Enjoyable even if it is rather overblown and lacks a real core of wit and story

Rating: Null/10 (16 March 2008)

Shrek and Fiona are finding it hard going standing in for the King and Queen of Far Far Away Land but at least the end is in sight. However when King Harry dies and leaves the throne to Shrek (the only other heir is a high-school student), the problem of public appearances and endless ceremony appears not to be going away. So, despite the worrying news of Fiona's pregnancy, Shrek sets sail with his friends to bring Arthur, the only other heir, back to claim his throne (rightful or not) so Shrek can get back to his swamp. However, while he is away, Prince Charming lead a cast of villains on a coup d'etat on the leaderless land.
The third Shrek film was rather beaten by critics when it was released, to the point that I decided not to bother with it in the cinemas (although the impact of a kiddie audience also helped put me off). This evening I decided to watch the films that LoveFilm had sent me and, as if to show that I do tend to watch a diverse mix of things I found that my viewing for tonight was the brutal IrrÃ©versible followed by this film (well, after a short recovery break). The contrast is different I'm sure you'll agree but I was looking forward to Shrek after that experience. So perhaps I forgave it some things that I wouldn't have otherwise as a form of release from the bleakness. In this way I found some of the film to be quite fun but even in this state I still have to say that the film is weaker than the second, which was in turn weaker than the first.
The problem is again with the plot. In the first film the story was the core of everything and all the references and jokes branched off this. Here the opposite is true as the story seems to happy with lots of material put around it. The difference can be best seen in the fact that the plot mostly provides a frame for the film but the laughs and fun generally come in the asides and the support characters rather than the main flow or the main characters. This is not a massive failure, because the laughs are there, but it is at very least a weakness and after a while it became noticeable that I was not really that interested in Shrek or Arthur but just looking forward to the next scene with the Gingerbread Man. Ironically the plot is rather complex and will probably be over the head of the child viewers and it did make me long for a simpler but stronger story.
The cast continue to do pretty well regardless. Myers and Diaz are both OK mainly because the film doesn't hand them great material to work with. Murphy and Banderas are both fun for the opposite reason while the supporting cast of Big Bad Wolf, Gingerbread, pigs etc all continue to be fun. Timberlake, Andrews, Everett, McShane and so on are OK but not great with only Python's Idle and Cleese standing out among the star names.
Overall then an enjoyable film with just about enough laughs to carry it but still the weakest in the Shrek series. The plot is overly complex and the majority of fun belongs to the minor characters while the title roles are too tied up in the busy narrative to have time to consistently deliver the laughs. Shrek Goes Forth (or something like that) seems inevitable so hopefully the makers can take what continues to work from here and put right what has been falling down in the last two films.