Pointless addition, but is better than third.

Rating: 5/10 (28 March 2011)

My biggest problem with this so called final installment is the fact that the entire movie does not need to exist. The plot itself is something that screams 'no more creativity'. Let's take a look shall we?
Shrek feels empty inside as he has to do the same old chores over and over again, his life has become so redundant he ends up hating it. He wants things to go back to the way they were before he became and father, met Fiona and knew any of his friends. He wants to be a lonely Ogre again. So he makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin and he gets his wish. Now we are thrust into an alternate reality where he never met Fiona, Donkey, or his friends. There is a catch though, if he doesn't kiss Fiona before a certain time, he is stuck in this alternate reality. He now must get Fiona to fall in love with him again in order to put things back to the way they were before he was tricked.
To me, once you are telling stories about alternate realities and what ifs...you know the series is done for. For some strange reason they all thought there was one more left in them, sadly the answer is no. I will say this though, the 4th one is indeed better than the garbage known as Shrek the Third, but that isn't saying much. It fails to capture the magic that the first one had, or even the second, which I am also not a big fan of. To me, Shrek was always a one film story. Three sequels later, we are treated to a slowly dying franchise.
The animation is great, as always, if still a bit behind Pixar outings. The kids will no doubt be entertained by it, it's colourful enough to keep their attention, which seems to be the case with every kids movie. It's the adults that have to see it with them (or on their own) who will be the disappointed ones.