SUMMER FILM SPOT - Shrek Forever After (2010)

Summer's blockbuster season is now well underway, and given that TV is exclusively reserved at the moment for showcasing British sporting incompetence and that Doctor Who is over until Christmas, my musings will now largely revolve around this summer's biggest films. We've got some exciting films coming up, such as Predators and Inception, so sit back and enjoy the first of this summer's blockbusters.

Shrek Forever After (in 3D dontcha know) is the final film in the Shrek series. It's probably about time to be fair, Shrek the Third was one of those films that forgot why we liked the first two films in the series in the first place. Even the second film was showing signs of wear and tear, mostly because there was the alarming appearance of irrelevant pop culture jokes that seemed to consist of a lot of Shrek the Third's joke list. Let's get to the point; Shrek lost its way, seriously. The film series that was supposed to gently spoof Disney's style and satirize the marketing of Disney's franchises became a bloated hymn to by-the-numbers corporate filmmaking. Originally supposed to hang around for five films, it became dangerously clear to Dreamworks that Shrek probably wouldn't make it to five. So the marketing for film number quatre has been heavily pushed along the 'This is it! The end! The final one!' line of things. Naturally, we've all been curious to find out if the final installment is a high or a low point for the series.

Donkey, we must stop meeting like this!

It's actually a relatively high point. It's not as funny or insightful as one or two, but certainly goes back to the characters and story in a big way, which is what makes it a good watch. The film starts with Shrek's new idyllic life with family and friends, and it becomes very clear that everyone is enjoying things far more than he is. After a fairly embarrassing outburst, Shrek starts to pine for just one day as things were before he met Fiona, fell in love and had a family. Enter Rumpelstiltskin, a diminuitive trickster and well voiced by Walt Dohrn. One ill advised contract signing later Shrek finds himself in a hideous alternate world where Fiona is an ogre in hiding, Donkey is in servitude and Rumpelstiltskin is king. Naturally the whole thing becomes an 'It's a Wonderful Life' riff in which Shrek starts to realize what it is he had and has now lost. The story is nothing hugely special, but it has meaning, as we are watching what made Shrek and Fiona the couple we enjoyed so much in the first place. Puss and Donkey are never sidelined or ignored at all, but theirs is not the story this time round.

It's goodbye from him, and it's goodbye from him....

It's nice to see a film so much more relaxed, so much more at ease with the story being told. It doesn't feel forced, it all feels like a bunch of guys got together and had a good time making a film. At the same time though...it doesn't feel like it's quite enough. This is what they should have been doing before, not waiting to the end. Even the story, enjoyable as it is, feels lacking. It lacks scope, epic-ness and perhaps most importantly, feels more like a post-script than an actual conclusion. It feels a bit sad that in a way the film with the most low key story is the one that finishes the series. It doesn't feel cheap or marketable, it just feels a bit lacking. It leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy, but somewhat unsatisfied. Unlike other films I have reviewed here, there's nothing specifically annoying that grates with me about Shrek 4. It just feels a bit like vapour...you know, nothing to it? It's considerably above average, it's fun and really funny sometimes, but I can't help but feel they fell just short of producing a really, really good film. I stand by my opinion that it's a higher point in the series because the material here is good. There's nothing 'bad' about the film, it just feels like there's something missing.