Shrek the Third

Voices of: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett, Eric Idle, Justin Timberlake, Larry King, John Krasinski, Ian McShane, Amy Poehler, Seth Rogen
Directed by: Chris Miller, Raman Hui
Rating: PG
Genre: Animated, Comedy, Adventure
2007

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Shrek (Mike Myers) is next in line for the throne, yet refuses to rule Far, Far Away. He travels to find the next heir so he can return to his swamp.

Review:

Tim: The Shrek franchise delivered two great animated films in a row. Shrek 2 was one of the highest grossing films of all time. Expectations couldn't be higher for the third film in the franchise. For that reason, it's shocking how terrible Shrek the Third is. Everything that made the first two films so great is missing here. I first saw this movie in 2007 when it first came out. It took me 9 years to get around to watching it again. It's a horrible disappointment.

It seems simple, but the first two Shrek films were great because they were legitimately funny and entertaining. That's all we need, right? The fact that they brought intelligence and a new spin on fairy tales helped. This film arrived with none of that. There's no intelligence in the script. I don't believe I laughed a single time in the whole film. It offers a series of moments that cause you to roll your eyes at their stupidity. It's like after the success of the first two films, everyone involved just stopped trying. Why bother? We have a built-in audience now. They'll show up for whatever crap we offer up. It's truly shocking to me to see the drop off in quality from the second film to this one. The original Shrek is one of the best animated films ever. The second movie was great- maybe not as good, but a worthy sequel. This film is one of the most disappointing, poorly made animated movies I have seen. It's hard to describe how little I cared for this movie.

To find some silver lining, I suppose there's some enjoyment in seeing these characters again. Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, and Puss are great characters. It's unfortunate they have nothing interesting to say or do here. However, their story progresses, so that is at least something. Not everything in this movie is terrible, I admit it. It's just missing anything that would elevate the material above the ordinary. This movie is a short 1 hour, 33 minutes- yet it was still hard to sit through. The first two films had several gags that were memorable and truly laugh-out-loud funny. This movie doesn't have a single one. The writers seemed to be either on autopilot and didn't care, or completely bankrupt of any fresh or original ideas. It's stunning to see how empty the vault is here. Sorry, I was supposed to be writing about positive things. I guess the animation is pretty decent.

Honestly, even after seeing this film twice and having 9 years to think about it, it still stuns me how bad this movie is compared to the first two. It takes a franchise that could have been one of the best animated franchises of all time and completely wrecks that. It brings it quickly back to earth. There's so little to like in Shrek the Third, it's a bitter travesty to see how it brought the franchise to its knees.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Shrek, Shrek 2