Unnecessary 4th installment? Maybe. Worth it? Yes!

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2019)

Shrek Forever After has been dismissed as an unnecessary continuation to the Shrek movies, as a typical DreamWorks cash-in because they knew that someone would go see it no matter what. And to some extent this critique is fair. There weren't really any lingering questions or storylines by the end of the third movie which warranted a fourth movie to come after. And it shows, because the story in this movie is a bit of a tangent - as in, they invent a whole new conflict and a new villain to make ti happen.
But beyond that, I don't think there's much bad to say about this movie. It continues to be funny, charming, inventive, and heartfelt. In fact, I felt like the relationships of the characters became stronger in this movie as it had more of a cinematic, dramatic tone rather than just being a long sarcastic farce (although there's plenty of silliness and dark humor). More importantly, I think the movie did actually address an issue with the past movies. Did you ever have trouble buying that Shrek, the lonely grumpy ogre, had suddenly become a happy family man after meeting Fiona? In this movie, he confronts that contradiction and is faced with the question of what really matters to him - whether he can really embrace this new life or if it goes against who he really is.
Personally, I was very pleased with this movie and fully entertained by it. It's not exactly a "necessary" watch following the other Shrek movies, but in a way I think it takes the characters and the world we know and makes a great new story which stands on its own.