Shrek the Third was unavoidable. The first film was a surprise hit, an audacious critical and audience darling that raked in the cash and won an Oscar. More surprisingly, the first sequel, creatively titled Shrek 2, was just as good as its original—both films were fresh, irreverent and incredibly funny.
To say that Shrek the Third is unavoidable is an understatement. The success of the first two films has turned the grumpy, gaseous ogre into a marketer’s wet dream. His big green face is seen on hamburger packaging, toothpaste, video games, soft drinks. Hell, you can’t even put on a condom these days without seeing Shrek.
Not surprisingly, Shrek the Third finds the franchise up to the same old tricks. Shrek (again voiced by Mike Myers) is sitting as the temporary king of fairytale kingdom Far Far Away, but he’s not happy with his position in the public eye. He just wants to hang out in his swampy home, eating boogers and rolling in the mud.
The ogre enlists Donkey and Puss in Boots (Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas, reprising their show-stealing vocal roles) to travel overseas to find a distant heir to the throne, a teenage nerdlinger named Artie (you know, that dude with the round table), who attends a medieval high school complete with valley girls and “Just Say Nay” banners. Voiced by former NSYNCer Justin Timberlake, Artie isn’t exactly fit to be king, but you can bet your bottom dollar that Shrek will teach him a life lesson about believing in yourself (the same lesson from the first two films) with the help of a stoned-out Merlin voiced by Eric Idle.
Meanwhile, Shrek’s wife, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), is knocked up and holding a baby shower with a posse of Disney princesses, among them a narcoleptic Sleeping Beauty and a bitchy Snow White. The party is interrupted by Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), the villain of the second film, who charges the kingdom with a legion of disgruntled fairy-tale villains, who include Captain Hook, Rumplestiltskin and puppet-maker Geppetto, who suffers from empty-nest syndrome.
Will Shrek make it back in time to save his wife? Will Artie man up and take his place at the throne? Will Shrek’s baby poop and vomit profusely?
Well, yeah. It’s a kids’ movie.
But it’s not the predictability of the story that’s the problem with Shrek the Third. It’s the lack of freshness. There was a real kick in watching the first film unfold, lampooning every fairytale convention with pop-culture savvy and a breathless arsenal of original, crass jokes.
But the third time around, you just expect it. Sure, there are laughs aplenty in the film. The sequence with Snow White belting out Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song is a riot, and nobody can argue the cuteness of half donkey/half dragon babies who fart fire.
When jokes are fired at a rate of 1,000 per minute, some are bound to register. But the freshness of the franchise is gone, and Shrek the Third only really gives us exactly what we’d expect—which is the exact opposite of the unexpected hilarity of the first two.
Sure, it’s funny, every voice is a famous one and the animation is top-notch. And yes, kids and adults will certainly enjoy it. But the main thing the franchise had going for it all along was its wit and originality. And sadly, the third time around that’s what’s missing.
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