Before I begin, I must say that I truly hate sinus infections. I don't get them that often, but when I do, it makes life miserable. I apologize for the less than stellar review that you are about to read, but creativity and inspiration have taken a back seat to medication.
Ladies and gentlemen, the word of the day is sequelitis. If it was listed in Webster's Dictionary, it would be listed as a noun, and it would be defined as the malady suffered by Hollywood films that have multiple installments. The chances that a sequel will be bad are directly related to how many of them there are. There are some franchises that have gone the 3 way(no, not that kind, so get your minds out the gutter) route and have done well, such as Lord of the Rings and Star Wars(the ones that didn't suck). Others, such as The Matrix trilogy, didn't fare so well. The latest summer release to have a part 3 is Shrek. 2001's Shrek brought audiences a well received animated film that was full of fairy tale characters, yet had a smart, witty feel to it. The movie had more than it's share of laughs, but it was also a tale of acceptance. Shrek 2 upped the ante even more and wound up becoming the third highest grossing film of all time. The pop culture references in the sequel went over the heads of most children, but were recognized by adults. The scene where "a white bronco is being chased" was my personal favorite. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and that brings us to Dreamworks latest offering, Shrek the Third.
At the outset, life has certainly changed for everybody's favorite green buddy Shrek(Michael Myers) and his wife, Princess Fiona(Cameron Diaz). The royal family loves them, the public has accepted them, and they are currently running things in Far Far Away while King Harold(John Cleese) tries to recover from an illness. When the king finally croaks(pun intended), Shrek begrudgingly finds out that rule of the kingdom will be his, unless he can locate the king's only heir, Artie(Justin Timberlake). Shrek longs for the peaceful days of swamp life, so he sets out with his trusty companions Donkey(Eddie Murphy) and Puss-In-Boots(Antonio Banderas) to locate Artie, who looks less like a future leader and more like a high school loser. Meanwhile, the nefarious yet somewhat effeminate Prince Charming(Rupert Everett) has plans to exact revenge and take rule of the kingdom while Shrek is away and unable to defend. This time, there's a switch and girl power has to help save the day. Sleeping Beauty(Cheri Oteri), Snow White(Amy Poehler), and Cinderella(Amy Sedaris) team up with Fiona and Queen Lillian(Julie Andrews) to try and foil the prince's plans.
Sadly, this movie just simply lacks the wit and punch that the first two films offered. Most of the jokes have a been there, done that type of feel to it, and the script really doesn't offer anything fresh. The back and forth banter between Donkey and Puss doesn't get the same type of response it did in the second film, and a brief personality switch, courtesy of Merlin(Eric Idle) is predictable at best. I will say that Timberlake gives a pretty good performance as Artie, and he shows that he has a future in film just in case that music thing doesn't work out. The films wraps up with a sense of closure, and hopefully, everybody will live happily ever after. This film gets 2 and a half stars from me.
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3 comments:
You took all of the words right out of my mouth! I was sitting in the theater waiting for those "slick jokes" that the Shrek movies delivers so well only to be left with a small chuckle when the Gingerbread man sh*t on himself. On this is one I would recommend you wait for the DVD.
Good review... I haven't seen "Shrek 2", and it sounds like I need to check that one out. As for this one, it sounds like it's not worth full price.
Man, thanks for saving me $7. Sounds like they should have had AT&T sponsor this flick cuz it sounds like everybody phoned it in....
okay, that was bad.
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