3rd Times a Charm - or is it?

Rating: 7/10 (8 July 2007)

A few years ago we got Shrek - the anti fairy tale hero and a movie that made fun of the fairy tales and concepts that Disney has spewed out over the years and as a result we got a fresh, fun and quirky children's film which had some great adult humour too. A sequel followed and who didn't fall in love with Puss in Boots? 2007 is the year of the trilogy and after the letdown of SM3 and POTC3 it is now Shreks turn to attempt an adequate 3rd helping.
Did it succeed? - I just don't know. Not exactly a committed statement from someone who is attempting to review the movie, but I cant figure out if it was good or as good as its predecessors.
The cast were all back and the voices all great as usual - no real qualms there.
The plot - The King dies (in a very funny scene!) and leaves Shrek the new King unless he can persuade a young Arthur, a relative of the Kings to take the throne. Whilst Shrek is off on his quest to persuade Artie to become the new King of Far Far Away Charming enlists the help of the villains and losers of fairytale lore and invades the Kingdom determined that they, for a change, should be the ones to have a happy ending - and to put the icing on the cake - Fiona is pregnant! As usual Pinocchio, Gingy, The Three Pigs and the Wolf are all back to help and are as amusing as they have ever been.
There are some very amusing scenes with Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, who in all honesty were much much funnier than Donkey and Puss. More screen time with them would've been greatly appreciated. I hated Snow White when I was a kid but after seeing her turn all bad ass and sing the Immigrant Song I have changed my opinion.
Artie also had some fun scenes - the overacting scene was very funny!! It was actually Prince Charming who stole the whole show with his very evil, yet also very camp plan to kill Shrek during a play he and the other villains were performing. It was all a bit odd but still amusing non the less.
I felt that Donkey and Puss were a little underused and that the inevitable body swapping storey arc was thrown in at the last minute. It wasn't that funny, or to be honest necessary.
I thought that there were less fart and poop jokes than usual but they were saved until the end of the movie for Shrek and Donkeys kids and lets not forget Shreks "poop speech" This brought a huge wave of silence as those types of jokes stopped being funny a long time ago - and I went to a Sunday afternoon matinée! I did laugh at parts though and there were some genuinely funny and clever scenes don't get me wrong but it just felt that something was missing.
As usual the soundtrack was fun with some good songs on there - not overly convinced by Fergies version of Barracuda but that's a minor issue.
Overall I would give it 7/10. It loses a point automatically for being a sequel (personal rule), losses another for the under use of Fiona, Puss and Donkey and a final point for the very unfunny body swapping idea.
Kids will love it of course, but the magic and spark that attracted adults attention in the first one has definitely gone. It will make millions at the box office and even more in toy and game sales but lets have Shrek end on a reasonable high. It wasn't as much of a let down as some the threequels we have had this year but the franchise has all but run out of steam. Lets just have the Puss in Boots spin off to create some freshness to a very good franchise .