The
Shrek franchise has never quite felt like a through-line series to me. The first
Shrek (2001) was dubbed masterful for its clever fairytale lampooning and its (at the time) warming animation. The second film expanded the
Shrek world of memorable characters and increasingly hilarious scenarios, introducing the great Puss in Boots and proving its mettle as the rare sequel to arguably one-up the original. Then the folks at Dreamworks intituted a directorial change, pulling out the Andrew Adamson/Vicky Jenson team behind the congenial and coherent first flicks, and installing Chris Miller at the helm for
Shrek the Third (2007). The result was a poorly animated, poorly paced three-quel. Its title character, Shrek the ogre, spent that film whining about growing up, shedding his fears of royal responsibility and bemoaning his future as a family man. It was dull and irritating and only occasionally rescued by comedic support.
Not much has changed in
Shrek Forever After, although the latest effort (directed by Mike Mitchel) is indeed better than the last. Shrek’s still moping and feeling sorry for himself, and he still needs to learn the same life lessons. Except now it’s in 3-D!
