A MOVIE REVIEW: SHREK FOREVER AFTER

Directed by Mike Mitchell and having the same successful cast as the others movies now you can see another Shrek, another chance to see your favorite animated characters and another chance to be reminded of the genius that was the first film, without this being the first film. The problem with this entire series is that it started with a bang, fell to a whimper, and with it’s grand finale is simply enough to make up for how much it’s lost without really ever wow-ing us. Shrek Forever After is a good movie, they were creative in finding a way to make the characters fresh again, and there were definitely enough laughs in it to leave me satisfied, BUT it wasn’t without a few problems.

The Synopsis:

As Shrek settles into his perfect life, he begins to get bored and wishes he could have just one day to himself. He makes a pact with deal-maker Rumpelstiltskin to get back to feeling like a real ogre again, but of course he forgets to read the fine print and is damned to a twisted version of Far Far Away — where Rumpelstiltskin is king, ogres are hunted, and he and Fiona have never met — he sets out to restore his world and get a kiss from his true love in order to set everything right again — oh what a kiss can do in Far Far Away!

The Good things:

Bit of a Comeback: This is definitely no where near as good as the first film, but it’s definitely a revival from the third and on a slight improvement from the second.
Donkey: Whichever main characters you liked in the first film, you’ll like in this film, mainly because they went back to the beginning, came up with a way to make it fresh and then capitalized on what you loved. For me The Donkey is still the saving grace and the minor characters are really where the belly laughs come in.
Kids/Adult Film: This is definitely a good kids/adult film, meaning that there were definitely a lot of opportunities for both parties to enjoy the film. I would bring my little brother, despite the little girl next to me who pointed to the screen and said “I don’t like that movie.”
Music: The music and the throw backs to famous songs is so important for this film and as always the music was well placed and well used to really make those laughs hit home.
Solid Ending: It’s as predictable and cheesy as it comes, but a nice twist on the original story and if there was ever a moment to go a little over the top, this was it.
Fun Cameos: As always, it’s the smaller characters that pop up in each film that make this series so fun. There were a lot of good cameos but…

The Bad things:

Not Enough in the Cameos: There were lots of different characters and cameos, but they were never fully utilized. Craig Robinson has about 3 lines, 3 good lines, but that’s all. Same goes for John Hamm and Jane Lynch. They were solid and fun, but just not as potent as say the gingerbread man in the first film.
No Surprises: Overall, the film is very predictable. Which might have worked for the ending, but you need some suspense in the middle to keep you going. The thing that the first film had going for it was that it was an original idea, with brand new animation and a something different for us to be blown away by. This film tried to revive itself by creating a new world and did so in part, but it was very predictable and may have been an improvement for the Shrek series, but doesn’t really compare to some of the other animations out there today.
3D: For me, the 3-D in this film felt like a gimmick. It was fun and well added but not needed. It felt like they were trying to make a little extra money on their last minute!