Shrek, felices para siempre

After three films of diminishing quality, more than anything, Shrek Forever After begs the obvious question: why? Unfortunately the answer is also all too obvious with the franchise having grossed one billion dollars domestically and oodles more overseas. For what it's worth, this instalment is better than the last but fails to hold a candle to Shrek 2 and pales to the point of apparition when compared to the original.

The characters that populate the "Shrek" universe remain as endearing as ever in principle, but after four movies there is little that can be done to keep them animated, so to speak. That is why it comes as no surprise that the plot of this film has the mythical land of Far Far Away being turned on its head by the devious Rumplestiltskin, morphing all familiarity into a bizzaro world of sort, and I'll admit, it does add an iota of charm to the proceedings. Shrek (Mike Myers) finds himself tired of family life with his ogre wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and longs for his bachelor days of terrifying townsfolk and signs a contract with 'Rumple' as he is less than affectionately called. Things don't turn out nearly as he imagined and Shrek must fulfil a loophole in the contract to turn things back to the way they were.

The original gang all return along with Shrek and Fiona. We have the swashbuckling Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), the chatty Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Julie Andrews and John Cleese as the Queen and King respectively. There are also a number of celebrity voice cameos including Larry King and Regis Philbin and all add up to a lively time at the movies. In the movies defence, the lack of freshness never translates to boredom.

The biggest issue with Shrek the Third was the weak attempt to inflate the voice cast, making things more monotonous yet. DreamWorks has clearly learned from this mistake and in addition to tweaking the familiar character's personas in this alternate reality, find a decent villain in Rumplestiltskin (Walt Dohrn) along with great comedians the likes of Craig Robinson and Jane Lynch. The animation is as stellar as ever and it never ceases to amaze how lifelike a film can look that has a talking donkey at its center.

What makes this descendant of Shrek somewhat distinguishable is that it presents itself more as homage then adhering to the spoof ideology that characterized the others. Shrek Forever After is part Aladdin, part Bedazzled and more than a sprinkle of It's a Wonderful Life. There are also many more laughs in this film than the previous, and can often be attributed to site gags sprung from the new universe (an obese Puss in Boots provokes more than a few guffaws).

What everyone has to remember, first and foremost, is that the "Shrek" franchise is meant for children and I don't believe any of the four instalments could disappoint an eight year old. It is the accompanying adults that need to be wary of the growing tedium in the franchise, but thanks to a plethora of talented actors and a significantly more satisfying storyline, Shrek Forever After makes for an entertaining diversion, even if it's no longer magical.

"Shrek Forever After" is a surprisingly good film. Though it is not as great as "Shrek" or "Shrek 2" it is a HUGE improvement over "Shrek the Third." The movie helped the franchise gain some of its heart back that was lacking in the third film and had some terrific action scenes. The first time I saw it I didn't think it was very funny, but when I went back to see it a second time I was laughing plenty of times. The film also teaches an important lesson that if you have a good life you should not give it up for anything. If Shrek had never met Fiona or any of his friends they all would have had rough lives. Overall, the movie is a great conclusion to the film series.

When I found out that a fourth Shrek movie was being made, it made me frown because it seemed pretty needless, especially that the last movie was such a bore. But then again, if you take the storyline into consideration, this becomes a fitting final chapter to formally close the Shrek series. The movie is originally entitled SHREK FOREVER AFTER, but in other regions of the world including ours, it is entitled SHREK: THE FINAL CHAPTER, so it's obvious.

First we go to the more unpleasant aspects; this movie works more as a fantasy-adventure movie rather than a comedy. That's because the humor factor of Shrek has gone old already. This movie seems to squeeze the very last drop of what is left of the Shrek series' dried out desert of humor. Sure, it may make us give out a chuckle here, a chuckle there, but this Shrek movie cannot make us laugh out loud anymore. When you look back at its title "Shrek the Final Chapter" you would realize that this movie does seem to apologize with the fact that this'll be the last and probably an admission that they could not squeeze any more decent thing out of the Shrek saga after this one; it's a final effort to make one last buck.

On the other hand, Shrek's main story aspect is a little more interesting than its humor. As I said earlier, this movie is better as a fantasy adventure because we do get to see an alternate reality where Shrek is back into being an outcast Ogre and everybody else who was originally part of his circle of friends has not met him yet. Eventually, they get into an adventure wherein he must face a new enemy, a new problem, and he even gets to meet other ogres and an ogre resistance army that pretty much reminded me of Warcraft (the old-school Warcraft 2 to be exact). In this bizarro world, Donkey has not met him, Puss has become obese, and Fiona is the leader of the Ogre resistance. Shrek must go through this alternate universe and survive it before the day passes and a curse will consume him for good. Shrek gets to have some action with a horde of witches and must face the dragon once again. I could not say that the action was impressive but it has its little cool moments. I particularly loved the chain skull weapons that the witches use.

