Shrek The Third
By Cory Peynado, Blockbuster.co.uk

“How can you be a reciever of the wedgies, when you are clearly not a wearer of the underpants?”

Shrek and his lovable crew return once again for the third instalment of the Award winning Shrek franchise. Time to journey back to that land far far away and catch up on the everyday happenings of the nation’s favourite and most unlikely family. It doesn’t stop there though as there are some new characters to meet, new places to visit and lots more trouble for them to get into.

We all know how it goes; the first movie is excellent, the second, even better, then usually the third comes along and rings out the rag for a few extra pennies with less quality and less effort put in. But I am happy to say that Shrek The Third has managed to avoid this certain pit fall and actually delivered a movie that carries the same level fun and enjoyment as its predecessors.

It’s been a fairly long wait (I mean it’s not like these Shrek movies take long to make or anything), as the second film was released in 2004, so the third movie was always going to be big. The only thing we didn’t know was what new surprises were in store for us. Well this time King Harold (John Cleese) is on his death bed, and therefore tells his son-in-law, Shrek (Mike Myers), that he wants him to be the next ruler of the land. But the jolly green ogre would rather return to his swamp home with his wife, Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), that’s why it comes as good news to him when he finds out there is another heir that could take the throne.

Shrek sets sail with his sidekicks Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) in search of this alternative hier. What they find, however, is Artie (Justin Timberlake), a small picked-on high school kid who doesn't seem to be king material. Nevertheless, Shrek convinces him he's right for the position, and they set off on their return trip. Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) however has hatched a plan to use all of the fairy tale world's villains to help him storm the castle and give all of them a happy ever after ending. Could this be the end of our Shrek adventures?

The film has two new directors, Chris Miller and Raman Hui, which explains why the third movie has a slightly different pace and feel. Technology has improved since the first film so there was always going to be some enhancements. They have still managed to capture the essence of Shrek and its addictive characters and it seems they have also polished things up a bit giving the animation a fresher and more vibrant look.

People will say that this is not the best chapter in the series and hey, maybe they’re right. With the bar set so high in the second film I really wasn’t expecting them to top it anyway. What can be said about the Third installement though is that if you are a shrek lover you will have no problem at all settling back into the swamps, sniggering at donkey and letting out a huge “ahhhhhhh” every time Puss in Boots tries to be cute.

This title has been rated 3054 times.