Summer Movie Mayhem - Week 2

The sequel will never die as the franchise film continues to dominate.

I offer this review of Shrek 3 with much commentary as it really spoke to me about the state of 3-dimensional animated features in Hollywood.  Myself, I'm a fan of most animated features, being that they tend to capture the imagination of most everyone watching, but I'm not a fan of the slipshod and slapdash cut-and-paste films that have become more popular as of late.  Toy Story really showed that you could craft a successful movie with the power of computers at your disposal, but unfortunately, Pixar's big-screen debut also is responsible for films like Doogal and Hoodwinked .  What the heck?

To the point, Shrek was a step in a different direction for a CGI flick and that's why the first movie was such a success.  Dreamworks and Jeffrey Katzenberg took the standard fairy-tale formula and the story of a cranky ogre and used it as the backdrop for cinematic satire.  Yes, perhaps Katzenberg used it as an excuse to skewer his former employers, but the film was funny and whip-smart with a gag.  Shrek 2 followed this same formula to lesser results and that film was serviceable enough to warrant another sequel, but something tells me that the franchise is starting to bloat with greed.

Don't get me wrong, Shrek 3 was entertaining and enjoyable and it really is a lot to ask of a film to live up to that which started out fresh and unique. With all the money in the world at their disposal, the folks at PDI/Dreamworks failed to live up to most everyone's expectations.  Let me count the ways.

We're used to the familiar characters by now, but in the last film, Prince Charming and Puss-in-Boots were excellent additions to an already charming cast, but the new characters this time around?  We have an under-used Merlin, a whiny and nondescript once and future King Arthur, and the gaggle of pretty generic looking fairy tale princesses you know as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Rapunzel.  Right, that's compelling.

The plot was a little retread, Prince Charming seeks to take over the throne which is "rightfully his" and reclaim his glory.  Yay, exciting.

The animation is too generic.  Seriously, How many times do I have to watch the same walk cycle applied over every character on two legs.  I admit that the technical wizardry of animating so many different characters is a feat in itself, but they could have made some of the humans walk with a bit more character.

And finally, the inspiration.  I've already gone over this with Bill, but this film really lacked what made the first two films superior: character.  As I said before, Puss-in-Boots really stole the show in the last film, and the supporting cast characterizations are quite strong, but I submit that there's hundreds more character in the look of Pixar's the Incredibles.  It is amazing that PDI/Dreamworks would go to such lengths to establish realism for the humans as a contrast to the fantasy that surrounds them, but it makes for less compelling characters.  Perhaps that's why Fiona is more appealing as an ogre than as a human.

I'll give the film this.  The voice acting is great, the overall sheen of the film's look speaks volumes, and the animation is quite good, but from a series which should be upping the ante with every installment, it disappoints.  I liked it, but didn't love it.

Overall Score:  2.5 out of 5 stars.