Shrek the Third is the X-Men: The Last Stand of Shrek movies: overstuffed with characters, short and fast-paced, and overdone just enough to convince some that it's time for the series to take a rest.
Shrek the Third brings back the voices of Mike Myers as Shrek, Eddie Murphy as Donkey, Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona, Antonio Banderas as Puss In Boots, Julie Andrews and John Cleese as Queen Lillian and King Harold and Rupert Everett as Prince Charming. Joining them are: Justin Timberlake as Artie; Eric Idle as Merlin the magician; Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cheri Oteri as Snow White, Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty respectively; Amy Sedaris as Cinderella; John Krasinski as Lancelot; Ian McShane as Captain Hook; and Larry King and Regis Philbin as the ugly stepsisters Doris and Mabel, respectively. The CG-animated toon was directed by Chris Miller and co-directed by Raman Hui, with Aron Warner producing. Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman and Miller & Aron Warner wrote the script from a story by Andrew Adamson.
The sequel finds Shrek poised to become the king of Far Far Away after King Harold dies. He and his wife Fiona are forced to stand-in for the king and queen, enduring respective makeovers in order to make them appear more regal. Alas, you can dress him up but you can't take him out. Poor Shrek can't even christen a ship without mayhem ensuing, but it's not just his clumsiness that makes Shrek wary of becoming king. He simply doesn't want the responsibility. That, however, will find Shrek no matter how much he tries to avoid it. Shrek dreams of returning to his swamp home with Fiona, but unless he can find a replacement he will be stuck serving as king. The only other possible heir is Artie, a distant relative of Fiona's.
As Shrek, Donkey and Puss embark on a quest to find Artie, Fiona reveals to Shrek that she is pregnant. Shrek is understandably shaken but this revelation only makes him all the more determined to locate Artie and convince him to succeed King Harold. The trio make their way to Worcestershire high school, where the students speak in an anachronistic mixture of medieval speech and contemporary slang. Shrek sees a burly jock on the athletic field and immediately assumes that this is his man but that heroic-looking figure is actually Lancelot. Artie is the stringbean that Lancelot and his pals use as target practice in their jousts. Shrek has his work cut out for him if he's going to turn the meek Artie into the man who would be King Arthur.
Meanwhile, the nefarious Prince Charming arrives at the Poison Apple tavern where he woos the other fairy tale rogues -- including Captain Hook and Rumpelstiltskin -- to join him in his planned conquest of Far Far Away. Fiona's baby shower -- attended by the fairy tale princesses Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty -- is disrupted by an attack from Charming and his army, who swoop down on Far Far Away on flying broomsticks and terrorize the inhabitants. Fiona and the princesses escape into a network of catacombs but the rest of the residents are not as fortunate. Shrek, Artie, Donkey and Puss make their way through the woods until they arrive at the home of Artie's former teacher Merlin, who now lives a Ben Kenobi-like hermit existence.
Merlin agrees to help transport the gang back to Far Far Away. Unfortunately, his sorcery ain't what it used to be. Upon being returned home, Puss and Donkey find they have switched bodies! Shrek learns that Charming plans to change the outcome of fairy tale history by putting on a play wherein he slays the beast threatening the kingdom and saves the day. And that beast is Shrek, who is imprisoned beneath the theater. This leads to Fiona and the other princesses to save the day, a climactic action set-piece that turns more than one fairy tale convention on its head.
As cute as it is to see these storybook staples satirized, it's become old hat thanks to the earlier Shrek films and several subsequent animated knock-offs. Also, this film is so rife with characters that you never quite connect with any of them. McShane's Captain Hook was underutilized, as was Idle's Merlin. Artie is the only new character that you truly get to know but his "from zero to hero" schtick is as tired now as poking fun at fairy tales. The king's death is a bit too glib for its own good, especially when you're supposed to be moved by his passing (it is Fiona's father after all). There's a bizarre use of Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" that comes out of left field. Why use that song rather than an original score? It felt like a VH1 moment for kids' parents.
On the plus side, this is the best-looking Shrek film yet. The filmmakers have attained a level of photo-realism in the animation here that is truly remarkable, from the texture and motion of characters' skin and their range of expressions to natural elements such as water, fire and foliage. On this level, Shrek the Third stands far above the first two films.
While Shrek the Third offered several good laughs (for both kids and adults), the overall endeavor has a "been there, done that" vibe that begs the question whether this series needs to go Far Far Away for awhile.
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