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What does the title mean? Well, I think with the way that the story has evolved, the movie would've been better for direct-to-DVD treatment rather than the full silver screen treatment.
The story focuses on Shrek (Mike Myers) living the lives most of the dads in the audience were living--helping their wives (in this case Fiona, voiced by Cameron Diaz) care for their kids and entertain friends (in this case, Puss in Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas and Donkey, voiced by Eddie Murphy). However, Shrek gets a case of mid-life crisis and feels that he's missing the freedom he once had when he was a feared ogre. Enter Rumplestilksin (Walt Dohrn), ready to make a deal with Shrek so he can get his bachelor life back. The catch: he has to give up a day, which turns out to be the day he was born. So, in order to break the deal, Shrek has to kiss his true love, Fiona, but Fiona is now the leader of a ogre resistance with no time for romance.
This movie is, on the whole, very entertaining. But when you begin to dissect the film, the film just plays like an episode of "Shrek: The TV Series" instead of a movie series. You already know what the ending is (albeit there are some turns the movie took that mildly surprised me), but (except for Shrek), the characters have less to do and even less to say, which is a shame since Donkey, Puss, Pinocchio, and Gingie the Gingerbread Cookie are crowd favorites. Even the newer characters have nothing to do really, and the star-studded voice acting--including Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Jane Lynch, Jon Hamm, and Craig Robinson--are underutilized.
The main draw for this movie is for fans of the series to revisit their favorite characters one last time (supposedly, since this is supposedly the last Shrek film). The film is great for a mild diversion, but not one to match the quirky greatness of the original Shrek.
I totally agree with you about the film running like a TV episode. It was entertaining enough, but nothing to Wow over.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review.
I enjoyed the film; it made me laugh and was entertaining, but it wasn't a "wow" type of film. Also, you had a great point about the characters not having much to say. I really thought they would be in this one a little more, and had especially been looking forward to Rumpelstiltskin.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reviewing!