Review: Shrek Forever After
Posted May 20, 2010 11:06 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The first Shrek was a smart and funny film that was a ton of fun to watch. Back in 2001 it was also one of the first animated films outside of Disney and Pixar to really catch on with the masses too. Sadly it was all downhill for the franchise from there. Shrek 2 was tolerable at best and Shrek the Third grated on my nerves so badly I never wanted to see the characters onscreen again. So it was with much anguish that I went to the latest installment, Shrek Forever After, expecting to hate it. To my surprise it seems like the filmmakers learned from their mistakes and went back to the formula that made the first one work and at least tried to deliver something on par with it in tone.
Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) and Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz) have settled down together with their three children and have fallen into a routine — a routine Shrek is not happy about. He’s tired of changing diapers, fixing the clogged outhouse, hearing the same stories over dinner from his friends Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas), and is tired of people not being scared of him anymore. He makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin (voiced by Walt Dohrn) to have one day for himself where he doesn’t have to deal with it all. What Shrek doesn’t know is that this one day could cost him his life, and he’s thrown into an alternate world where he never saved Fiona, met his friends Donkey and Puss in Boots, or was even born. Will he be able to solve the riddle to make things right or will he fade away and not live happily ever after?
Unlike the previous films, which were aimed towards children with little jokes thrown in for adults, Shrek Forever After is a very adult-oriented story. I can imagine many adults relating to Shrek’s frustration with the day-to-day monotony of married-with-children life. At one point I actually felt the story might have driven too far away from its target audience but then they unleashed a hilariously overweight Puss in Boots and the kids roared with laughter and the balance was reset (I’m still laughing over it too actually).
What I didn’t like much about this addition was the new villain Rumpelstiltskin. Maybe it was his voice and the fact that he came across so whiny about everything or maybe because he just didn’t fit with the rest of the vibe of the movie. Either way, when he was the focus of attention it got annoying very fast. The film was also in 3-D and it didn’t need to be. There are hardly any action sequences and the few times the 3-D was used to its full potential it still didn’t seem warranted. If anything I felt the 3-D washed out the colour, and the beautiful animation, as it seems to do with everything presented in it.
If you believe the actors and the studio then Shrek Forever After is the last film in the Shrek universe. Here’s hoping they keep their word because while it is better than the previous sequels there is really nowhere else for this story, or these characters, to go.
*** out of 5 stars
Rated PG
Cast: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz
Directed by: Mike Mitchell
Official Site IMDb
brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com
ALSO OPENING THIS WEEK: MacGruber, Harry Brown, The Cry of the Owl, Kites, Mid-August Lunch, Leslie, My Name is Evil
Top image: A scene from Shrek Forever After. Courtesy Paramount Pictures.
