The year was 2001 and the film everyone was talking about was breaking ground for its genre and became a game changer. Shrek came into our lives and stood high with the huge Hollywood hitters and big Blockbuster films of that year and quite certainly lived up to the hype it had around it. A film that parodied Disney but added a beautiful story and screenplay that would ultimately be nominated for an Academy Award was the talk of the Hollywood town. Not only was it nominated for a big Academy Award but it was nominated and won the very first Best Animated Feature award in the Academy Awards. Shrek became the biggest animated film since Toy Story and anything Disney had up their sleeves. Shrek 2 would become an even bigger film and broke records in 2004, becoming the highest grossing animated film and 3rd highest grossing film of all time. But Shrek 2 has been called the greatest animated film of all time and lived up to the great film of the 1st Shrek film. Then DreamWorks made a third film and destroyed the legacy of this beautiful franchise and had no heart and soul in this film that was in the first 2 Shrek films. Shrek the Third is often called the biggest joke in the Shrek franchise and even in DreamWorks and while I have defended this film for years it finally came to my attention and finally hit me, this film is not good. The film might have brought in over $810 million in the box office because it has the name “Shrek” in it and he is a big marketable name, but that doesn’t make it a cinematic masterpiece. Shrek the Third manages to somehow tarnish the franchise and brings it down to a dumb intellectual level. And I don’t mean that as a joke, it is intellectually a dumb film. We are coming close to the end of Animation Month so I want to finally get this off of my chest and review DreamWorks biggest joke of a film and talk about why Shrek the Third is DreamWorks’ saddest attempt of a film.
*SPOILER WARNING AHEAD*
Now keep this in mind, from when this film first came out to a couple of years ago I was a big fan of this film, mainly due to the fact that I love Shrek and Justin Timberlake was voicing a character in it. I ultimately defended this film but after watching analytical essay review videos from Schaffrillas Productions, JackFilms and then being put into a Shrek the Third reviews hole for hours, I watched the film for myself and it finally hit me that the movie I defended and put so much love for has now become a huge question mark on top of my brain, questioning why did I ever like this film. Again if you enjoy this film then that is your opinion but for me I still will watch the film but will probably lose the love for it like I did as a kid.
The first two Shrek films were put together by the same name of people that teamed up pretty well together to make the films. Andrew Adamson was the Co-director for those films but he only wrote the story for this film and many things were changed. He was in the middle of filming the Chronicles of Narnia at the point of the pre-production of this film so the director’s chair for Shrek the Third went to Chris Miller. Now while Chris Miller was a part of multiple DreamWorks animated films like Antz, Madagascar and of course the Shrek franchise, but he was mostly in the storyboard, an artist or voicing a small role. But the point of me talking about the past director to the now director is simple; Adamson directed a great movie with Vicky Jenson that had an incredible screenplay from many great screenwriters. Then in the 2nd film Adamson put together a great screenplay and co-directed an even better film with Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon, keeping the legacy going and bringing new insights within the film. Chris Miller just took the wheel for this one and kind of ruined everything Adamson and the rest of the first two productions worked so hard to put together. But I will get to that later on. Shrek The Third has a very huge voice cast that includes Mike Myers (Shrek), Eddie Murphy (Donkey), Cameron Diaz (Fiona), Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots), Julie Andrews (Queen Lillian), Rupert Everett (Prince Charming), Justin Timberlake (Arthur), Eric Idle (Merlin), Amy Poehler (Snow White), Maya Rudolph (Rapunzel), Amy Sedaris (Cinderella) Cheri Oteri (Sleeping Beauty), Ian McShane (Hook), Larry King (Doris) and John Cleese (King Harold). Now I can’t lie it’s a pretty cool voice cast, but I mean half of these characters were one-dimensional or were just plain bland and added nothing towards the story or other characters. Not only that but all the main characters that have been in the first two films felt kind of stupid and felt like they’re character development was taken down and destroyed in the film’s narrative. But again I don’t blame the voice cast for this, I blame the screenwriters and director for this as they really made this film feel more of a straight to DVD type of film or a after school program put into a 90 minute long film. Yeah that last one feels more like it. Now like my other reviews I will talk about key moments and scenes of the film but I will also talk about what bothered me and that will include a couple of characters. Let’s move on and begin our journey by opening Shrek the Third’s book.
