Shrek Forever After
It is almost ten years since the original Shrek became a hit. It is
three years from the third film in the series becoming a bit of an expensive
bomb. It is at least a good five years since the names of voice stars Mike
Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas were considered to be
selling points for a movie. After the troll character has been saturated
into popular culture with a Broadway musical, TV specials, video games,
toys, etc., the question lingers: Is there really a crowd waiting for a
fourth and final Shrek movie? In fact, wasn’t the third one also
supposed to be the final chapter at the time?
Apparently Dreamworks thinks there is an audience out there, because with
their aggressive pricing policies if you opt to pay extra to see Shrek
Forever After in both IMAX and 3D, the film is the first wide release to
hit the $20.00 mark for a single ticket.
Is it worth the $20.00? Probably not. I saw it in 2D
on a normal sized screen and I don’t feel I
lost any of the experience – and I had a $10.00 savings. In fact, Shrek
Forever After does not even seem to be overly set up for 3D – it seems
more like the recent Clash of the Titans or upcoming Last
Airbender where 3D effects were added on in the last minute as an excuse
to charge extra. In fairness, Shrek Forever After was always planned
as a 3D film – it just doesn’t really probably need or
warrant the extra dimension.
Okay, I know, some people out there are wondering shouldn’t I be reviewing
the movie rather than the cost of the movie? Fair enough point, but
Dreamworks opened the door to this by charging a historically high charge
for a completely average movie, so I think it is
worthy of note.
Now, on to the movie…
Shrek Forever After
may as well be called It’s a Wonderful Shrek. The series has always
been a hip goof on hoary old fairy tale clichés, so I guess it was only a
matter of time before they dragged out the old storyline where the hero
wishes that he had never existed – only to find out how differently life
would have gone without him.
Ironically, life would have gone on just the same for most of the audience
without this movie. The Shrek series is just running out the clock
here – occasionally stumbling over some real laughs, but mostly just wildly
overexerting and overacting (as if it is possible for a
bunch of animated characters to overact).
Ironically, most of the laughs here are courtesy of the bad guy,
Rumplestiltskin – played by Walter Rohrn, who seems to be channeling
John Lithgow at his most flamboyant.
Also, in fairness, Mike Myers does some of his best, subtlest and most
emotional voice work in this chapter, even though it is at the service of
some rather pedestrian writing.
Is Shrek Forever After awful? No, not at all. In fact, it is a
little step up from Shrek the Third.
Still, the franchise feels tired and creaky. It’s time to go away from
the land of Far, Far Away.
Hopefully, this time the filmmakers are being
straight about this being the final chapter.
Ken Sharp
Copyright ©2010 PopEntertainment.com.
All rights reserved. Posted: May 30, 2010.
