in the same cell as the women, they break out together and free the other fairy tale creatures. As they figure out how to save Shrek, the group spots Artie and make clear the ogre did nothing but protect him. On the night of the play, Charming stages a showdown but before he could execute the ogre, his friends and family arrive to rescue him, only to be outnumbered again. Before anything could get any worse, Artie takes a stand and convinces the other villains to drop their evil ways, telling them they can be accepted in society. With Charminf refusing, he tries to kill him but Shrek saves him again and pushes him aside. The self proclaimed king would be killed when Dragon drops a tower on him. After a sudden victory, Arthur accepts the crown and Merlin arrives to help Donkey & Puss get back to their original bodies, despite swapping tails. The film would end with Shrek and Fiona raising triplets (Farkle, Fergus & Felicia) with the help of their friends and family.
THOUGHTS
2007 was the peak of the franchise’s popularity by the time this movie came out, everybody know what Shrek is whether or not you saw either film. I was a kid lucky enough to be onboard from first viewing. I can’t say I feel the same with this three-quel because even though I enjoyed seeing it in theaters, that doesn’t mean I loved it as much as the first two. Director Chris Miller had a lot of pressure to make another satisfying entry. While kids like myself at the time found it entertaining, it ain’t enough to call it great. Because the expectations were too high, that’s where the quality diminishes. From there, you accept that not every joke lands, which is a shame because there’s a lot to make fun of within the fairy tale genre. Although it’s not as funny as before, it’s doesn’t mean it’s terrible. I have made a soft spot for this one because I am able to see the message it wants to share. In between the few laughs I had, I understood the theme of how you’ll never know you’ll be ready for something until you try it. This is definitely the case as the infamous big green we know and love. This time around, Mike Myers shows Shrek as one who has a lot of pressure to cope with. He was in the right to retrieve Artie as new king because he was aware not everyone respects ogres still. He was relieved Artie was more suitable of a choice because he knew he can handle the responsibilities. While you respect him looking for someone worthier than him, he doesn’t get the way out of fatherhood. The pressure for him is more about that because he never planned on being a parent. Knowing that he never had it in mind, he worries he’ll do nothing but mess up. Those feeling’s definitely become understandable on his end since he grew up on his own and no one gave him the guidance he made. Ironically, his adventure with Artie taught him that being there will all your patience and love is enough to be a good parent. You want to call his nightmare exaggerative, but based on conversations I’ve had with other parents besides my own, they find it relatable funny and for that I applaud. While it’s easy to be like Shrek and worry the whole time, it’s better to think of the positive aspects that can come from parenthood. Cameron Diaz indeed taught us that when playing Fiona as the most optimistic here. Since she is the one with the burden carry her babies in the womb for months, she already knows patience is enough to be a good parent to them. And despite her circumstances, it didn’t stop her doing whatever she thought was right which was standing up to Charming and being by her husband’s side. Seeing them raise their kids together is the most realistic happily ever after because having your loved ones wherever is enough to be happy. Of all the new characters we got to see and enjoy, Justin Timberlake was surprisingly a decent choice to play the boy who would grow to be King Arthur. Like Shrek, he is an outcast in his environment and needed encouragement to stay in the right direction. When the ogre came for him, he first went along with it because he was relieved he had the worthiness. He proves his worth because despite his emotional distance, he was still noble enough to convince the villains to drop their evil thoughts on the spot. Once he picked up that crown, it solidified there was nothing else to worry about. He really was a reflection to Shrek because he never knew of what the outcome would be until he started trying. Since Charming was still standing by the end of the second film, you knew he would this story’s central villain because it would be a shame to ignore it. Rupert Everett returns as you would expect this character to be. He was a spoiled man who got his happy ending handed to him before it was taken and without his mother to keep things to his liking, there is no one to stop him from being aggressively determined to get what he wants. And he was pretty close since he had an army big enough to be a dictator rather than a cliched king. If he had understood that he can’t always get what he wants, he wouldn’t have had a grin demise. Since animated movies are mostly known for making kids laugh, I still think this one does its best to keep that ball rolling and most of the supporting cast comes through on that end. Antonio Banderas and Eddie Murphy still make Puss & Donkey a funny pair for