Oh wait that’s right this film doesn’t have the “open the book and begin our film with a story introduction”. The first film did it to parody Disney princess films and it was a very funny meta thing to do that ultimately worked for the film entirely. The second film did the same thing but for this film it just opens with Prince Charming pretending to put on a decent performance at some establishment that serves drinks and food. I can’t tell if it’s a restaurant or bar so judge it however you want but for this review we will call it an establishment. But this scene shows us that Prince Charming is going to be our villain as the crowd boo’s him and cheers for a man dressed as Shrek, thus showing us that Prince Charming wants revenge on Shrek for taking the girl of his dreams, killing his mommy Fairy Godmother and being so loved by the people. Now I get why it makes sense to make Prince Charming as the villain as he lost everything in Shrek 2 and is pretty much a 5 bucks an hour actor and is at his lowest point of his life but let’s be real, he is no threat compared to the other two villains. Lord Farquaad was a compelling villain who was a threat to Shrek. Yes he is a short man who is King of his royal city but he gets in the way of Shrek’s love in the middle of the film and is a better version of Prince Charming. But then there is Fairy Godmother who from beginning to the end of the film was a great compelling and threatening villain towards Shrek as she not only got in the way of Shrek’s relationship with Fiona but she manipulated King Harold to get in the way of Shrek and Fiona’s relationship. Prince Charming was just there because mommy was going to give him everything and once that was all taken away he just became a cry baby brat who only power was his brains, or some sort of brains that he has. I never did like Charming in Shrek 2 but he played the role of the divide between Shrek and Fiona as he was the fake Shrek in the plot, but in this film his purpose is just to destroy Shrek but it doesn’t work in the film’s main story.
Shrek the Third mainly has two stories centered around Shrek, a new heir of the throne and Shrek becoming a daddy. The first scene Shrek is in we see him taking the Kingly duties at the moment because Frog King Harold is sick, so Fiona and Shrek borrow the role of Queen and King and either knight someone, Christen a ship or going to the ball and dressing up as royal highnesses and Shrek does a poor job at all of that and that includes knighting someone as he has most likely been murdered. The only good thing about that whole 3 minute scene was the background song that kind of plays well with a song in Shrek 2 that talks about needing sleep and in this song the first line we hear is I got some sleep. It’s a fun little continuity thing but it’s the best part of this scene. What we get next is butt jokes and plain boring dialogue. After this we learn about the King is dying and he wants Shrek to be the new king. However Shrek doesn’t believe he fits the task in hand so King Harold says there is one person who can take the throne, Fiona’s cousin Artie aka Arthur. Then Harold dies and they have a funeral for the Frog with many other frogs singing Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die. I need to slip away from me trying to make a point to talk about this scene because it was a poor excuse of storytelling. So Frog King Harold is dying and the filmmakers of this movie decided oh let’s make a funny scene with a man’s death and let’s fake his death multiple times and make it look funny. Oh and he is a frog so let him eat a fly before he dies peacefully, yeah that will make the kids laugh…NO! Then let’s put a James Bond movie song in a scene that is way out of context but because it has the word “Die” in the songs title it then magically works for the scene…again NO! Already 12 minutes into this film and I literally haven’t gotten to my point about Charming. Let’s get back to our scheduled program and talk about Shrek being a daddy. So Fiona hints to Shrek multiple times that she wants to start a family but when Shrek, Donkey and Puss go onto the journey to bring Arthur back to Far, Far, Away she yells to him “You’re going to be a father”. This then makes Shrek very worried and panic throughout the journey. Pretty much to finally get to my point, for this film Prince Charming never was a threat to the relationship for Shrek and Fiona, something that he was half apart of in the last film. But he also was no way in the way of Shrek being a father. Unless he killed Shrek and left Fiona a widow and a single mother then yeah he was a compelling/threatening villain for this movie, but he only cared for the throne and the name of “King” and that story is merely a sub plot to Shrek being a baby daddy to Fiona and his future children. Plus Charming uses other villains in this film to take the throne and try and capture Shrek on his journey and create a 5th grade play just to kill Shrek, which again is not a big threat but more of a big brat who has mommy issues.
