What happened to the Shrek Franchise?

Rating: 6/10 (11 June 2007)

After seeing Shrek 3 yesterday I feel genuinely dissatisfied with the whole movie. I have to admit that I am a big shrek fan, and I felt happy with the second installment of the Shrek franchise, however Shrek 3 feels ultimately rushed and lacking in every department.
The greatest aspect about this film is the animation and computer generated effects, the hard work by those involved shows and shines on the big screen. Certain scenes like when Prince Charming elegantly tosses his hair from one side to another are very difficult to achieve but Shrek 3 pulls this aspect of with style.
For me this was about the only decent part of the film. The humor is still there but the writing just isn't as clever as it was before. I smirked but never laughed, and by the standards of the first two films this is very bad. Shrek 3 also needed more depth with characters. In the second film, the introduction of Puss in Boots and the Fairy God mother gave it some much needed style and charisma and kept it above par. However their are no introductions of any particually funny and new characters in Shrek 3 which is very disappointing. Another problem I had was that unlike the second film the climax in Shrek the Third is very disappointing and unexciting, and it arrives so quickly that I just thought where did this movie go? I mean it really doesn't feel like it goes anywhere. I noticed also in the cinema that I was in, that many of the younger kids were not laughing and that too signifies a big problem with the writing.
Their are some nice ideas in Shrek 3 like a certain scene at the beginning involving a school, and some enjoyable characters like the English trees, but overall they just aren't played on enough for it too be funny.
Shrek the Third is a bitter disappointment.