The Shrek story takes on an It's A Wonderful Life as Shrek wishes he could have his old life back.
- Who's going to like it: Kids and parents will enjoy this final installment in the Shrek franchise.
The first and second Shrek
films were funny, inventive, and original. The third film bombed horribly, and
pretty much signaled the death of the “Shrek” franchise. When a fourth Shrek
film was announced it was a not so subtle grasp at one last ditch effort from
Dreamworks to extract as much money from the collective wallets of the movie
going public as possible.
Fortunately for us, the
fourth Shrek film isn’t a disaster. It’s actually quite funny, but still not
as original as the first two films. Shrek has grown tired of the day-in-day-out
life of being a dad, and no longer being feared by the townspeople. Everyday is
the same thing. Dirty diapers, burping babies, same friends, nothing changes.
What follows seems like
someone from the Dreamworks team went home and watched It’s a Wonderful Life,
and said, “I know what the plot for the next Shrek movie is.”
Having grown tired of his
job as a full-time dad and not so scary ogre, Shrek readily wishes he could
change his life around, just for a day. Enter the conniving Rumpelstiltskin who
way back during the time period of the first movie had his plans to take over
the
The rest of the film is
filled with the comical Shrek gags we’ve come to know and love as the film
pokes fun at all of the characters from the old-time fairy tales. After the
first five minutes or so of solid poop and fart jokes, the movie finds its
footing and delivers funny scene after funny scene.
The look of Shrek’s world
hasn’t changed one bit since we first saw it. The animation is all the same.
After all these years you’d think that Dreamworks would have been able to think
up an animation process that didn’t make regular people appear like they have the
flexibility of cardboard.
The writing is clever enough
to keep parents entertained, while the kids can laugh at the more slapstick
humor contained herein. It doesn’t have the sophistication or downright
hilarity as other recent computer animated films like Cloudy with a Chance of
Meatballs, or Up, but it does have quite a bit of that old Shrek humor we
were missing from the third film.
If this is indeed the last
film of this franchise (you never know) then it’s a proper send off for the
characters and the movies. It’s a fun adventure that can be enjoyed by parents
and children. What it lacks in originality, it makes up with some really funny
humor. While this likely isn’t the best animated flick you’ll take your kids to
this year, it definitely isn’t the worst. Thinking back to the third movie
that’s really saying something.
(3 1/2 out of 5)
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