Shrek the Third

Released 6th May 2007, Shrek the Third follows Shrek on his quest to find a royal heir for Far Far Away. One of the (many) frustrating things about this film is that the concepts are great and would have fallen into place with Shrek’s world, however, the execution of every single narrative beat is laughable and a complete failure. One of the fundamental flaws of this instalment is that the humour takes an absolute nosedive in its wit and timing; it simply doesn’t exist here unlike the previous two which managed to balance its humour with its depth and themes. As far as themes go, this film ‘attempts’ to confront fatherhood and the ongoing manifestation of insecurities people face.

Whereas Mike Myers’ Shrek grappled with being deserving of Fiona in the past two films, he is now grasping how worthy he is to be a father; a natural progression for the character, however, this idea is so haphazardly applied to his interactions with characters that it is mind-numbing and dissatisfying with the end result. Fiona and Donkey also complete their devolution from Shrek to have little to no reason for being in the film, accompanied by Puss in Boots also. Rupert Everett returns as Prince Charming to pose as the main villain of the film which is, again, an understandable concept in the wake of Shrek 2. That said, he is rendered less believable when is presented as the leader of every other fairy-tale villain in the film, especially in the climax. Finally, we have Justin Timberlake as Arthur Pendragon; an inconsistent character who fails to really make his presence that known in the film. That said, his attempt to resolve the climax is actually a refreshing concept, albeit a little unbelievable in how it transpires.

DreamWorks manages to continue evolving its animation to a point of great detail and craft. As for the soundtrack, a key part in the prior two films’ success, drops the ball completely. With the exception of Royal Pain at the beginning, none of the licensed music fits with its scenes as well as they had previously and even Harry Gregson-Williams’ soundtrack isn’t as memorable as previous instalments. Overall, Shrek the Third managed to take the most influential franchise of the decade thus far and push it down to a level it was never able to rise out of.