Shrek the Third [Are Ogres still lovable?]

The first Shrek was a good film: Shrek was a complicated soul with an awesome personality, Fiona kicked feminine ass without being preachy about it, and Donkey…well, Donkey’s still annoying, but you can’t win ‘em all. The point was, their beautiful characterization and interactions made the movie all the more believable for me, so much that I could see Shrek and Fiona’s love by the end as well as Donkey’s loyal friendship to both. The second took things to a bigger extreme as is expected of most sequels and while again, the plot was solid, it didn’t have the emotional nor humorous depths the first one did. Something is wrong when I have to fake laugh throughout various scenes in the theaters because everyone else did.

I came to Shrek 3 with reluctance, but with a sense of eagerness. The Shrek franchise as a whole isn’t bad, but I was thrown off when Dreamworks announced they’d make a Shrek 4 and a possible Shrek 5 way back, something I view as overkill, but I would--could let it slide if they were brilliant or at least held good expectations in my eyes. Well…in the case of the third movie, it’s hit-and-miss...


( Ye olde Spoilers )