Shrek the Least (So Far)

Shrek The Third

(PG)

originally published May 23, 2007

Kermit the Frog sang it best. It ain’t easy being green. The monstrous success of Shrek 2 - the third biggest domestic film of all-time (behind Titanic and Star Wars) - ensures Shrek the Third will rule the box office until Pirates 3 docks next weekend. But wading into my own three-year-old critical assessment of the blisteringly funny Shrek 2 reaffirms the tepid temperature of Shrek the Third. The Jackie Chan of animated films should still be in traction, having broken every bone in its fairy tale body. With potent new fables to skewer - Arthurian legend and a four-pack of princesses (Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Snow White) - Shrek the Third had so much potential it failed to actualize. After the death of King Harold (voiced by John Cleese), the sovereign of Far Far Away, successor Shrek (v. Mike Myers), Donkey (v. Eddie Murphy) and Puss In Boots (v. Antonio Banderas) strike out for Worcestershire in search of the youthful Artie (v. Justin Timberlake). Worcestershire, a Beverly Hills High for legendary characters/ teenage clichés, marks Shrek the Third’s creative summit; the rest of the pic is a slow, steady climb down. While Shrek seeks Artie, Fiona (v. Cameron Diaz) must deal with Prince Charming (v. Rupert Everett), who has banded together with Far Far Away’s villains, led by Captain Hook (v. Ian McShane of “Deadwood”), to take the throne denied him by Shrek’s marriage to Fiona. (Wasn’t the idea of fairy tale baddies beating the system the premise of winter’s forgettable family flop, Happily N’Ever After?) Fiona, her sisters in tiaras (voiced by Amy Poehler, Amy Sedaris, Maya Rudolph and Cheri Oteri) and their ugly stepsisters (v. Larry King and Regis Philbin) must go all medieval on Charming’s ass to save Shrek and the kingdom.

Shrek the Third amends one of the largest criticisms lobbed at its two predecessors. Whereas Shrek and Shrek 2 were non-stop engines of visual and verbal punning, Shrek the Third drops into a lower gear. How does a series as resourceful as Shrek waste the Arthurian legend so? We get Lancelot (v. John Krasinski of "The Office") and Merlin (v. Eric Idle), but no sword, no stone and no imaginative mockery. Shrek the Third is that friend who takes for granted that you want to hang out. He doesn’t plan on entertaining you; he believes his mere presence will take care of that measly detail. And where Shrek 2 added blissful new buddy Puss In Boots to the mix, Shrek the Third fails to even provide welcome new company. I kept waiting for Poehler, Sedaris and co. to light up the screen, but it never happened. Uncharacteristically unfunny, uninspired and uncaring, Shrek the Third is far, far away the least of the franchise’s three films.

Drew Wheeler