Movie Review: Shrek The Third

Movie Title: Shrek the Third
Starring: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, Justin Timberlake and Rupert Everett (all in voices)
Directed by: Chris Miller & Raman Hui
Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Family
My Rating: 7.8/10

As a colleague of mine rightfully stated today, "the summer of over hyped movies continues!" No, Shrek 3 wasn't as disappointing as Spider-man 3, wasn't bad at all, and I assure you it won't get the bashing I gave spidey!

What is much overdue from the audience like us is to have way less expectations from a part 3 movie.

Shrek the Third begins with the ailing King Harold, who's now a frog as continuing from the last movie, unable to run the kingdom and Shrek has been assigned the burden of knighting new lordships and breaking bottles on new ships. Our favorite ogre doesn't feel up to the job and decides to find the next of kin to take over the throne. The only other eligible contender for the throne besides Shrek happens to be Fiona's cousin Arthur, or Artie, an object of bullies at the Worcestershire high school.

Problems arise when Shrek is away trying to fetch this kid. The ever closeted-metro "former" Prince Charming invades the kingdom of Far-Far-Away with a crew of has-been Disney® cartoon villains, along with the elk trees from Lord of the Rings, and claims his way to the throne! You can complete the rest of the story, or just watch the movie. Spoilers saved.

The storyline isn't too bad. The flow of the movie isn't, either. Even the new characters such as Arthur (voiced by Timberlake), eccentric Merlin the magician, Snow White (SNL's Amy Poehler, yah!), Rapunzel (SNL's Maya Rudolph) and Cinderella managed to amuse in their given screen time. It may have just been the lack of a real overbearing villain; Charming is nothing without his deceased Fairy Godmother. The Pinocchio and Gingerbread Man jokes were funny, although a tad-bit recycled.

My favorite part was when Snow White and the rest of Fiona's fairy-tale girlfriends retaliate and re-enter the castle gates with a bird & squirrel army induced by chirpy human singing (remember part 1 when Fiona decided to fry some eggs for her new friends?). Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song started playing when they attacked, followed by Fergie's cover of Heart's Barracuda. It's in my philosophy that good rock n' roll music in the soundtrack can always save a movie. We're not talking of Last Action Hero here.

Overall I give this summer family animation a 7.8/10. I could have probably enjoyed it better if there weren't so many noisy kids all over the theater hall enjoying their holidays.