Happily Ever After For Shrek & Fiona?

SHREK FOREVER AFTER IN 3-D (CINEMA)

Release Date: June 12th, 2010
Certificate: U
Running Time: 89 minutes

Directed by: Mike Mitchell

Cast: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz,

Forever After sees loveable Ogre Shrek and his true love Fiona happily married with three kids. A little bit too settled though, and in what can only be described as Groundhog Day, Shrek starts to feel like everyday is virtually the same and begins to wish that he was still scary to villagers and could go about his day without any responsibilities.

Unfortunately for him, and for everyone else in Far Far Away, scheming little Rumpelstiltskin catches wind of this wish and wasting no time he sets about to trick Shrek into signing a deal allowing Shrek one day to scare and pillage as he pleases in exchange for one day in his childhood that he wouldn’t remember anyway. As soon as ink touches paper, Shrek is happy again running through the village and scaring villagers out of their wits just like in the old days but when he see a Wanted poster with Fiona’s picture on it, he runs to find his house is an empty tree stump which looks like it has never been lived in by other than mice, face more a family of Ogres.

He is attacked and by a coven of broomstick wielding witches with pumpkin grenades and thrown into a cage which is carried by Donkey (who incidentally is singing Papa Don’t Preach at the top of his donkey lungs!) who doesn’t recognise him because they’ve never met. Taken to the witches’ ball with its pumping beats and disco lights, he is brought in front of Rumpelstiltskin, now the King of Far Far Away, who declares that all of this was made possible by Shrek! For his one day of being feared by villages, Rumpelstiltskin took away the day he was born so when the day is over, he will cease to exist, “How THAT for a metaphysical paradox?!” the curly toed weirdo gleefully asks!

With only hours left before the day is over, Shrek and Donkey must not only find Fiona, but get her to kiss him so that the deal can be broken and everything can return to how it was. Not as simple as it seems because Fiona is now the leader of a resistance and if Shrek is to have any chance in winning her kiss, he has to suit up and get into training for an attack on Rumpelstiltskin and his band of witches. It’s absolutely hilarious to hear a donkey say “It’s one of them Alternate Realities!”. Rumpelstiltskin though has a secret weapon in the form the Pied Piper who gets the army of Ogres to dance themselves into his castle.

Puss and Donkey charge in and manage to rescue Shrek and Fiona leaving Rumpelstiltskin furious. He announces to Far Far Away that whoever brings him Shrek can have anything they wish. Meanwhile, Fiona gives in and spitefully kisses Shrek knowing she doesn’t love him and that it won’t change anything. Gingy arrives and tries to attack Shrek so he can collect his bounty and though unsuccessful in his attempt he does manage to give Shrek an idea that might fix everything once and for all.

What makes Shrek Forever After different from the previous movies is obvious – this one is made for 3-D and it looks fantastic. It was definitely clever to include witches in the story as this allows for a lot of flying around on broomsticks, a great chance to wow the audience with movement and lots of things coming at them. Early on in the film, there’s also a fantastic sequence with the King and Queen’s carriage coming ever closer and in many ways the 3-D technology involved in creating this reminded me of Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896) and reading about audiences leaping out of their seats thinking the train was going to come right through the screen.

Cinemagoers today are a bit savvier though with technology and even though 3-D is still finding its way, its still very clear that stories are written for the sole purpose of using 3-D rather than the other way around. Hopefully within the next few years we’ll see a shift from this trend towards movies which are amazing cinematic experiences on their own which just so happen to utilise 3-D technology.

On its own though Shrek Forever After doesn’t seem to sustain the magical flair as perhaps the first one did. As a final chapter it doesn’t offer something new with the characters we’ve become familiar with for nearly 10 years. That being said, it is still filled with great lines that kids will want to mimic until their parents gets fed, and if it gets one child to ask what a metaphysical paradox is, then I for one will be happy!