Shrek the Third

Oh, now here's a question. Where to begin my first review? Will I be kind as this is the first movie to come under my scrutiny? Or should I be harsh to the point of cruelty? So many angles to consider, so many words that could be used. Shall we start with the jumpy and threadbare storyline? Or perhaps look at the take-the-money-and-go voice acting? How about a nice sentence that would sum up the film in one breath: "Running out of steam very quickly ." There we are. A nice, short, easily-digestible soundbite for you.

This sentence is applicable to both the movie itself and to the Shrek franchise as a whole. The trilogy started well, introducing us to new characters set in the loner-saves-girl-gets-friends mould. It played the fairytale angle nicely and to great humour, and was a pioneer into the now familiar world of Computer Generated movies. The second took on from this and went a little bit bigger, although still relied an mostly the same formulae as the first. The third just peddles out the same with much less of the funnies. The characters whip out their catchphrases, dance their dance, and play their role. But we as an audience just don't care. It is, at best, an add-on for the second, but not a stand alone film.

The film opens with the main protagonists from the previous adventures (Shrek, Donkey, Puss in Boots, and Shrek's Lady Friend) they deliver a few jokes, pull a few faces and then its all downhill from there. Chuck in an 'adventure' that teeters on the adventureless, a weaker than weak character voiced by Justin Timberlake (just to pull in the lady vote) and so many morals that you feel like watching Barney the Dinosaur just for some relief. Mike Myers' annoying Scottish accent comes and gos, and he just gives the impression that he wished he had never come up with it in the first place. Not even cameo voices from two python old boys, Messrs Cleese and Idle, can up the comedy tempo from 'not moving'.

So in conclusion, if you did not get the gist from the above text, one to definitely miss.