There is a couple of scenes I do like, one that is probably the best scene and thing about this film, but another that is just in the film for….reasons. So Fiona’s baby shower scene is just filler and something for Fiona to do in this film. It’s not the worst scene in the film but it also isn’t a great scene. I love it a lot mainly because my sister did the scene in her acting school show many years ago and I helped her with her lines before the big show so I genuinely have love for this scene. It also parodies fairytale/Disney princesses in the most annoying way, including having Sleeping Beauty have sleep apnea because “Sleep” is in her name and kids will laugh at it…I seriously question the IQ of the people who created this movie. But other than that the princesses weren’t a big role in the film’s narrative and the remaining supporting characters that have been in the past Shrek films were in the scene for comedic affect. Again I like this scene but I can see why people don’t like it and find it very absurd. But then we have the scene where Shrek and Arthur have a heart to heart moment with each other. Prior to this scene we learn that Arthur is a loser in his “high school” and he lacks any confidence. He pretty much has the worst character development in the franchise but we already know who to blame for that, *coughs* Chris Miller and the screenwriters *cough*. But at the same time Shrek is continuing to be worried about being a father and if he will be even good at it. This includes us seeing a very nightmarish scene of Shrek having a nightmare about him being a dad and having million of babies and Donkey and Puss being orge babies. But thankfully we have this scene where Arthur and Shrek have a real moment together. Of course we had to have a comedic moment with a cliché sad song in the background before it begins. Anyway prior to this we learn that Arthur’s father left him and his mom while he was young and this then leaves Shrek to have a heart to heart talk with him. Shrek already knows what it is like not to have a father and to not be liked by anyone. Shrek is an ogre and people once were scared of him and saw him as a monster, something he began to believe. This parallels to Arthur and people seeing him as a loser, thus him believing it too but also believing that his father left because he was nothing. Shrek had a father-son moment with Arthur and in a way helped him a bit get some self confidence with himself but also to forget what people say about you and trust yourself for who you really are. It’s not the most powerful scene in the franchises’ history but for the context of the film’s narrative and Shrek’s story/character arc this scene works as a whole and we see Shrek kind of being a father to Arthur. And this scene kind of feels like the scene in Shrek where Shrek opens up to Donkey about the way people see him as a monster because he is an ogre. This scene in general plays well with the film’s plot and it helps the film a bit. It’s probably one of the real positive things about the movie but I’m not making any arguments about it.
The final act of this film is all over the place. First of all Merlin magically brings Shrek, Donkey Puss and Arthur to Far, Far Away but this then leads to Donkey and Puss switching bodies. It’s done for comedy but it seems cliché if you ask me and does nothing for the film other than to give something for Puss and Donkey to do. Also this then leads to Shrek and Charming to be face to face with one another but then there is tension between Arthur and Shrek even though Shrek is trying to protect Arthur from being killed. I don’t have a problem with Shrek talking shit about Arthur but it’s the way it is pulled off that ruins it for me. We just had a deep heart to heart scene with the two not even 15 minutes ago and now there is tension between them because Shrek is protecting him from being killed so he uses the Arthur is a loser tactic and it destroys the great scene/moment they had together. It feels like that to me but it’s just a nip pick. This final act also adds more into the Shrek being scared about being a father by having one of Charming’s henchmen having a daughter/father moment and saying he proud to have a daughter. Again no one in the villain’s side knows about Shrek having a baby and yet this moment here doesn’t add tension in any way but is in there because….reasons? Then we have this moment where Fiona and the Disney princesses escape from Charming’s jail cell that they are in and they fight Charming’s henchmen/women and once again two songs play in the background that are not needed for the scene and are way out of context. The final act of this film is bad and plain stupid but it’s the ending before the last scene of the film that pisses me off.
