Far from being a failure, but Far, Far Away from being great

Rating: 7/10 (1 January 2014)

The Shrek series seemingly comes to its conclusion in this movie, and this is probably for the best; the series really lost its touch with the third movie, and sadly this movie, despite being okay, just can't recapture the magic and hilarity of the first two Shreks.
The plot is simple: Shrek is fed up with fatherhood and his life as he is no longer taken seriously as an ogre, so he sells a day of his life to Rumpelstiltskin so he can live one day of being a feared ogre again. Unfortunately, Rumpelstiltskin took the day Shrek was born away, meaning Shrek never existed. He's in a race against time to find a way out of this mess or he'll disappear forever.
The plot seemed to me to move by really fast, and I don't necessarily mean that as a positive; for instance, Shrek gets in with the ogre resistance rather quickly, giving no time for any of the other ogres to really be developed. This also doesn't leave much room for the alternate timeline Shrek is in to be explored; we see characters like Gingy and Pinocchio but they don't contribute much aside from a couple of joke scenes.
The Pied Piper shows up at one point, but after his one scene he's never mentioned again. I was rather disappointed he wasn't used in the final battle.
The biggest problem this movie has is the comedy: it's just not as funny as the first two. Yes, it's leagues better than the third, but that's not saying much. There are a few laughs to be had, but they aren't as consistent.
Overall, this is a harmless and forgettable outing for the grumpy green giant. Though Shrek probably deserved a better sendoff than this, it's still okay for what it is. I'd say check it out if it's on TV, but otherwise you can just skip this and watch the first two and Puss in Boots instead.