Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-24 13:46:05

SHOULD'VE BEEN FUNNIER

This "final" installment is certainly well done and mostly entertaining, but it's serious tones robbed the movie of its humor---it should've been funnier.While it's moral of being thankful for what you have is certainly admirable, I missed the zaniness of its predecessors. I wanted more of the scene-stealing Puss in Boots and especially Gingy, the Gingerbread Man.The vocal talents of all the actors is top notch and the witches are a nice touch, as is the childish villainy of Rumpelstiltskin is excellent.I had fun watching but I just wanted more!

2012-05-24 06:25:16

Another Shrek Hit

This is a wonderful fairy tale that is entertaining both forchildren and adults. It is funny, cute, and heart warming.Studios want to monetize the success of their first movieby making crummy sequals, but in this case this third moviein the series was just as good as the previous two Shrek movies.I also like the values that these movies teach to children: inthis case appreciating what one already has.

TheUnseenMovieLover 2012-05-24 04:52:33

Happily Ever After

I'm a big fan of the first two Shrek movies. The first Shrek, inparticular, was a hilarious, heartfelt and original delight. WhilstShrek 2 couldn't match the first film's originality, it was still ahugely enjoyable piece of entertainment. With Shrek The Third, thefranchise ground to a halt. I don't hate Shrek The Third; I just findit sluggish, stuffed with too many characters and lacking ideas. So, itwas with some trepidation that I approached Shrek Forever After.Thankfully, Shrek Forever After is a fitting finale for the franchise;it is very funny, sweet and, through a nice Wonderful Life-like twist,it shows us the characters we all know and love in a different light.Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) is having a midnight crisis. Despite livinghappily with his wife Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz) and their threechildren, Shrek longs for the days when he was feared by thetownspeople, instead of the tourist attraction that he has now become.After Shrek's pent-up anger is unleashed during his daughter's firstbirthday, he is tricked by the devious Rumpelstiltskin into signing adeal which will allow him to live as a real ogre for one day at theexpense of one day from his life. In his "ogre" day, Shrek realisedthat Rumpelstiltskin has stolen the day he was born; this means thatShrek never met Donkey, Puss in Boots or any of his other friends, andhe didn't save Fiona from the tower. Shrek soon finds his friends, butthey're not how he remembers them. Together, they must battle againstRuimpelstiltskin, who has taken over Far Far Away, and Shrek must finda way to reverse Rumpelstiltskin's magic before his day is over, or hewill disappear from existence.Shrek Forever After succeeds where Shrek the Third failed because itreturns to the charm of its characters and its story. Shrek the Thirdrelied more on its (admittedly eye-popping) visuals, hit-and-misspop-culture jokes and stunt casting (hello, Mr. Timberlake) than oncreating a strong story or in taking its characters on an entertaining,interesting journey. Shrek Forever After rectifies all of thesemistakes; the pop-culture gags are few and far in-between, with most ofthe film's humour coming from characters and their situations. There isno obvious stunt casting here, but that works to the film's advantage.Ever heard of Walt Dohrn? No, me neither. But he damn near steals thefilm as the tricky Rumpelstiltskin, his vocal performance a blast ofsnivelling razzmatazz. Plus, new director Mike Mitchell andscreenwriters Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke do funny, new things withfamiliar characters. For example, whereas Puss in Boots was a swarthyswashbuckler, in the alternate universe he resembles a balloon coveredin fur, who can't move without it being an Olympian task (one momentwhere he's struggling to, um, lick himself leads to the funniest use ofhis famous "ahhhh" eyes in the series). Whereas Fiona is a tiredhousewife in Shrek's real universe, in the alternate universe she isthe tough, sexy (hey, I'm a hot-blooded male) rebel leader of the Ogreresistance against Rumpelstiltskin. Mitchell, Klausner and Lemkeclearly have a lot of fun twisting our expectations of what thecharacters will do or what will happen to them, and I had a lot of funwith them. There is one death scene (shock!) which comes out ofmid-field, and is even more hilarious as a result.The vocal work is strong. Mike Myers excels here as Shrek; he brings areal sense of human weariness and sarcastic wit to a fairytalecharacter, which grounds him in reality. Shrek's midlife struggle withthe loss of the spark in his life before he met Fiona will ring truewith many viewers; many people, in the middle of a marriage, will lookback on their freer days with a sense of nostalgia and wish they couldre-live them again. Shrek's fault is that he doesn't realise what hehas until he loses it. Cameron Diaz excels in both personalities; thetired but loving wife and the Xena-like warrior, the latter in whichshe particularly seems to be letting loose and having a lot of fun.Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas are their usual hilarious selves,both of them taking advantage of their characters and their newsituations, with Banderas relishing his character's pampered lifestyleas Fiona's pet and Murphy still getting big laughs out of hischatterbox sidekick. The supporting cast is filled with talentedactors, most notably Craig Robinson, Glee's Jane Lynch and Mad Men'sJon Hamm as members of the Ogre resistance.The animation here is beautifully done and highly detailed. One caveat;as anyone who has seen the advertising knows, this film is being shownin 3D. The 3D isn't a distraction, as in Alice in Wonderland and (fromwhat I've heard) Clash of the Titans; it's just doesn't necessarily addanything either. It's just there. In Avatar and How to Train YourDragon, the 3D deepened the sense of immersion into an imaginary world.Here, it seems more perfunctory than anything else. So my advice is tosee this in 2D and save your money.Shrek Forever After erases the disappointment of Shrek the Third. Thereis a familiarity to the story which stops it from reaching the heightsof the first film, but it is enjoyable enough to be on the same levelas Shrek 2. This is a thoroughly entertaining conclusion to the Shreklegacy, and I'm going to miss the big guy.

