If you were a fan of the first two Shrek movies, you won’t be horrifically disappointed in the third installment of the series. It’s not as good as the first or second, but doesn’t totally suck.
Some vague spoilers follow…There is a lot going on in Shrek the Third; Prince Charming is trying to reclaim the throne with the help of all the other fairy tale villains, Fiona and Shrek are expecting their first child, and Shrek goes on a quest with Donkey and Puss in Boots to find a long lost cousin. With all the different story lines going on, Shrek didn’t really get the chance to Ogre it up as much as I’d have liked to see. Fiona and her circle of fairy tale princesses get a lot of screen time, which might make the chicks happy, but the Pupster Boys started to get fidgety during the princess’ scenes.
In trying to appeal to all demographics, the movie ends up satisfying none in my opinion. There is enough fairy tale character action and fart jokes to keep the children interested, but it loses the younger audience with forays into high school social angst and grown up issues like the fear of becoming a parent.
The animation is very, very good…too good when it comes to character detail. Chest hair and liver spots on Shrek, and the moles and freckles on the human characters actually detracted from my movie experience.
The soundtrack is awesome, and though the best songs are cut short, the covers of classic rock songs were my favorite part of the film.
The Pupster Boys both enjoyed the movie, but didn’t think it was as good as Shrek or Shrek 2.
I’ll give it one and a half paws up.
