‘Shrek 3′ is more Puss wuss than Donkey funny

By Alex Villafania, hackenslash Reporter
INQUIRER.net

IN PART 1, Shrek was funny for his ogre attitude and irreverent sarcasm that merged quite well with Donkey’s fast-talking effervescent jibes. In Part 2, Shrek had to deal with a Spanish-speaking, swashbuckling Puss in Boots but he was still funny. In Part 3, well, Shrek was simply not funny enough to compensate for a sequel that attempted to cash in on the popularity of the fat, green fairy tale monster. Just imagine: kids yanking their parents to the movie house to watch “Shrek 3,” even if the parents wouldn’t expect as much fun watching it.

It should be understood, though, that movies like these are not meant for tired and jaded adults. It’s for kids who marvel at the 3D rendered antics rather than the jokes, which are most often, subtly adult in nature.

OK, so I do sound cynical about “Shrek 3″ but that’s because this new installment in the DreamWorks franchise puts too many characters in the movie. Sure there was a motley crew of fairy tale creatures in the first two movies but at least they remained funny and consistent throughout. In Part 3 the producers had to give some airtime to the three fairytale princesses, namely Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Rapunzel who acted more prima donna than their antagonists in their respective fairy tales. Plus, these three princesses’ acting was, to say the least, bad. They could win the Razzies for worst supporting virtual actresses if ever there was such an award.

Anyway, “Shrek 3’s” plot revolves around the search for a new heir to the Frog King (and father-in-law of Shrek) of Far Far Away. Apparently, Shrek is reluctant to take the reins so he searches for the cousin of his wife, Princess Fiona. Not surprisingly, the cousin is a young Arthur who is taunted in high school. Shrek’s mission is to take back the equally reluctant Arthur and make him king. Their journey is a close reference to Shrek’s first adventure when he saved Fiona from her curse. However, this is not the only plot in the story…

Meanwhile, the disgraced Prince Charming plots to take over Far Far Away while Shrek is away by employing the services of other villains in fairy tales who haunt a drinking hole in the outskirts of the kingdom. There’s a multitude of these villains and it’s difficult to get them to act together because there is no character build up, just like with the three prima donna princesses.

A subplot involving Shrek’s fatherhood is revealed in the first 10 minutes of the film. Shrek dreams about having a ton of ogre children and is afraid to be a father. All throughout the film, Shrek returns to the idea of being a father and sometimes tries to interject it with Arthur’s own reluctance to be king. I have nothing against two ogres’ parenthood, but this subplot would have been better left off in a fourth sequel, if not the main plot in Part 3. But then again, the producers needlessly shoved it into the film.

There are funny moments in “Shrek 3″ but these are mostly limited to the dialogues among Shrek, Puss in Boots and Donkey. Eddie Murphy’s voice talent as Donkey is irreverent and is a saving grace for the seemingly un-funny Shrek. Puss in Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas) tries to employ his cute, wide-eyed look that worked wonders in the second Shrek movie, but not in this one. Consequently, Puss made a second attempt to seem cute but tried it in the body of Donkey (when they were accidentally switched after being teleported by a crazy Merlin). This was the only scene that drew a laugh in the entire movie when I watched.

From a child’s perspective, the funny faces and antics of the characters in “Shrek 3″ are just as funny as the previous movies, without understanding some of the dialogue. But for adults who will watch this film, they would only have fun less than half the time and would have wondered if it was better if they watched another film instead.

Seriously, I’d rather watch the first two movies twice over than watch Shrek 3 again.

Share This