AliAkbar01 2012-05-23 21:49:06

Compare to the third movie, this is a gift…

When they first announced that it was going to be the last Shrek, i wasdevastated. But now i am more devastated to see that the changed AndrewAdamson for another random director, i really wanted him to direct thislast one as he started nine years ago with the first one. This lastchapter is about Shrek facing what we call his ''management issues''.He is wondering if he did all right to everyone in his life. Now he isdragged in this crazy adventure and everything as changed, basicallythey said it all in the trailer. ''What Far Far Land'' would have beenif Shrek hadn't save Fiona? As expected everything has really changed,now Fiona (Cameron Diaz) is now ''Wanted'' it was Shrek's situation inthe first chapter. Donkey (Eddy Murphy) is not really married to thelady dragon and puss(Antonio Banderas) isn't that cute anymore. No onerecognize him anymore so he has to live all the adventure all overagain, which i found really great like idea but the director hashorribly failed to bring us the magic, it's near to vulgar, it'strashy, it's not what we expected from the last chapter. As for theadditional character such as Jane Lynch we didn't really need it, theyshould have stick to the original additional characters like; Pinocchiothe three pigs and etc… Overall this last chapter is far from beingmemorable, just go because you loved Shrek in those years and i thinkbesides the poor screenplay and the directing the kids will enjoy thisone…

momof4 2012-05-22 17:07:30

Walked out

For a kids film, this was truly disappointing. Our family has loved the Shrek films. They always have great comedy, are lots of fun, and are safe for the whole family. This one however was way too serious on the story - in fact we walked out because the kids were getting freaked out over all the witches and spells and such. Overall, disappointed with this final chapter.

2012-05-22 09:44:34

Fun for everyone.

This review is from: Shrek Forever After (Single-Disc Edition) (DVD) This movie was a lot of fun. We have watched it several times in the last few weeks and I still enjoy it.

2012-05-21 07:32:22

Shrek Forever After

In the fourth and last installment of the Shrek franchise, Shrek (Mike Myers) finds himself becoming tired of his "domesticated" life when the routines of married life and fatherhood meet with the constant bombardment of fame and somewhat annoying friends. After storming out of his son's first birthday party Shrek runs into Rumplestiltskin (Walt Dohrn), who learns of Shrek's desires to be the ogre he once was and offers him a magical contract that would allow him to be an true ogre for a day, in exchange for one thing. In that exchange, though, Shrek gets much more than he bargained for. When the first Shrek came out it was a brilliant anti-fairy tale fairy tale. Openly lampooning Disney movies and theme parks, Shrek was a fresh take on the animated fairy tale where the main characters didn't live happily ever after as picture perfect prince and princess, but as ogres, typically the scourge of any fairy tale. Since then two other Shrek movies have come out, and rather than embracing the counter culture of the first film, the franchise bought into it's own hype and into pop culture and lost the spirit of the original. While not bad films, they were unnecessary and even sapped some of the brilliance of the original. Now with the finale of Shrek in theaters, how does it stand up?More-so than it's predecessors Shrek Forever After tries to come back home to more of the feeling of the first film. Even the plot of the film of Shrek's desire to go back to being a lone ogre on the outskirts of society seems to echo what the filmmakers were desiring to accomplish in picking a premise that allowed them to nearly replicate some of the situations of the first movie. That's one of the strengths of the film is that you get to re-meet the characters in a new fashion and in slightly new characterizations than previous which amps up the fun of this film compared to the previous films.Reaching into an alternate universe has allowed the writers, and the actors, to revision the characters adding to the freshness of this installment in the series. Fiona is now a warrior, leading an ogre rebellion against the king. Donkey, while still the over talkative, funny if slightly annoying sidekick he's a little more wary and a bit brighter than he was in Shrek's real world. Puss has let himself go, and won't even chase a mouse that's sharing his milk. The real surprise here is Walt Dohrn, a writer/storyboard artist who makes his vocal film debut as the voice of the film's baddie, Rumplestiltskin. Everyone does a great job with their vocal work, but Walt and his character steal the show.But for all the good, you can't go home, and Shrek doesn't quite go home either. Compared to the first film this one feels a little tame, sterile. First off, the premise makes this almost seem like a remake of the first film, causing it to loose some of it's freshness. On top of that there's a moral that really stands out, which is something I don't recall being aware of while watching the first three Shrek films, even though it was there.All in all, I would highly recommend this film. Easily it's the second best of the four Shrek films. Each of the three sequels were unnecessary, but this was definitely a higher note to go out on than the last two films. If they had to go through sequels, I'm not sure they could have asked for a better film to go out on. If you've watched the last couple of Shrek films and found yourself to be disappointed give this a try, it doesn't quite capture the magic of the first film but it gets closer than the other sequels.3.5/5

V 2012-05-20 20:36:27

A

I have to give 'Shrek Forever After' an A. I use to absolutely hate the Shrek movies and I went to see the musical in NYC cause that looked pretty good and ever since then, I fell in love with Shrek. I love all the movies now and this one is no exception. I thought the story was good. I never truly laughed out loud at a movie and Shrek Forever After had me cracking up. I still can't get over the graphics - if you really look at them, it's amazing how they get freckles and everything that you wouldn't see unless you were close up. It still amazes me. The only downside for me was the 3D. Without 3D glasses, watching any of the Shrek movies, they all look 3D already at least to me. So therefore, the 3D glasses didn't really do anything for me and was a wasted extra $3.00. I would see this movie again in a heartbeat though. I definitely recommend it.

2012-05-20 04:26:27

Shrek great, not 2nd DVD

This review is from: Shrek Forever After (Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular Double Pack) (DVD) I absolutely loved the movie DVD but did not like "Donkey's Christmas Shrektactular" at all. I wish I had just bought the main DVD.

gavin-thelordofthefu-48-460297 2012-05-19 14:20:59

An enjoyable conclusion to a great film series

Andrew Adamson did a great job with the first two films and producedthe previous entry, we've come to the end of the film franchise withthis one and I think it's an improvement over the third. Here's thereason.First, the story. It's really sad to see that the series has come to anend, but it copies the "It's a wonderful life" story we've already seenin lots of movies and the script was unbelievably clichéd. At least thepacing was OK.Now that the negative aspects are out of their way, let's give thisfinal installment some praise.The computer animation is as striking as the first three films and thecharacter animation improved a lot than the previous installment. Thedialogue, although not as good as the first two, has gotten way better.The comedy was pretty good although not as great as the comedy from thefirst two. The soundtrack from Harry Gregson Williams managed tocapture the charm of the same beautiful theme from the first two and itsucceeded.Although, not as compelling as the first two, it improved over thethird and it's very sad to say goodbye to our lovable ogre, but by thetime the Puss in Boots spin off came out, I will always remember thefilm series that touched my heart as a little kid.

2012-05-19 04:30:10

shrek with a final movie

this is the final shrek movie and i gotta tell ya it was a very good movie and alot of laughs u will get out of this.if u did not like the 3rd 1 dont worry this 1 is much much better and worth it.i bought it right away and loved every min of it

2012-05-18 17:53:57

We love Shrek

This review is from: Shrek Forever After / Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular (Two Pack) (DVD) Shrek forever after is a wonderfully cute movie that I will watch again and again. Donkey's Christmas is terrible therefore will be donated away.

2012-05-17 18:05:29

Shrek Forever After-I Love It

Shrek Forever After is one of my favourite films in the world! It is the best Shrek yet. The movie is kind of based on Its A Wonderful Life. Shrek is getting bored of his life, so he goes and finds a short strange fellow. Rumpelstilskon. He starts to like him and he gets Shrek to sign a contract. For one day, Shrek enters a world if he was 'never born'. Which ends up Donkey working for wiches, puss in boots gets fat, and most importantly,Fiona was never rescued from the tower! She rescued herself! She is now a queen ogre with tons of working ogers fighting for their freedom. Shrek falls in love with her again and Fiona saves Shreks life. The movie ends when they both kiss and enter to the party room where he belongs. I loved the movie!

Andrew Marshall 2012-05-17 08:56:30

A money making exercise

The first Shrek movies were full of fun and adventure. The third filmwas disappointing and it seemed it was time to put the franchise tobed. The recent explosion in 3d movies obviously made the productioncompany see an opportunity to make some money from a 3d Shrekinstalment.The biggest problem with Shrek forever after is where to go with thefranchise. The opening sequence of the movie see's shrek in domesticbliss but longing for his former life. The stupor is a fairly goodanalogy for the film itself. Shrek is taken to an alternative worldwhere he hasn't met any of his friends, but although there are somegood moments you long for the adventure of the first 2 Shrek films.

Simon 2012-05-16 22:16:42

The best out of all Shreks

In this "last" chapter, Shrek takes a journey into an alternate worldof Far Far Away after dealing with the tiny but deviousRumpelstitlskin, whose name is so hard to spell. Now, Shrek must regainthe real world after finding out that Rumpel is ruling the Far Far Awaywith his freak witches and nonstop wig changes. Shrek is also facedwith a more sinister problem, his old friends never met him, Donkey isterrified of him, Puss is obese and lazy, Fiona is cursed again and apart of a resistance and lastly, his babies never existed.For me, I like the fact that they crafted a story like this, it'senjoyable and a refreshing take for the tired genre. Shrek 2 and 3 areweak for me, as I don't like the villains that much. Rumpelstitlskinmust be the greatest villain in the Ogre history, he's devious, funnyand will do anything to make someone sign his feisty contract. Rumpeldid it for me, he satisfied me. Of course, Shrek wouldn't be Shrekwithout the nonstop chatter Donkey, oh men, Donkey must be the mosthilarious character of the series as he make everyone in the theaterlaugh. Puss is uber cute but I felt his too unnecessary for the moviebut a great addition as well. Fiona changes completely, she became atough warrior who always wanted to have a baby girl named Felicia. I'mglad we are about to see more of Shrek's emotional side, he's not thesame animated characters who is happy about life after 3 previousinstallments, Shrek got tired of his family life and decided to takethe world upside down but finally realizes that he got the wrong move.Great writing. I love how the writers didn't miss out anything from thealternate universe as what I expected, Gingy turns out to be agladiator which is too cute. Many hilarious jokes are also in thismovie, jokes that are executed modernly, especially whenever the PipedPiper uses his flute, that makes everyone dance! Hilarious! I'm stillgrimacing of the movie after watching it, it stayed with me and I wantto see more of it, well, I guess it's too late if they have done thisstoryline on the third movie, well, I guess we have a more beautifulfourth or fifth one.

2012-05-16 07:04:53

May this be the last

This review is from: Shrek Forever After (Single-Disc Edition) (DVD) Shrek is the animated corollary of the Aliens, Friday the 13th, Predators and Indiana Jones franchise; stop after 1. Each successive incarnations of Shrek have been less funny, less original and less engaging than the previous one. But they have all been financially profitable, including this fourth and final one. Starring almost all the same characters found in the first or second movies, this one has the plus of having fewer spoofs of other movies. There are funny scenes, all in the same style as the previous 3 movies; a mix of gallows, toilet, black and slapstick humor. There is a new antagonist, though all the protagonists are the same. And there is Shrek's children, though they do little besides provide bodily functions. Overall, an OK film, and a quiet denoument of a successful animated franchise, unlike the glorious ending of Toy Story 3.

Farid_Hijab_Nadweed 2012-05-15 19:35:27

Excellent Set up for SHREK 5

To say that there won't be a Sherk 5, is basically like saying thesesame dollar happy producers will gladly turn their backs on entirepiles of millions; that it's already in the works is as sure as achickenshit, which is basically what this entry into the big green meanmachine's ourve amounts to, in the long run.If you can't get enough of Sherk, this production will give you enoughof Sherk. He has obviously hoped to continue it onward as a regularevent for cinema goers, but it's easy to tell why lt keeps happening:Bookoo bucks. In a musical number, Sherk can make a great entrance inone of his glamorous gowns, but do we really want to hear him sing thewhole song? He should concentrate on being the goofy troll that he is,although his antenna appear more or less martian like. And with acomedian like Mike Myers on show, let him take a little of thelimelight too. And let Cameron Diaz do whatever it is that Cameron Diazknows how to do. Alas, there is no musical inventiveness here, no comicinventiveness beyond the gags so familiar already from the Shekr Show,and little of the variety that we expect from a variety show. Perfectfor all audiences, but not one of the better productions of thecinematic genre. 2.5 out of 5 stars.It's like staring at a Sherk poster for an hour or two. But on theother hand, who among us hasn't done that?

2012-05-15 08:56:00

movie is great but.....

This review is from: Shrek Forever After / Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular (Two Pack) (DVD) i found the movie very cute and funny and enjoyable but the 2nd dvd is totally awful and i love the donkey but not worth the price you have to pay for it.twice i purchased it and it did not come with the additional items as it says in the description, so i returned it both times.

Electrified_Voltage 2012-05-13 23:22:33

I agree with those who say it's not as good as the first two but better than the third

Released nine years after the first installment in the "Shrek" moviefranchise, "Shrek Forever After" is the fourth and final installment.I've seen all the films in the franchise through the years, startingwith the first one in late 2001, in the home video format. "Shrek 2"was the only one in the franchise which I saw in the theatre, and thatwas a memorable experience. In 2008, I revisited the first two films,having not seen either of them in several years, and thought they werestill impressive, but then watched "Shrek the Third" for the firsttime, the year after its release, and found it to be mediocre, notunlike many other viewers. There was a good chance the fourthinstallment wouldn't be any better than the third, but now that I'veseen it, over two years after I last watched any of the previous"Shrek" movies, I would say that it is.Shrek now lives in his swamp with Princess Fiona and their three ogrechildren, but he is now experiencing a midlife crisis. He is constantlygetting unwanted attention, with nobody afraid of him anymore, andfeels that he isn't much of an ogre anymore, missing the days when hecould scare people away and have his privacy. The evil Rumpelstiltskin,whose plans to become king of Far Far Away were ruined when Shrekrescued Princess Fiona, tricks the ogre into taking his offer for himto live like an ogre again for one day in exchange for one day of hispast erased. Shrek soon finds himself in an alternate world, where heis happy to find that he can scare everyone around him again. However,he then learns that in this world, Rumpelstiltskin is now theoppressive ruler of the kingdom, and ogres are used for slave labour!It turns out that the day the con artist erased was the day the ogrewas born, so his whole existence has been reversed, and he willdisappear tomorrow at sunrise! Shrek manages to escape from the castlewith Donkey, and soon learns that the only way to save himself andreturn to where he was before he signed the contract is through truelove's kiss, but he will have to do this before the next sunrise, so hedoesn't have much time! The first part of this movie, showing Princess Fiona's parents almostsigning the kingdom over to Rumpelstiltskin before learning that theirdaughter has been rescued, is a memorable beginning, and shows that theanimation in the "Shrek" franchise is still great. It's funny whenRumpelstiltskin angrily tears out pages of a book while narrating.There are some good laughs as we see Shrek's current living situation,though the ogre children's bodily functions may not always be thatfunny. The story looks very interesting around this point, and theentertainment continues as Shrek enters the alternate world, but may godownhill a little when the witches first appear. However, throughoutthe film, the plot is intriguing enough for the most part, a story inwhich Shrek realizes he didn't know how good he had it until it was toolate, and the animation is still unsurprisingly amazing.Rumpelstiltskin, voiced here by Walt Dohrn, isn't the best antagonist,but he can be funny at times. The ogre's adventure is a fairly excitingone with some notably touching scenes. I also have to give "ShrekForever After" credit for the times when it made me laugh (such asShrek telling Donkey not to touch the waffles in the forest, but Donkeywon't listen), even though the movie as a whole could have been muchmore consistent with the laughs.Since I watched this fourth and final installment in the franchise overtwo years after watching the third, and my memory of "Shrek the Third"isn't as clear as it could be, I can't explain everything that makesthis one the stronger effort of the two, but two reasons might be theabsence of the fairy tale princesses who were introduced in the 2007film, and the fact that no characters in this final chapter are voicedby Justin Timberlake. There are obviously other reasons as well. Whilenot all "Shrek" fans consider "Shrek Forever After" to be a very goodway to end the franchise, I'm one of those who thinks it's not the bestinstallment, but not the worst. In terms of quality, of the fourmovies, I would say this one comes in third, with its immediatepredecessor in last place. Also, as a film starring Mike Myers madeafter "The Love Guru", it sure is better than that lousy 2008 comedy. Idon't suggest you watch this fourth installment thinking the franchiseended as strongly as it began, but you could still find that it'sdecent family entertainment for fans of the very popular computergenerated ogre.

Anonymous 2012-05-13 07:04:35

Redemption from Shrek 3

3-D Imax was the way to see this although I'll see it a second time in the regular theatre. The story was very good. I laughed and laughed and cried. Bravo!