So I never really noticed this until I was stuck in a Shrek the Third Reviews hole on YouTube but the other villains and Charming’s henchmen and women all side with Shrek and Arthur in the end because of Arthur’s one speech about not being the villain. Yes Arthur returns because Donkey and Puss have a talk with him about Shrek trying to protect him and he somehow gets every villain to side with him and Shrek because he has a speech that talks about being an outcast and not being accepted with society, something all the villains have in common with Arthur. So the villains agree to give up their evil ways and like I’m sorry but it’s that easy. Every film I have seen this little speech would work on one, maybe two characters, but pretty much in this film, this below average intellectual film, this speech worked for entirely every villain except Prince Charming…..what the fuck!!! Like your telling me that this little outcast can just hop back into the film and somehow manage to get every person on Charming’s side and have them be against Charming and become good guys and gals. No, no, no, no, Hell No, there is no logical way that this would work. We can’t even do this in real life with trump supporters and neo-nazi’s but oh King Artie somehow can with rip off versions of Captain Hook, the Evil Queen and a future villain of Shrek Forever After. Oh and didn’t half these villains show up in Shrek 2 as good guys including Charming who was in the end credit scene of Far, Far Away Idol and there was a scene where he was happy and smiling next to Shrek….literally I’m banging my head writing this sentence trying to explain why this scene is so stupid and is simply unrealistic for real life or even an animated film about fairy tales and a big green mascot for Disney’s competition. The final scene in this act of Shrek and Fiona having a fun day with their new children is cute and adorable but like it is ruined by this sad attempt of a third act.
So that is Shrek the Third, a film that was marketed everywhere with merchandise and brought in a lot of money and somehow managed to be a big pile of shit. Now there are a couple of things I do want to talk about, one more than the other but still I want to talk about them. First off the animation in this film is actually really good. However it looks similar to Shrek 2 and doesn’t add anything new into the animation but I will say one of the strongest points of this film is the animation and visuals. I don’t have really much to say about the animation other than it being really good but I wished the animation in this film was a bit upgraded. We saw it with Shrek 2 as the animation looked smoother and while technology got better overtime, 2004 – 2007 wasn’t a huge change to technology and how it interfered with animation editing. Again it’s just a small detail but it’s a nip pick for me. Now I want to talk about the soundtrack, something that is a really high point for the Shrek films but for this film it is a very low point. The soundtrack in this film and where the songs are used in the film is terrible. Other than Eels “Royal Pain” and I guess Donkey singing “Cats in the Cradle”, the rest of the songs used in this film seem out of context and do ruin the scene completely. I mentioned it a bit with “Live and Let Die” but the song is only used for the fact that King Harold died and quite frankly it is so out of context and destroys the tone for the scene completely. That and the fact it does nothing with the scene at all. Then there is “Joker and the Thief” by Wolfmother. Now I like this song and a good scene that used this song was in The Hangover when the guys went to the casino and Alan played blackjack. But in this film it is used for Prince Charming and the other villains to invade Far, Far Away and try and capture Shrek and Fiona. The song has nothing to do with the scene in general and is misplaced entirely. Then we have the scene where Snow White is signing and the princesses then attack and fight back against Charming’s henchmen and women. The first song used in the scene is “The Immigrant Song” by Led Zepplin, but only the opening of the song is used and then it transitions to the song “Barracuda” but not by the band Heart, no instead we want to use Fergie’s version. Honestly the soundtrack of this film is god awful, the songs aren’t bad but it’s the choices and where the production team places it in post production that makes it bad. Shrek and Shrek 2 had awesome soundtracks and the songs used in the certain scenes were done perfectly like in Shrek 2 when Fairy Godmother sings “Holding Out for a Hero” or in Shrek when Donkey and Shrek fight Lord Farquaad’s knights and Bad Reputation plays in the background or hell the first song that has become iconic because of the opening scene of Shrek, you know…ALL STAR! All of those songs fit with their scenes, some are out of context but they work with the actions in the scene or the scene itself. This film however doesn’t work well with its soundtrack at all.
