Shrek the Third (2007)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Absolutely the worst movie.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The smartest thing about this third entry is actually its contextual pun of a title, which represents perhaps the only thing this poorly paced piece has to offer that's even remotely equal to either of its predecessors. 'Shrek The Third (2007)' is certainly a large step down, a pandering piece almost purposely lacking any of the subtlety, wit and slyly adult humour so prevalent in the franchise, but that's not to say that it doesn't have its occasional moments or that the characters aren't as likeable and well-performed as ever, it's just that it all feels slightly stale. 5/10

Shrek The Third (2007)Plot In A Paragraph: When the King dies, Shrek goes on a quest to find a new king. Whilst he is gone, the jilted Prince Charming takes over Far, Far AwayWOW. This was awful. None of the brilliance of the first movie, none of the charm of the second, and certainly none of the laughs. The funniest character in both of the precious movies was Eddie Murphy's Donkey, and he is pushed onto the background here, along with Antonio Banderas' Puss In Boots. I did make it to the end, unlike my girlfriends daughter. Shrek The Third grossed $322 at the domestic box office, to end the year the 2nd highest grossing movie of 2007.

This film really disappointed. I loved the first two, the second one was the high point which is rare for sequels. This film focused less on Shrek and more on Justin Timberlake's take on a version of King Arthur that I don't even think the kiddos would have wanted. I have to wonder, Justin Timberlake was referenced slightly in the second film, could that have had anything to do with his presence in this movie?I feel the main problem with this film is the lack of Shrek, yes Shrek is throughout the film but rather than have the lovable Shrek that existed in this film, we focus more on his family dynamic which intertwines with the plot line of Arthur. Shrek becomes somewhat of a secondary character in his own franchise no longer the happy go lucky ogre but a (sigh) even more complex and developed character. Don't get me wrong, you need to flesh out a character, but I think you can go a little too far with just about anything, like drugs...I feel if they had tossed the whole "fatherhood" plot line the film would have been markedly better. Perhaps focusing more on Shrek getting back to his swamp and out of Far Far Away. The conflict from the previous movies was about finding true love and overcoming stereotypes, the second one did something similar with the parents and Fiona choosing the real Shrek over the "new" Shrek. Both of the prior films focused on topics that had more to do with an ugly ogre than a family ogre. This is reminiscent of the "Ice Age" films where the mammoth started a family over the course of the films and they gradually got worse and worse even though the animation effects were getting better and better. I feel the Arthur plot line could have been done better if they had fleshed it out more. In fact this film feels really fast certainly not as long or effective as the previous films. The villain was also somewhat of an odd choice, it really did not make much sense for the vapid Prince Charming to have the cunning or nerves to start a villain rebellion and take over the city. A better villain should have been Morgan La Faye or Mordred, two characters that would have fit better into the Arthurian mythos. I feel that maybe what could have been done instead of Shrek seeking out Arthur would have been for the young Arthur to instead seek out Shrek to slaughter as a way to prove himself worthy as king. Leave Far Far Away out of the picture and maybe even have the "problems with Fiona" subplot to not to be about potential fatherhood but instead getting back together in the end and overcoming petty differences. Really, they should have stopped at the second Shrek film where the characters were "happily ever after" and not much else could be done with them. I know that Shrek is a semi sarcastic adult take on fairy tales, but potential fatherhood is, well, not as big a draw as a sarcastic ogre finding love in a princess, which was a much better subversion of the traditional conception of standard fairy tales. This one was meh, and the fourth one was bleh.Quick note. This website doesn't allow brackets? Oh well...

The king is ill so Shrek and Fiona have to take over various royal duties with fairly disastrous results. Then the King dies and it looks as though Shrek is going to be the next king, something he does not want, luckily just before dying the king mentioned another heir; Arthur. Shrek, Donkey and Puss in Boots set off to find Arthur and as their boat sets sail Fiona tells Shrek that she is pregnant. While they are away bringing a reluctant Arthur back to Far, Far Away Prince Charming is rallying various fairy tale villains to help him seize the kingdom. On the way home Shrek and his fellow travellers meet the wizard Merlin who helpfully transports them back home… unfortunately swapping the bodies of Donkey and Puss! By now Charming has taken the Kingdom and Fiona and the various fairy tale 'princesses' are imprisoned… but not for long.The first two films in the series were a lot of fun but sadly while this is still pretty decent it falls a fair way short of those two films. Trying to add elements of the Legend of King Arthur didn't work as well as they might have done as he was a fairly boring character. Other aspects of the story just don't make sense; most notably the idea that when the king dies Shrek would be the next ruler rather than Princess Fiona. There is also a lack of decent songs; apart from the rather amusing use of the theme from 'Live and Let Die' during the King's funeral none were memorable. There are some good points of course; having Donkey and Puss swap bodies was rather amusing, the king's extended death scene was hilarious (loved the fly) and it is great the see that the damsels were far from in distress as they broke out of the dungeon. Overall a decent enough film but a bit disappointing as a 'Shrek' film.