making the two supportive friends towards Shrek who can’t help do or say whatever comes at the top of their head. They were willing to beat up Shrek just to make a human believe he’s wearing a costume. That was cold yet funny at the same time. I relate to them over talking towards Artie because they couldn’t help share how it is being a king in hopes to prepare him for the role. Sometimes, the excitement gets the best of us. The body swap shouldn’t have worked, yet it does because seeing them uncomfortable in something they’re unfamiliar with makes it funny. The best gag of it goes to how Puss tries to do his cute face but can’t do it in Donkey’s face. It doesn’t matter how they get their tails back offscreen because at least they’re back in their bodies. Obviously that hijinks would not have been possible thanks to a rusty wizard that was Merlin. Eric Idle made him funny in his given time thanks to portraying him as awkward and clumsy instead of anything near wise in comparison to the original story of King Arthur. When he tried to play music for Shrek and Artie to ease the tension, I wasn’t sure if I was capable to stop chuckling. It could’ve been a random throwaway for having the ugly stepsister Doris appear in the second film, but you’re kind of missing an opportunity to not have another recurring character because why not. It’s too easy to laugh at Larry King for making a standout making clear Doris is distinctive for being a masculine female. Her having the hots for Charming still is enough to have me falling off the chair laughing. You can make the argument that she’s likely trans which isn’t really important because it doesn’t affect the story that much. If it is, I applaud Dreamworks for going there. They even keep the joke going for having Regis Philben voice the other half Mabel and I was laughing even harder once I found out it was his voice. It made a lot of sense for the princesses to appear as Fiona’s inner circle because it’d be another pointless throwaway from the second film if they didn’t show up. They kept it interesting because not even they match their Disney counterparts. Amy Poehler made Snow White the sassiest, Amy Sedaris & Cheri Oteri equally make Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty ditzy as hell, whereas Maya Rudolph makes Rapunzel the jealous one willing to betray the kindest princess for her own gain. Most of them still had their moments that left a memorable impression. Gingy removes Rapunzel’s wig is too shocking to not laugh. I was rolling my eyes to proceed laughter whenever Sleeping Beauty lived up to the name by sleeping whenever she had the chance. But let’s be honest, it was pretty cool Snow White sung ‘Immigrant Song’ and summoned animals to attack the talking trees. And on a side note, Ian McShane was convincing as the iconic Captain Hook, it made sense why he played Black Beard in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Now I’ve given due credit, but there were still way too many things bothered me more than the reminder Donkey had hybrid babies with Dragon. If I gotta go from the top, I’m wondering why would Gingy bother going to dinner theater if he and his clique (minus Pinocchio) don’t seem to be into it? You can say they just wanted to support Shrek but I don’t really buy it because he doesn’t seem like the one who would ask for much for from them. It can be looked at as a funny montage when Shrek is unfit to deal with things considered basic for humans of royalty, but it’s pretty he didn’t have repercussions when he accidentally stabbed someone when knighting him. Also, why didn’t Fiona go with Shrek to find Artie? Yes she was pregnant but she didn’t let that stop her from standing up to Charming by choosing to break out of confinement. You want to talk about jokes that don’t make sense, I would say how the villains turn Ye Olde Bootery into Hooters. Is the joke for it to mislead others or just to get attention? Either way I didn’t get it. Call me crazy, but you know I’m onto something when I spot continuity errors. Hook scares Gingy with his hook, but the reflection shot doesn’t add up; it claims to be on Hook’s right when it should be on whatever would fit in the center of the hook. We all know animation bends reality, but how is Artie strong enough to fight with Shrek over the wheel? This ain’t David v Goliath, this is a human vs ogre scenario and he clearly ain’t fit like Lancelot (John Krasinski) to have any kind of fighting chance. In one case, you can’t blame Charming for sparing Artie because he’s so focused on killing Shrek, but he would’ve at least tried to save some trouble if he imprisoned the heir in a cell separate from where the others would be. Had he done that, he likely would’ve gotten his happy ending. And how come only Shrek stopped Charming from killing Artie in the end? All the other villains just dropped their evil desires and they couldn’t even flinch when Charming picked up his sword. That is some bullshit to ensure Shrek is the hero. Try to ignore these problems and maybe you’ll love it. To wrap up, Shrek the Third is a decent entry to the animated franchise for earning half of the laughs and still having all the heart intact. You still like these kind of movies, check this out while you can.
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