Franchise Reviews - The Shrek Films (Wrap-up)

The Shrek films seem to be a classic case of sequelitis. Shrek 2 is a strong film and remains strong to this day, while its predecessor is also strong but hasn't aged well. The third and fourth films were disappointing.

Overall, the series is well-animated, there's some cool action scenes, and I kinda like the soundtrack choices. I'll often recognise any song if I've heard it in a film.

I also think each film does convey some good messages rather than re-hashing the same one:

• Shrek: You shouldn't judge people without getting to know them first
• Shrek 2: You shouldn't have to change just to please somebody else
• Shrek the Third: Don't let your past or status define you
• Shrek Forever After: Be thankful for the things you have

I also like some of the "modern pop culture in a fantasy world" tropes. When it makes sense to have them, it's really funny.

There's been talk of doing a fifth film, but I'll probably pass on that one.

Anyway, I've got other projects to work on.

Happy writing.

Franchise Reviews - Shrek Forever After

Jeez, this was a depressing film. Shrek Forever After, also known as Shrek: The Final Chapter, was released in 2010 and intended to serve as a finale to the series. That's good, because sequelitis was beginning to set in after the previous film.

The film opens with a flashback in which King Harold and Queen Lillian seek the aid of Rumpelstiltskin, voiced by Walt Dohrn, to break the curse on Princess Fiona. Rumpelstiltskin agrees if they hand over rule of Far Far Away to him, but they learn that Fiona has been rescued before signing the contract. Meanwhile, Shrek has returned to the swamp with Fiona and their ogre triplets. But family life is bringing on a midlife crisis, along with the fact that people no longer fear him but idolise him like a celebrity. After lashing out at everybody during his triplets' birthday party, Shrek encounters Rumpelstiltskin, who offers him a day to be like a real ogre in exchange for one day which Shrek won't remember. Shrek accepts and enjoys terrorising people, but then discovers that the day he paid with was the day he was born. Since he never existed, Fiona was never saved from Dragon's castle, her parents signed Rumpelstiltskin's contract and disappeared, who in turn assumed control of Far Far Away and made it into a dystopia ruled by witches. Shrek learns that he has to fall in love with Fiona again before sunrise, or he will cease to exist.

This film takes a more dramatic tone which seems like a far cry from its predecessors. It paints a bleak scenario in which everybody Shrek knows has been altered: Donkey is in Rumpelstiltskin's service; Fiona leads an ogre resistance movement; Puss in Boots has retired and let himself go, acting as Fiona's pet. And to make matters worse, Fiona doesn't believe in true love, having escaped from the castle herself. To the film's credit, Fiona's pretty cool in this one. She always was an aversion to the traditional fairy tale princesses, but this film takes it to the next level.

To be honest, I miss the humour of the first two films. It's still there, but not as much. I think Shrek seems too mean-spirited at first. Yeah, he's meant to be a bit of a dick, but his insecurities are meant to garner sympathy. When he lashes out at everybody at the beginning and tells Fiona he wishes he never met her, I feel like that's pushing things too far.

There's still some great action, and Rumpelstiltskin gets a chuckle out of me every now and then, but I don't think it's enough to carry the film.

Yeah, I think this one is a hard pass.

Franchise Reviews - Shrek the Third

Happy Easter from this Bacchus worshipper who blagged a four-day weekend from this commercialised holiday. Anyway, Shrek the Third was released in 2007, and unlike the first two films, I didn't see this one in the cinema. After today's viewing, I can see why.

At the end of the last film, Shrek and Fiona reverted to their ogre forms, while Harold sacrificed himself to kill The Fairy Godmother and reverted to his original form as The Frog Prince. Unfortunately, the king has taken ill, forcing Shrek and Fiona to serve as regents. When the king dies, Shrek is reluctant to take the throne, believing the people won't accept an ogre as their ruler (and also learns that Fiona is pregnant). With Puss and Donkey in tow, he sets out to find another heir to the throne; Arthur Pendragon, Harold's nephew voiced by Justin Timberlake. Unfortunately, he's an angsty teenager who's also reluctant to accept his responsibilities. Meanwhile, Prince Charming - who has been reduced to performing in sub-par dinner shows - plots to usurp the throne with the aid of Captain Hook and other fairy tale villains. It's up to Fiona, her mother, and a few fairy tale princesses to escape and fight back.

