The animation is great, but the rest just feels like a missed opportunity

Rating: 6/10 (19 May 2007)

Despite its heavy amount of popularity, I was never that much a fan of the original Shrek. It had laughs, and a great story, but it just did not completely jive for me. Something was missing, and I was left devoid of any of the enjoyment everyone else got from it. Years passed, and after Shrek 2's release, I actually was impressed. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and felt it more than made up for the shortcomings of the original. So with Shrek the Third, I obviously had some hopes that it would at least attempt to live up to the second film. Unfortunately, no such luck.
While the trailers have basically gave the entirety of the plot away, I will give the briefest of explanations. The king has perished, and the heir needs to take the throne. Shrek (Mike Myers) is obviously not fitting of the job, so he takes Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) on a quest to find the second-in-line, Fiona's (Cameron Diaz) cousin, Artie (Justin Timberlake). Meanwhile, Fiona and her friends are stuck in Far, Far Away as Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) is assembling a group that will help him become king.
What one notices straight off the bat is that the film is a whole lot more mature than the others. There is very little to goof around about, as the majority of the film is very plot and dialogue driven, unlike the other light-hearted films in the series. Not to say that this film does not have its share of the silly wit that made the other two films popular, but it just feels like it was not of the utmost importance here. This one, dare I say it, is extremely serious about what it wants to accomplish, and it tries its best to stay on that course from beginning to end. You can tell in certain scenes that this way is working, but in others, it just looks awkward.
As well, the overall darkness and adult humour is almost through the roof with this film. Very little, if any of the jokes that do not involve farting, pooping or being smelly, are directed at children. The rest are totally thrown right at the adults, and it is practically sink or swim with most of them. And even the best of jokes do not work, because unfortunately, they are not all that funny. There are a few drop dead hilarious moments littered throughout the film, but the majority may just raise a smirk if anything at all. The earlier films had very clever references to adult-style humour, and they were very well disguised. Here, they are out in the open almost blatantly, and they have just lost any of the cleverness they could have had if they were hidden. They look, and they feel like the filmmakers did not want to put too much effort in, and instead just wanted to gun it towards another record breaking animated film.
The story is another problem. It stays consistent in the directions it takes, but all of them lack the strength to motivate the audience to keep watching. The whole Artie being a social outcast seemed a bit too forced, and just to clichéd and obvious. The Prince Charming scheme starts off intriguingly, but as it keeps moving along, it just begins to flop (maybe because they realized halfway through that far too much of the plot seemed to revolve around him, and more needed to be said for Shrek and friends?). The filmmakers were clearly going for a more mature tone, but then why not make the story truly excel and not just feel like it was written by a second-rate has-been?
But for all of its problems, the animation takes over and shows just how excellent it can be. If you thought that Shrek 2 had plenty of minute details, be prepared to see even more here. In a lot of cases, the characters look almost human in design, and would only look out of place because of how bright their clothing is. Their look has just been perfected to what I imagine is an all-time high, just waiting to be topped with totally realistic looking humans. When you have characters who get minor close-ups, and you can see just how much stubble is growing by the minute, can you really have anything less? It is a pleasure to watch, and was amusing to pick out some of the extras the animators threw in.
The voice work is a bit here and there. Myers feels very held back, and does not seem to have the same amount of enthusiasm that he did in the first two films. He was having fun then. Now, he is just doing it because he has to. Same goes for Murphy, who while being ecstatic at all times, just does not stay on par for the entirety of the film. Diaz is sadly underused, and Timberlake is far too overused. I understood the need for it, but it just got annoying after awhile.
Banderas on the other hand, is a standout for how much heart there is in his performance. Sadly, he is not used as much here as he was in the predecessor, but he does a great job anyway. Everett is on fire until the finale. I absolutely loved every moment he was on-screen, and I just wish they would have rewritten the entire end sequence. It only half flows as it is. Supporting talent from the likes of Julie Andrews to Larry King are all used very abundantly, and offer plenty of laughs and giggles.
Sadly, Shrek the Third is only mildly watchable. The maturity of the film will turn children right off, but it still does not account for how obnoxiously botched an opportunity this was to make an even better sequel.
6/10.