Shrek lives funnily ever after

• Source: Global Times
• [09:08 August 19 2010]
• Comments

A scene from Shrek Forever After. Photo: IC

By Nick Muzyczka

Shrek Forever After, currently on show in 3-D at the city's cinemas, is almost a worthy finale to this DreamWorks franchise and a considerable improvement on the strained and lackluster previous effort. While we do not encounter anything particularly fresh or unpredictable, there is much to be appreciated in this well-thought-out and humorous movie.

Shrek is now subject to a sort of mid-life crisis, brought on by the fatigue of parenthood and his desire to reclaim his youthful prowess. Unable to terrify townsfolk or find time for a relaxing mud bath, he is persuaded to enter into a contract which effectively results in him signing away his whole existence.

His only way to reverse events is by retracing his steps; a journey which involves fighting off hordes of witches and joining an underground ogre resistance movement.

The main reason for Shrek Forever After's comparative success is that there is a much more mature "sequel logic" underpinning the whole movie.

Instead of the desperate way in which Shrek 3 tried and failed to re-imagine the fairytale landscape in an even more spectacular way, this movie takes a sort of baroque-era "Theme and Variations" approach in which the desire to outperform its predecessors has been negated.

This results in a film which is fundamentally unoriginal but not awkward or trying. There is a comfortable understanding between the movie and viewer that the plot serves only as a platform for the exposition and manipulation of those devices that really blew people away when the first Shrek hit cinemas in 2001.