There's not really much to this one. There's a greater emphasis on slapstick in this one (which isn't to say the others didn't use slapstick). Some of the slapstick is funny, like the scenes of Shrek's regency: when knighting someone, he holds the sword wrong and injures him; when christening a new ship, he prematurely launches it by leaning on it, throws the bottle with such force that it breaks the hull, and then the sails burst into flames as the vessel sinks. And then there's a ball which devolves into chaos, which starts to feel drawn out. Again, there's another joke that's drawn out when the king's on his deathbed. It's like they couldn't decide whether they wanted to be funny or poignant.

On the flip side, there are some jokes which could have been explored a little more. For example, Puss and Donkey swap bodies after being teleported by Arthur's wizard friend Merlin, voiced by Eric Idle. There's one scene where Puss tries to bluff away a few guards with his "cute" form, which doesn't work when he's a donkey. I just wonder if he could have got a fight scene out of it too.

Arthur doesn't have much going for him, and seems to be a stock character who hasn't really been altered in any way. He's at an academy in Worcestershire, which is just a fantasy version of a medieval high school with a couple of archetypes. Again, these characters are all set up, but only appear in one scene.

I actually get a few laughs from some of the villains, especially with how pathetic Prince Charming is. Ian McShane is funny as Captain Hook as well. I especially like how he wheels his piano everywhere, even to fight scenes.

All in all, this one doesn't hold up as well as the previous film, but that was a hard act to follow.

Franchise Reviews - Shrek 2

Released in 2004, Shrek 2 is another one of those sequels which ended up being superior to the first film. And it's probably the strongest film in the series.

When the last film ended, Shrek married Fiona, who has now permanently taken the form of an ogre, while Donkey hooked up with Dragon (who ate Lord Farquaad). Now that Katzenberg has vented enough about Disney, it's time for a new story.

Shrek and Fiona return from their honeymoon, when they receive an invitation from Fiona's parents to the Hollywood-style Kingdom of Far Far Away, who wish to give Fiona's new husband their blessing. With Donkey in tow, the newlyweds travel to Far Far Away and meet King Harold and Queen Lillian, voiced respectively by John Cleese and Julie Andrews. Naturally, they're taken aback to have an ogre in the family, especially Harold. To make matters worse, Harold is indebted to The Fairy Godmother, voiced by Jennifer Saunders. He'd secretly arranged for Fiona to marry The Fairy Godmother's son Prince Charming, voiced by Rupert Everett. In desperation, Harold recruits Puss in Boots, a feline assassin voiced by Antonio Banderas, to kill Shrek. After failing, Puss has a change of heart and helps Shrek foil The Fairy Godmother's plans and save his marriage.

I think one of the reasons this film worked is because it explores a question often overlooked by fairy tales; what's life like after living happily ever after? It also adds its own twist on traditional fairy tales by depicting The Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming as villains. Antonio Banderas steals the show as Puss in Boots, making him a Zorro-style swashbuckler. He also adds an element to Shrek and Donkey's dynamic by laughing at Shrek's unfunny jokes while sharing a mutual animosity with Donkey.

Something I found interesting is that the film seems to convey a more adult them. While the first film is about not judging people before you got to know them, this one is about change and how much one should change for those they care about, particularly in relationships. Fiona reminds Shrek that she changed for him, by taking the form of an ogre. This comes into play when Shrek and his friends steal a "Happily Ever After" potion from The Fairy Godmother. When Shrek drinks it, he and Fiona both turn into humans, while Donkey is turned into a stallion, with the effect becoming permanent if they kiss before midnight. When The Fairy Godmother finds out, she has Prince Charming impersonate Shrek while telling the real Shrek to let Fiona go. It's actually quite poignant, because Shrek genuinely believes it's for the best. But when he learns that The Fairy Godmother plans to use a potion to make Fiona fall in love with Charming, he has to stop it, leading to a bigger climax than the first one.

The film still uses a lot of pop culture references, but they don't do as much of the zeitgeist the previous film did, so it aged a little better. In fact, there's one scene which is unfortunately timeless when Shrek and his friends are arrested by the city guards: some of the minor characters from the first film (Pinocchio, The Gingerbread Man, the Three Little Pigs, and the Three Blind Mice) see the arrest through the Magic Mirror while watching a fantasy version of Cops. Donkey is shouting about police brutality while Puss calls one of the officers a "capitalist pig". Recent news events do make the scene harsher in hindsight.

