Review

Review Date: 23-May-10
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Shrek Forever After (2010)

The fourth Shrek movie does not stray far from its origins, by which I mean both the 2001 hit that started the series and the general world of fairy tales. This is a good thing, for just as a child opens a dog-eared book of bedtime stories hoping to find something comfortably familiar, so too should a viewer return to the land of Far Far Away in search of time-honored meanings and old friends like Shrek (Mike Myers), Donkey (Eddie Murphy), and that exemplar of baked goods, the Gingerbread Man. The themes of Shrek Forever After — true love and appreciating what you have — find expression when the hero becomes overwhelmed by the routine of family life. Each day is a repeat of the one before, with popularity and the demands of three baby ogres (ogrets?) leaving no time to relax or be alone. Shrek's marriage is a partnership instead of a romance, his wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz) a taskmaster instead of a lover. He finally flips at his kids' birthday party and wishes, like George Bailey before him, that he could return to simpler, responsibility-free days. That's when things go really wrong.

Enter Rumpelstiltskin, an excellent scoundrel voiced excellently by Walt Dohrn. The opening sequence fills in his background: how he once nearly weaseled the kingdom from Fiona's royal parents but was thwarted, inadvertently, by Shrek. Now a bottom-feeder in Far Far Away, Rumpelstiltskin comes upon his nemesis just as Shrek is suffering his moment of weakness. The wicked little turd convinces the hero to sign a magical contract trading one day of his life in return for one day of bachelor freedom. The ink isn't dry before Shrek is whisked into an alternate reality where Rumpel is king and he, Shrek, never existed, which means that he never rescued Fiona from her tower and never met his friends. He quickly finds them nevertheless. Donkey, born to be Shrek's sidekick, joins him in seeking Fiona, who is now a warrior leading rebellious ogres against Rumpel. She evinces only a bit of softness in her affection for Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), a bloated travesty of his formerly debonair self. Shrek has one night to overthrow the enemy and make Fiona fall for him so as to nullify the nightmare of his own foolish making.

Due to the 3D craze, the action and visuals of Shrek Forever After take precedence over the humor, but even in 2D this cannot be considered a failing. The rich animation typical of the series is showcased by fight scenes with Rumpel's army of witches and by his taste in interior and exterior design, which I would call Fabergé baroque with a touch of discotheque. (It so goes with his wardrobe of wigs.) And there are enough chuckles for both junior and senior members of the audience, from farting oglets to the antics of Pinocchio to the somewhat macabre menace of Rumpel's pet goose. Shrek Forever After makes me hope that this is not the final chapter as advertised. We could stand to be tucked in with these stories over and over again.

Copyright © 2010 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.