Review of Shrek the Third

Shrek the Third finds the series suffering from diminishing returns, as it is weaker than both of the preceding movies. The plot revolves around Shrek's attempt to find King Arthur as the rightful heir of the Kingdom of Far Far Away whilst simultaneously the disgruntled Prince Charming recruits a posse of shady characters to support his attempt to claim the throne for himself. It's pretty thin stuff which suggests that the scriptwriters were devoid of inspiration following the first two Shrek features.

Not a particularly amusing movie, it is lacking the creative wit and satirical aspects which made the franchise so enjoyable. On the plus side the cast are as good as ever and do well with what is rather weak material. Unfortunately the character development is poor throughout with nobody being given anything to do which adds depth to their persona. In this one Shrek is about to become a father which had the potential to be quite interesting, but this is squandered on a weak dream sequence which went on for far too long and lacked memorable dialogue. The series regulars are joined this time by Justin Timberlake as Arthur, who was disappointingly bland and Monty Python's Eric Idle who was thankfully far more enjoyable as Merlin.

The most impressive aspect of the whole production was the quality of the animation. The beautifully detailed scenes are a joy to behold and the characters' movement is impressively smooth and realistic. I was particularly impressed by the motion and colour of the sea which was brilliantly done.

Overall I found this to be quite enjoyable but it never achieves the same level as the first two Shrek films. Worth watching, but not particularly memorable.