Shrek Forever After - 7.6/10
This works for me. I can watch this and have a satisfying
conclusion to the Shrek franchise,
and just pretend the third movie never happened. By the looks of things, the
filmmakers had the same idea; one could go right from Shrek 2 to into this movie without missing a beat. In fact,
a certain major character who was unique to the third film is conspicuous only
by his absence from this one. Sadly this means we are bereft of Eric Idle’s Mr.
Merlin as well, but you know what? It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
They did take a
much heavier tone with this one, and a lot of the comedy was really dialed
down. Strangely; it worked. This is the kind of movie they could only make with
a world and characters that are already well established. If we weren’t already
familiar with these characters and their histories and relationships, then this
story wouldn’t make any sense, and we wouldn’t care much about what was going
on.
What story is that?
Well, it’s pretty much It’s a
Wonderful Life in the Shrek-verse. This is a story that’s been parodied
and retold so many times it’s almost a requirement if your franchise lasts long
enough. It also means we have to know the world and the characters well enough
to realize what’s different about them when the central character’s influence
is taken away. That is definitely something the Shrek franchise has going for it; these characters are
nothing if not memorable, and the writers took every opportunity to show us
just how different their lives would be without Shrek, but at the same time how
they would still be fundamentally the same people underneath.
That’s what I like
best about this, I think. Shrek is under a lot of stress and then has a really
bad day, and when it all becomes too much he wishes things could go back to how
they used to be. That did sort of bother me a little, if I’m being honest. I
mean, didn’t he already wish that and learn his lesson in the earlier films?
More than once? Okay, we’re pretending Shrek
the Third didn’t happen, but I’m still pretty sure this was a theme in
the second one too. And what’s with this yearning to be feared and reviled
again? I get how he doesn’t like all the attention he gets now, but isn’t being
hated and judged by his appearance what he was complaining about in the first
movie? I don’t get it.
Okay, I realize I led that
paragraph with “this is what I like best”, and then just complained for the
rest of it. I’ll get to the point eventually, I swear. Anyway, Shrek makes an
ill-advised deal that – long story short – puts him in a world where he never
existed and Rumplestiltskin rules his in-laws’ kingdom. What’s worse, because
the deal was to experience a day as an ogre the way he used to, he only has 24
hours to live in this new world before he fades completely. Here’s my favorite
part: instead of focusing on how different the world is without Shrek in it
(thought that is certainly touched upon), it instead focuses on the differences
in the people he loves. They are, as I said, fundamentally the same people, but
their lives are so different without him.
They do, as usual,
play with the fairy tale tropes. True love’s kiss can reverse everything, but
when Shrek tracks down this world’s version of Fiona, she has no idea who he is
and doesn’t love him, so it doesn’t work. By the end of the movie, Shrek learns
what love really means, and to appreciate what he has (again, things I
thought we’d already covered in the second movie), and we do get a nice ending.
Not just to this movie, but to the series as a whole. I hope. Seriously. Dreamworks,
please do not make any more Shrek
movies. The horse is dead, I tell you.
No comments:
Post a Comment