Sadly, the third time isn’t the charm here. Though Shrek the Third had a worldwide box office gross of $794.4 million, the story is mediocre. Beginning shortly after the events of Shrek 2, Shrek (Mike Myers) and his wife Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), are faced with a big question. Does Shrek want to be king? When Princess Fiona´s father’s (John Cleese) health declines, Shrek substitutes for him. On his deathbed, the king reveals the identity of another living heir to the kingdom. Though the king leaves the throne of Far Far Away to his daughter and her husband, Shrek wants nothing to do with it. He just wants to return to the swamp. Shrek goes out to find Arthur (Justin Timberlake), an obscure member of Far Far Away’s royal family, with the intention of crowning the boy king. Before departing with his faithful sidekicks Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss-in-Boots (Antonio Banderas), Shrek is informed by Fiona that he soon going to be a father. News that he is going to be a dad completely shocks the ogre and he finds himself ill prepared to deal with the revelation.
While their gone, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), son of the late Fairy Godmother, is determined to take over the throne of Far Far Away. He enlists the help of other villains including Captain Hook (Ian McShane), the Wicked Queen (Susanne Blakeslee), a Cyclops (Mark Valley), Rumpelstiltskin (Conrad Vernon), Little Red Riding Hood, Mabel the Ugly Stepsister (Regis Philbin), the Headless Horseman (Conrad Vernon) and, Stromboli the Puppet Master (Chris Miller). Prince Charming gains control of the kingdom rather easily, and imprisons Fiona and her princesses. Unaware of the troubles at home, Shrek finds young Artie–a lowly student at Worcestershire University. Initially, Artie is excited to go with Shrek, but soon develops doubts. Eventually, the odd magician Merlin (Eric Idle) helps Shrek and his friends convince Artie to make the trip to Far Far Away.
Like his mother, Prince Charming is eventually dealt with, and Shrek and his friends are able to have the domestic life they desire. Donkey has his brood of little dragon hybrid “dronkeys” to raise, and Shrek and Fiona have three newborns of their own to attend to. The couple can finally return to their swampy home with Artie assuming the position of Far Far Away’s new king.
Shrek the Third is by far the weakest film of the series. Just in writing this review I was reminded how many characters inhabit the story and it is there that the film falters most. There are too many characters and too many subplots that don’t lead to anything particularly new or exciting. It is worth noting that this installment of Shrek was produced by a different creative team and helmed by two new directors. Perhaps those behind the scenes changes are to blame for a surprisingly disjointed film.
Shrek the Third comes to Blu-ray with an AVC encoding averaging about 30 Mbps. The transfer of this film looks excellent. There is a sense of hyper-realism with every object as it appears on the screen. Colors are reproduced well throughout. Shadow detail is first rate and no compression artifacts are evident.
Shrek the Third provides an English track in Dolby TrueHD 5.1, as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in Spanish, Portuguese, and French. The TrueHD mix does well in creating a believable soundscape for the film overall. Dialogue is clear and projects nicely. Music plays over the action but never drowns it out. This Blu-ray has an impressive aural presentation that does justice for its excellent picture quality.
Shrek the Third has a good selection of extras:
Each of these segments is in high definition.
• Meet the Cast (11 Minutes) – We get an introduction to the main voice talent. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Eddie Murphy and Justin Timberlake all contribute a few comments, and there is some nice behind-the-scenes footage of the voice recording sessions.
• Shrek Tech (10 Minutes) – A discussion of the films basic animation approach.
• Lost Scenes (25 Minutes) – There are four of these, though the title is a bit misleading. These are actually excerpts from “pitch meetings” with filmmakers Dave Smith and Hamish Grieve. They describe each scene, and there are some pencil sketches shown via split-screen, but no final renderings were ever produced.
• Big Green Goofs (2 Minutes) – Blooper reel.
• Shrek’s Guide to Parenthood (4×1 Minute) – Four one minute segments of Shrek giving parenting advice.
• Donkey Dance (1 Minute) – Video of Donkey doing a dance to the 80’s hit, “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats.
• DreamWorks Animation Jukebox – Watch musical clips from six other DreamWorks releases.
• Theatrical Trailers
• Merlin Magic Crystal Ball – This one can best be described as an electronic “Magic 8” ball.
• Learn the Donkey Dance – Instructions on how to perform the aforementioned dance.
• How to Be Green (4 Minutes) – A PSA for kids on how to be friendly to the environment.
• My Menus – you can select between six different menu designs: the default menu, or five alternates each based around a particular character in the movie (Shrek, Donkey, Boots, Gingy and the Gingerbread Man). Pretty cool.
• The Animators Corner – Offers the entire film in storyboard form.
Shrek the Third also has some BD-Live extras for you web-enabled users (Profile 2.0 required). If you have your Blu-ray player connected to the Internet, there are some extra goodies to check out:
• The World of Shrek – Here you can pull up imaginary bios, history and facts for each of the main characters, as well as the real-life voice talent behind them. DreamWorks says the actor info provided here will be updated in the future, so this feature should stay current.
• Shrek’s Trivia Track – Pop up text commentary.
• Donkey’s Coloring Book – Just as it implies. Get artistic!
