A somewhat weaker third instalment

Rating: 7/10 (29 January 2017)

The king is ill so Shrek and Fiona have to take over various royal duties with fairly disastrous results. Then the King dies and it looks as though Shrek is going to be the next king, something he does not want, luckily just before dying the king mentioned another heir; Arthur. Shrek, Donkey and Puss in Boots set off to find Arthur and as their boat sets sail Fiona tells Shrek that she is pregnant. While they are away bringing a reluctant Arthur back to Far, Far Away Prince Charming is rallying various fairy tale villains to help him seize the kingdom. On the way home Shrek and his fellow travellers meet the wizard Merlin who helpfully transports them back home unfortunately swapping the bodies of Donkey and Puss! By now Charming has taken the Kingdom and Fiona and the various fairy tale 'princesses' are imprisoned but not for long.
The first two films in the series were a lot of fun but sadly while this is still pretty decent it falls a fair way short of those two films. Trying to add elements of the Legend of King Arthur didn't work as well as they might have done as he was a fairly boring character. Other aspects of the story just don't make sense; most notably the idea that when the king dies Shrek would be the next ruler rather than Princess Fiona. There is also a lack of decent songs; apart from the rather amusing use of the theme from 'Live and Let Die' during the King's funeral none were memorable. There are some good points of course; having Donkey and Puss swap bodies was rather amusing, the king's extended death scene was hilarious (loved the fly) and it is great the see that the damsels were far from in distress as they broke out of the dungeon. Overall a decent enough film but a bit disappointing as a 'Shrek' film.