Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Shrek the Third (2007)


I saw this movie to relax my mind at the end of a hard, long day. And it did just the trick. It was nice to see a movie with a familiar feel, setting and characters, that didn’t require any real thought on the part of the audience. It was pure mind-numbingness.

Shrek the Third (or Donkey’s Revenge, as I like to think of it) followed the usual Shrek plot outline. As always, Shrek has to overcome his problems relating to people in order for everyone to have a happy, fairy tale ending. And everyone does! In this installation, Shrek and Fiona are filling in as king and queen of Far, Far Away. Shrek journeys with Donkey and Puss in Boots to find Arthur, a teenager who, except for Shrek and Fiona, is the only rightful heir of the kingdom. Shrek has already decided that he doesn’t want to be king, and just wants to go back to his swamp, so he goes on this quest to find Arthur. Meanwhile, Fiona finds out that she is pregnant, and Prince Charming gathers all the villains from a myriad of fairy tales to attack the kingdom, so that he can become king of Far, Far Away. Fiona gathers the usually dainty fairy tale damsels in distress (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White) to defend the kingdom in that crazy, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon style of hers. Needless to say, everything works out in the end.

It’s always delightful to me when I watch a cartoon, be it a pen and paper cartoon, or a computer animated film, and I forget that it’s a cartoon. Shrek 3 definitely accomplished this. There was a fantastic and really impressive bit of CGI when Prince Charming tosses his hair, and you can see all the little hairs blowing in the wind. It was neat.

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