In addition, this movie works also as a family domestic drama where it maturely deals with the simple family issue of boredom and being sick of how repetitious family life can be. I daresay that the film can work as a satire or perhaps a metaphor that some married men can learn from. There is one sequence in the movie that does capture this crisis; I am talking about the scenes where we see Shrek realize that despite the fact that he does live a happy life, it can get pretty dull and annoying at times, but then again that's life.

Perhaps it becomes boring because many of us choose not to grow up; many of us choose to not let go of what our past lives were. That is what happens to Shrek in this movie. To escape the mediocrity of a family life, he wishes to relive the moments when he was still just a normal ogre again. And because of this, he puts his family life in jeopardy. Shrek 4's tale comes full circle in the sense that it questions if Shrek did have a "happily ever after" ending in the past three movies, and puts one last fantastic circumstance to let him live out a reality that this never happened.

And lastly, Shrek 4's main potential lies in its romance. With an alternate reality story, Shrek faces a Fiona that has never met him. Therefore, Shrek must find out some way to make Fiona fall in love with him all over again. If you ask me, the romantic aspect of this movie is as innovative as the first Shrek movie, in ways that it tells mature subject matter in the guise of fantasy. The Fiona of the alternate reality mirrors the plight of women who gave up on romance, and one scene certainly negates the falsity of most fairy tales with a line that goes something like: "a mere kiss does not solve everything" It negates other fantasies like "Sleeping Beauty" or "Snow White" because it destroys the superficial aspect of those obsolete fairy tales with a more realistic approach, because indeed, a kiss is nothing if there is no true love that goes with it. In my opinion, Shrek 4 succeeds in this aspect.

Shrek may not be the best movie this summer, or it might not be the funniest Shrek movie, but it certainly is one that is very rich story-wise. Just as his line in the first movie went "I have layers" and there certainly are deeper layers to this story rather than one that will just make you laugh. Of course, this works out as a great family movie, but it is certainly perfect for couples, most especially married couples, and parents alike. I give SHREK FOREVER AFTER a.k.a. SHREK: THE FINAL CHAPTER a Matinée rating for single serving; and a Full Price rating for family servings.

It's not really cool to like Dreamworks Animation anymore. Sure, they're not Pixar. Sure, they're too hung up on star power and pop culture references. But I've still enjoyed the majority their films more than I have a lot of what's out there. And I love the first two "Shrek" movies. Their funny, entertaining, terrifically animated, and, too me, some of the best animated love stories that have been made. Most fairy tale romances perpetuate the idea that love is for beautiful people (even the masterpiece "Beauty and the Beast" has it's cake and eats it too on this point), and Princes and Princesses are better than common people. "Shrek"'s idea of finding happiness in who you are was much more palatable to me. i found the first film a delight, and the second even better.

But the third was only okay. The humor wasn't nearly as clever or funny, and the heart just wasn't there like it used to be. "Shrek Forever After" isn't as good as those first two. But it's a big step back in the right direction.

The story begins with Shrek getting used to being a father. He loves Fiona and the kids, but he misses his old life as a menacing ogre. He's seen more as a lovable tourist attraction now, and he doesn't like it. So, he makes a deal with the mysterious Rumpletiltskin (surprisingly NOT voiced by a name actor) to get one day back in his old life. In exchange, he gives up one day from his past. A day from his childhood that he doesn't even remember.

Unfortuntaely, that day turns out to be the day he was born, and this leads to an "It's a Wonderful Life" scenario where Shrek doesn't know Fiona, Donkey, Puss-in-Boots, or any of his friends, and Rumplestiltskin rules the Kingdom with a tiny iron fist. The resulting story is a great deal of fun, with Fiona now a warrior leading an ogre rebellion, the Gingerbread Man fighting as a gladiator against Animal Crackers, and so forth. The humor isn't back to it's highest heights, but there are a good number of genuine laughs. And the heart is back bigtime. I found "Shrek Forever After" surprisingly touching..

Okay, it's not as good as "Toy Story 3" is likely to be, nor is it as good as "How to train your Dragon". but I had a blast with "Shrek Forver After" Evren Buyruk

On the day that Shrek rescued the cursed Princess Fiona from the tower where she was kept prisoner of the dragon, her parents King Harold and the Queen were ready to sign a contract with the cunning Rumpelstiltskin delivering the kingdom Far Far Away to him. On the present days, Shrek feels bored with Fiona, his family and friends and near a breakdown, and he misses the years when he was a terrifying ogre. Rumpelstiltskin overhears a discussion between Shrek and Fiona and meets Shrek, offering a deal to make he feels a frightening ogre again. In return, Shrek should deliver one day of his childhood to Rumpelstiltskin. Shrek is lured and Far Far Away is distorted under the reign of the tricky Rumpelstiltskin. Now Shrek misses his family and friends and has to win Fiona's heart again to save Far Far Away, his friends and himself.

I have just watched "Shrek Forever After" and my expectations were very low, based on the IMDb user's rating and a couple of reviews that I had glanced. However I liked this underrated animation a lot, which has a good story with many hilarious moments. Once again, Donkey "steals the movie" and this character has been for years the best role of the wasted Eddy Murphy. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Shrek para Sempre" ("Shrek Forever After")