Another thing that bothered me but in a cringe way but I still chuckle a bit is when Shrek, Donkey and Puss go to find Arthur, but to do so they need to go into a high school. The whole 10 minutes of this part of the film has funny fairy tale jokes and meta towards high school. For example there are two students getting high in a horse buggy but there not smoking weed but instead they are smoking Franken sense and Mir, get it…it’s a play on the renaissance era and dungeon and dragons type of comedy..hahahaha. I chuckle with it but I know its cringe. Honestly the meta in this film feels very bland and not so funny compared to the other two films and even the fourth film. Like Shrek 2 had so much meta like making fun of the show Cops, E! TV or Far, Far, Away Idol, like that is hilarious and funny to see in a film about fairy tales but in this film the jokes in it for meta over stay their welcome or are just not funny. That goes for the whole film too as the jokes in this film feels like a 5 year old put it together. Especially when Shrek is talking “hip” with Arthur and saying “yo, you dig”…like why was that a thing in 2007 to have older people try to be hip and say stuff that is new and relevant to what kids and teens say today. It’s still like that today and it’s just 100% cringe, like yo you feel me bro. The butt/fart/burp jokes are also way over done. Shrek and Shrek 2 have them as well but they are used in a smart way, which makes them funnier. In here a poop joke or fart joke is used every 5 – 10 minutes. I’m sorry but was Shrek the Third made by grownups or Kindergartners? The people who wrote the screenplay for this film is literally out of touch with society and don’t know how to set up a funny joke. I might have chuckled here and there but they caught me off guard. As a kid yeah I laughed my ass off when Shrek got his ass scratched, but now I literally have a straight face saying I was pretty dumb back then, then again so were many people and the writers for this film.
In the end of the day I don’t hate this film, more I am disappointed in this film and lost my love for it the more I grew up and learned more about it. Chris Miller and everyone who worked on this movie didn’t try hard to make this movie seem better than the ones before it or be just as good. In fact they kind of ruined Shrek to be known as a perfectly great franchise. Shrek Forever After thankfully brought back some greatness to the franchise but the damage was already done and the film was hit with that damage. Critics were mixed with the film and fans of the Shrek films were too, but years later thankfully people have changed their mind about the film and agreed that it’s a really good film that ends the franchise perfectly, well possibly considering a 5th film is in the air and could very well happen but let’s pray it doesn’t cause we really don’t need it. But Shrek the Third, or at least this version of the film, is a movie we really did not need as it does nothing with the whole Shrek franchise other than making him Papi and quite frankly all the characters in the film kind of lose a lot of their character development from the first two films. The whole team behind this film really dropped the ball and kind of made this film a joke. I don’t feel like this film is awful but it defiantly is not good and I still will watch it from time to time, or at least if there is nothing on and I have to choose between this or YouTube videos. But the thing that bothers me about this film is the fact that DreamWorks, a company that will put together some really great stories in their films, bad or good films, they signed off on this film and they got hit with it hard as well. Shrek brought fame and success into this company and for a while it put a dark cloud over the company. Sure the company put out some great films like the Kung Fu Panda franchise, Megamind and the How to Train Your Dragon franchise but they weren’t winning big awards anymore and weren’t seen as a great animation studio. Believe me I can defend them and say that they were. Sure they also put out some mediocre films like Boss Baby or Turbo, but they still were putting out and working on some beautiful animated films that had some very great screenplays and stories. And look I might be talking shit about how a production team put together a very unfunny and very bad film under a great franchise but mistakes happen and this mistake was a very huge mistake. Shrek the Third might be a joke of a film but maybe in some cases it is so bad that it manages to be good. That is for you guys to decide not me. I rather watch this film than Bobbleheads: The Movie or 2020’s Mulan but at the same time this film is a medium part of my life and while I don’t like it as much now I used to love it as a kid/pre-teen. It was a sad attempt of a film but hey Emoji Movie was too and that film is a huge solid piece of shit when this film is a little gumdrop turd.
Final Review: 2.3 out of 5 Stars/ 43% out of 100.
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