Heavy on sentimentality, light on laughs

Rating: 6/10 (1 June 2010)

I must begin by saying that I was really looking forward to this movie, even after having been somewhat burned by Shrek The Third, so my expectations walking into the theatre may have been a bit high. That being said, I walked out of the theatre disappointed, and I must admit, feeling a bit tacky for having that reaction to this movie.
Mike Meyers and company obviously were going for sentimentality in this, the reported last installment of the series, and that's fine, that's their right and their call. It is not however, the reason most adults would go to see this movie. Shrek has always been about smart comedy, about cutting wit and social lampooning, about characters you love and love to laugh at, or with. While that all slipped a bit in Shrek The Third, it was almost totally absent in this film. And that's fine, if that was what Mr. Myers and company were going for, it's not why I ponied up nine bucks to go see it.
There were brief, very brief glimpses of what this movie could have been, of what made the Shrek franchise so well loved; Rumplestilskin screaming "chimychangas" in horror as the ogre chef launched them at him in the climatic final battle. The two witches standing on the parapet above the ogres and pointing out; "We can hear you you know". Rumplestilskin prancing on the table with the glass of water while his witch minions look on in terror. There were a few others that escape me at the moment but only a few, a very few. The jokes in this movie were glaringly apparent in their absence, or maybe it was that those that were there totally missed the mark, like the two wagon witches whipping Donkey to make him change tunes, I know that was meant to be funny, it wasn't.
As I've said, it appears that Mr. Myers and company chose to go the sentimental route in this final film and that's what they did. This movie was dripping with sentimentality, to the point that I felt as if I'd developed diabetes by the time it was over. I didn't go to this movie to bid a tearful goodbye to the Shrek franchise, I went bid a hilarious farewell with bits like the white bronco chase, or Puss in Boots catnip bust, or the Gingerbread Man torture scene, or countless others. I went to enjoy one last look at a group of funny and likable and sweet characters. That was what Shrek has always been about. Instead they went for the sentimental goodbye and I left the theatre feeling a bit tacky because I felt like I should have jumped on board, that I should have joined in on the tearful, touchy feely goodbye to the franchise. But I just couldn't because as I said, that's not what Shrek was ever about and that's not what I went to see. Instead of going out with a tear they should have gone out the way they came in, with a laugh.