As we all always knew that we are not far far away from returning back to the story of ‘Far far Away’ Land, Shrek III is here again amongst us making a lot of the usual unnecessary noise(you-know-how?!) among the movie theatres or maybe its making a lot of necessary noise in the movie theatres.
A mixture of many fairy tales, yet with a hero unlike that of any fairy tales’, the Shrek series doesn’t show a cute, handsome, always-right Mr.Prince as the hero, but it’s different because it shows a fat green clumsy Ogre (who wouldn’t be a king at any rate!) as the hero who always manages to save the day! Okay, as you all know who Shrek is, I won’t be describing his physical features here, and if you don’t know who Shrek is – shame on you! I am truly sorry but I can’t help you.find out from the sweet-cute-angel-type-looking little demon that is hovering in and/or around your house and then get back to this review!
…So, where were we? Yeah, Shrek(Mike Myers) who married Princess Fiona(Cameron Diaz), who also looks like an Ogre(because she wasn’t actually supposed to marry Shrek but the evil and handsome Prince Charming(Rupert Everett) who could remove the curse on her and turn her back to being a normal Princess but she did marry Shrek and chose to lead the life of a normal Ogre wife…anyways that’s the story in Shrek I, so don’t expect me to narrate it here!) is currently living in ‘Far Far Away’ Kingdom, with his sidekicks – absurd Donkey(Eddie Murphy), and the suave Puss-in-boots(Antonio Banderas), when his father-in-law, King Harold(a frog-converted-to-king-and-then-again-converted-back-to-being-a-frog, er - so basically Shrek’s Dad-in-law is a frog now and that’s all you need to know!) passes away suddenly, well…maybe not that suddenly – he takes a lot of time to die and then keeps dramatizing his own death and thankfully-er-sadly, dies at last and leaves Shrek two choices: Either Shrek takes over the throne as the next ruler of ‘Far Far Away’ or finds Fiona’s cousin – Arthur…But Shrek who wants to return to his smelly swamp and live there happily ever after with Fiona, decides to take the second option and find Arthur and sets off in his quest but just before he leaves, Fiona tells Shrek that he is going to be a father(and Shrek who was dreading this, finds out that he is not ready for it yet – *isn’t that so bollywood-ish?!).
Anyway, Shrek finds the geek-type Arthur(‘Artie’ as he is called by his bullying classmates) who was studying in a high school and forces him(as he was not that willing to take on the responsibilities of a kingdom) to come back with him-and yes, they face a lot of tribulations on the way. Meanwhile, the outcast Charming persuades all the villains from the fairy tales (like Captain Hook, Cinderella’s step sisters, Cyclops, et-al) to help him take over ‘Far Far Away’…but as expected everything turns out to be another ‘happily ever after’end, with a little help from the Fiona and her friends – the ‘super-hot’ princesses(like Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, well, Rapunzel was also there but she turned out to be on Charming’s side!)and Arthur willingly accepts the crown of Far Far Away after delivering a little sermon to the evil cronies of Charming… But wait! The happy ending also shows that Shrek is now a father to three little Ogre children and that finally, he is ready for them!
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This animated adventure when compared to its prequels might fail to live up to one’s expectations as the plot is a bit too unconvincing.Just mixing up more and more characters from different fables didn’t work for Shrek III this time, even including Arthur, Lancelot and Merlin in this extraordinary fairy tale didn’t work wonders, it rather jumbled up the whole plot of the movie since these characters did not have any important or significant parts to play, well maybe Arthur had but what was the use of Lancelot and Merlin who kept cracking senseless jokes?!
The humor element in the movie is certainly a level better than the humor element in the first two movies, this movie has some joke for everyone and for all ages – be it Donkey’s half-dragon-half-donkey kids forming the words in sky: “We love you Daddy”; or Charming’s changing the name of the kingdom to ‘Go go away’; or Shrek’s dreaming that Puss-and-Donkey’s faces resemble faces of little ogre children and his swamp flodding with little ogre babies; or Snow-White inspired with the idea of saving the kingdom, calling herself and the other captor princesses – ‘super hot’ and ripping off the sleeves of her gown to get ready for action; or Arthur trying to convince the villains of the fairy tales in the climax, that the only obstacle in the way of their better prospects were they themselves, says, “the only obstacle in your path is” – pointing carelessly, just to lay emphasis on what he was saying, at a particular short rogue* - “you”* – and all the other rogues on stage get enraged and throw themselves upon that particular villain thinking that the obstacle on their way was ‘he’ or…, okay never mind…overall, the movie was hilarious enough to keep you glued to your seat for an hour and a half, if everything else fails to do that!
The prime voice cast is just the same as was in the prequels of this movie with the addition of Justin Timberlake featuring as Arthur, so naturally it’s good, especially Puss in Boots, with *those sweet-cut -innocent-emerald-green eyes he’s got *(yeah, talking, walking and doing things in Zorro style and that also with Antonio Banderas’ voice to back it up – I know–ahem- I am getting carried away…!).So Zorro – er – Shrek III is just the thing you are looking for, to give the little angel(?) at your home a real treat! A must-watch for all children and yes, it won’t hurt if parents accompany those sweet little children!
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Moral of the Story: Don’t go believing what other people think of you, just believe in yourself…
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