My Movie Review on Shrek the Third · 4:55pm Jan 18th, 2020

Greetings, lads and lasses.

This is your jolly film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.

Today, I’ll be giving you guys an analysis of a film that I believe is perfect for representing number 103: “Shrek the Third”.

Here’s the summary of this tale:

When Fiona’s father and king of Far Far Away falls gravely ill, Shrek and Fiona are looked to as the next in line for the throne. However, after Shrek keeps making one accident after another, and his desires to return to the swamp become apparent, Shrek goes on a quest with Donkey and Puss in Boots to find the only other heir to the throne: Arthur “Artie” Pendragon.

However, the devious Prince Charming seeks revenge on Shrek for the death of his mother and taking what he believes to be rightfully his: Far Far Away. And so, he recruits the villains of every storybook and overtakes the kingdom.

Will Shrek and friends somehow save Far Far Away and thwart whatever plan Charming has? Or will he finally get his happily ever after?

In reference to the film’s mixed reputation, I’d like to start by saying that I will admit the film wasn’t perfect.

Among the reasons for why I think so were that some of the jokes seemed to have fallen rather short of being funny or felt out of place. The character of Sleeping Beauty was also pretty useless to the film in the long run, as all she ever seemed to do most of the time was sleep a lot.

In spite of this, though, I really don’t get why this movie has such a mixed reputation. It was actually really fun.

The direction by Chris Miller and Raman Hui, the story by Andrew Adamson, and the screenplay by Miller, Aron Warner, Jeffrey Price, and Peter S. Seaman, were extremely entertaining and well-worked.

Not every joke was funny, but the film still had tons of hilarious comedy that was great enough to provide genuine laughter. The gags used with Donkey and Puss after they accidentally switched bodies were particularly hysterical, and so were many of the ones revolving around Merlin. To balance the scales, there was emotion and heart throughout the movie that helped it be alive, and the themes it had were uniquely astounding.

The animation of this movie was marvelous too. As with its predecessors, it captured a really terrific storybook look and feel that only a hand-drawn animated feature could often grasp, and it gave off a sense that it doesn’t seem to know when to stop growing. The fact that this was also the final film in the franchise to be co-produced by Pacific Data Images made the animation all-the-more impressive, because it was definitely a great send off for that company.

The music by Harry-Gregson Williams was likewise as melodious as ever. This being the third film in the franchise Williams had composed for, it was amazing that his style of music maintained its freshness and uniqueness.

Finally, the voice acting, casting, characters, and character development were incredible.

Among the elements I couldn’t help but enjoy were the roles that Fiona, Charming, and Queen Lillian played in this film. It was fun seeing Fiona display awesome leadership qualities and being the one doing the rescuing instead of needing to be rescued; Lillian’s character upgrading and the role she had in the movie was amazing too. Also, it was remarkable how Dreamworks developed Prince Charming into a villain that was a serious and fully-realized force to be reckoned with, and Rupert Everett did a great job portraying him.

The performances of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Antonio Banderas as Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots were both outstanding and hilarious, might I add. I don’t know what the three of them thought of the script themselves, but they sounded like they were having a lot of fun working on this movie. Plus, their characters, especially Shrek, had dynamic character development.

Lastly, the additions of Artie and Merlin were extroadinary, and Justin Timberlake and Eric Idle fit their parts like a glove. Out of the two of them, Timberlake delivered his performance as Artie with an astounding sense of youth and charm, and Eric Idle gave Merlin hysterical eccentricity and comedic-timings.

In conclusion, “Shrek the Third” isn’t perfect because of some of the jokes. But it delievers splendidly, and it’s what I’d classify as one of the most underrated sequels around.

So, I rate “Shrek the Third” 4 ½ out of 5 stars.