Shrek The Third (DVD)

Shrek the Third was the second of the big Summer three-quels that came out earlier this year. Except for maybe the abysmal Rush Hour 3, it was also close to being the worst. Talk about a hard, long fall for a series that won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Film when it started back in 2001.

This time out, the big green ogre Shrek (Mike Meyers) and his bubbly princess bride Fiona (Cameron Diaz) find themselves the rulers of Far Far Away when the latter's father (John Cleese) suddenly croaks. While the male side of the family grabs friends Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss (Antonio Banderas) to help find the country's real ruler Arthur (Justin Timberlake), the female member of this family does all she can to stop a coup engineered by former wannabe beau Charming (Rupert Everett). On top of it all, Fiona is pregnant, and Shrek isn't remotely sure he's ready for anyone to start calling him dad.

This movie is bad, at time really bad. The writers this time around can't seem to get anything right, and while the animation is as good as ever the comedy unfortunately borders on the anemic. Other then an inspired dream sequence and a great bit of warrior warbling from Snow White sitting through this sequel was a total drag, and by the time it was over I knew immediately that the fairy tale for this set of characters was definitely over.

DreamWorks' DVD release of Shrek the Third is the usual all-ages rigmarole. There are a series of games and kid-centric featurettes, trailers and numerous other extras, none of which will really appeal to anyone over the age of say twelve. They're all fine, seriously, but for my money I'd rather play the games and watch the extras on Sony's far less (at least at the box office, entertainment wise it's monstrously superior) successful Surf's Up then deal with any of these again.

All-in-all, this film is a total waste, and for those wanting to spend their DVD dollars on something for the entire family here's my vote that they get spent someplace else.