Shrek the Third - 2.5/5
The most disappointing of the summer's threequels so far. It still looks great, but the main problem is that its just not funny enough.
Part of the problem seems to be that Shrek (Mike Myers) himself has actually developed as a character - he's grown, become happier and less insecure - all well and good, but it makes him one heck of a lot less funny! Then you have the comedic golddust of Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss-in-Boots (Antonio Banderas) who stole the first and second movies respectively. They don't seem to know what to do with them here, so they're subjected to a rather lame body-swap sub-plot which the scriptwriters obviously get embarassed by and do very little with. It amounts to a total waste of great characters.
And the thing is, that with the gag rate down, the sentiment and the same "just be yourself" message actually starts to be a bit mawkish.
That's not to say Shrek the Third doesn't have its moments and there are some genuinely funny bits here - John Cleese as the king in an incredibly drawn out death sequence, the fairy-tale princesses going into battle mode and Eric Idle as an incompetent Merlin is intermittently funny. There's certainly enough here to keep little ones entertained and older ones amused, but it all finishes up rather anti-climactic as the final battle is stopped by more sickening sentiment, your left feeling like a good punch-up would have been more satisfying. The closing credits musical number also feels like a by the numbers attempt to copy parts 1 and 2 than any genuine inspiration.
This isn't a bad film - its a passable, fun, entertaining, family animation, but after the genius of the first two films, comes as a bit of a crashing disappointment and means that the news that Shreks 4 and 5 have already been greenlit strike a note of dread into your heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment