The storyline is fairly straightforward. The old king dies, leaving Shrek as his heir - but he doesn't really want the job. There have been a series of 'mishaps' during the regency when he and Fiona were filling in for the ill monarch. Shrek is told there is an alternative heir - Arthur. Whilst he goes off to to find the once and future king, Prince Charming aided by all the fairytale villains embarks on a coup d'etat.
Shrek and Arthur engage the support of Merlin, and gingerbread man, the three little pigs, one of the ugly sisters (the other is on the side of Prince Charming), Snow White, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots and of course donkey, to free the imprisoned Queen and Fiona and retake the kingdom for the good heroes of fairytale. Fiona is pregnant and in the course of the film we deal with 'friendship', 'fatherhood', god and evil, and all those eternal tales. There are lots of very funny bits to the story, too many references to other films, books, and tales, but is generally a good lighthearted movie. My rating - 6/10
2 comments:
If you thought Shrek the Third had too many references to other films, avoid Shrek 2! It's fun to spot them all, but I don't think they really go anywhere with most of the references. It's showing off. I'd prefer it if their team of writers had thought of a better plot; or, alternatively, just left it up to Eddie Murphy to improvise. Similar to my comment on The Simpsons Movie, I wish there had been greater focus on the minor characters, who were much more entertaining than boring Shrek and Fiona. What did you think about Eric Idle as Merlin? Bradders in the Grauniad thought he was "frankly unfunny", which I think is just plain wrong. He was one of the best things about this underwhelming sequel!
Actually I reckon the Merlin character was one of the funnier characters. I had real problems with Rupert Everett as Prince Charming. Totally unfunny I think.
Post a Comment