Overall, it's a far superior sequel that took plenty of opportunities for improvement.

Franchise Reviews - Shrek

It's Good Friday, and apparently there's always an occasion to watch Shrek. Even during a university lecture. That's a true story by the way. I was sitting in a lecture and saw someone watching Shrek on their laptop. Anyway, Shrek was a computer-animated film released in 2001 and produced by Dreamworks. And according to Wikipedia, it was based on a fairy tale written in 1990 by William Steig.

Mike Myers stars as Shrek, a cynical and reclusive ogre whose quiet life is disturbed when the swamp he resides in is used as a dumping ground for fairy tale creatures. He learns that Lord Farquaad - the diminutive ruler of Duloc voiced by John Lithgow - seeks to create a "perfect kingdom" in which fairy tale creatures are outlawed and banished. Eager to get his solitude, Shrek travels to Duloc with the talkative Donkey, voiced by Eddie Murphy. Upon meeting with Farquuad, he is promised a deed to his swamp if he rescues a princess from a dragon so he can marry her and legitimise Duloc's status as a kingdom. Shrek  succeeds in rescuing Princess Fiona, voiced by Cameron Diaz, and the two grow closer on the journey back to Duloc.

I think one of the big reasons this film got so big was because Disney's Pixar had pretty much dominated the market for computer-animated films, and this wasn't made by Pixar. In fact, it takes a heavy satirical swipe at Disney, particularly in the first half of the film. This was because the Dreamworks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg previously worked for Disney until he was fired over a dispute. Lord Farquaad is modelled after Disney's then-CEO and Katzenberg's nemesis, Michael Eisner. and Duloc is intended to be a parody of Disneyland (not to mention a joke about the size of Farquaad's castle compensating for something). Even Farquaad's name sounds like "Fuckwad", which is a pretty risqué thing to work into what is marketed as a family film.

After that first half of venting, I must admit that the film flags. While it is nice to see Shrek and Fiona growing close after a poor first impression, there's later a misunderstanding between them - stemming from Donkey finding out that Fiona takes the form of an ogre at night but swearing not to tell Shrek -  which kinda bogs the story down. A lot of dialogue is mostly Shrek and Donkey just bickering, but that's not a major issue as Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy work off of each other really well. Donkey's a fast-talker while Shrek's wit falls flat, which is a common joke associated with Mike Myers' characters. They even get a moment together when Shrek discusses why he prefers solitude due to society quickly judging him. They even reference The Goon Show at one point when Shrek talks about an ogre named "Bloodnok the Flatulent".

Other than bickering and aiming a giant animated middle finger at Disney, what kind of humour does this film have? Well, there seems to be a run on pop culture zeitgeist. For example, Princess Fiona fights off Robin Hood and his Merry Men with gravity-defying martial arts seen in The Matrix (something which was parodied endlessly to the point of cliché at that time). Or there's another scene in which Shrek fights off Farquaad's knights in a ring using wrestling moves. Again, there doesn't seem to be much to it other than incorporating professional wrestling into the world (and the aforementioned zeitgeist). I don't think there's anything wrong with incorporating modern pop culture into a fantasy world, but it has to make some kind of sense. There's also some gross-out humour, and I counted two fart jokes and one groin attack. I'm going to assume there's a quota for those as I do the subsequent viewings.

That said, there was one moment of black comedy which was great: There's a scene where Princess Fiona sings with a bird in a parody of the Disney version of Snow White. But when Fiona sustains a high note, the bird explodes trying to keep up. Fiona then sees some eggs in the bird's nest, and it cuts to her frying them for Shrek and Donkey.

All in all, I think the first half of the film is strong, but then it declines near the end.

Franchise Reviews: The Shrek Films

Happy Easter or Passover in advance. I already mentioned this before, so you know it's not an April Fools joke. Besides, April Fools finishes at noon, meaning that I missed it. A morning of pranking people. What's a morning? I'm a student.

Anyway, since this blog has been pretty quiet, I needed to think of something non-academic to break up my assignment work and settled on another series of posts reviewing all the films in a franchise. Since one of my works-in-progress is a comic fantasy, so I decided to take a look at something which had an influence on this; the Shrek films. And it was well-timed, as the first film in the series celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Now let's see if the films still hold up after all that time.

Starting tomorrow and continuing over the Easter Weekend, I'm going to be reviewing all four Shrek films.

See you then!