Ogrehood
“Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me. I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed.” It’s been nine years since Smash Mouth heralded the arrival of the irreverent Shrek, voiced by Mike Meyers (not to be confused with the lovable white-masked, axe-wielding fright from the Halloween series of films). What made the first Shrek great to me was that it was more adult oriented, but easily shared with the younger crowd. Unfortunately, this magic gets lost with each successive sequel, as the stories and characters get watered down slightly almost in an effort to pander to the youngins better. By the time Shrek 3 came out, I had lost interest in the characters and the world they lived in, but was happy my kids could continue to enjoy them nonetheless.
Shrek Forever After takes place about 1 year (I’m assuming) from the birth of his children. Fatherhood wasn’t agreeing with him; no one fears the Ogre any longer; his once solitary lifestyle is now flooded with friends; and to top it off he has to put up with them all at his children’s birthday party. The happiness and good feelings are nigh unbearable. He sorely misses his former life…a life without chaos–alone and happy in his swamp. Enter Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn), a crazed midget with a penchant for too good to be true contracts and a lust for the kingdom of Far, Far Away…and wigs. After some commiseration and a few eyeball martinis, Shrek decides it’s a good idea to do business with Rumpy, and signs a contract to exchange one day of his life for one where he can be a mean, feared Ogre once again. Little did he know Rumpelstiltskin was about to take the most important day of his life…
In be-careful-what-you-wish-for fashion, Shrek realizes that while he gets exactly what he wanted, life isn’t exactly normal. Shortly, he finds himself in a race against time to set things right again by recreating “true love’s kiss”-–a far more challenging prospect with an embittered, battle hardened Fiona (Cameron Diaz).
Shrek 4 was a little darker in story than the last two and reminded me in parts of what I liked about the first one. Unfortunately, the story felt rushed, and even at 93 minutes, I didn’t think they gave the story a chance to breathe. The story itself was not very complicated, and the familiar cast of characters didn’t bring much of anything new in terms of “funny” to the table. I really liked Rumpelstiltskin, but pampered Puss in Boots was my favorite this go round. So grab your kids and go to the next 3D showing, and watch them get immersed.
