Midlife crisis may be the strangest kid’s movie sell since the The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas tackled adult date life. But giving the friendly ogre an It’s a Wonderful Life experience provides his most inspired adventure. Making a corrupt deal with Rumplestiltskin that shows him the land of Far Far Away had he never been born, Shrek finds himself in a movie formula to which he’s not accustomed. But added story touches, like a world where ogres are consistently hunted by witches on broomsticks, and improved background animation (the characters still look a little too much like rubber dog toys), make for more engrossing movie-going than the stale leftovers of Shrek the Third. At least for its first half. Shrek Forever After runs out of tricks after its setup. With the ground rules set, it’s left with nothing to do but resolve itself.
This article appears in May 20-26, 2010.
Of the four films, this is probably the worst. Towards the tepid middle part of the film, I found myself thinking that the tag line for this film should have been: “Mike Meyers needs a decent paycheque”. It’s clear that the series rested on the laurels of the first two fantastic installments.
The happy ending here is that the series is finally over, and will probably be relegated to the direct-to-DVD market from now on.