‘Shrek the Third' leaves audience with feeling of familiarity

By Jon Pic, Times Reporter

Far, Far Away has never looked as stunningly beautiful as it does in “Shrek the Third,” even as it's torn asunder by a slew of villains looking to pillage and plunder their way to a “Happily Ever After” of their own. The digital delights of the Hollywood-esque land of make-believe look richer and fuller than ever.

The only problem is, the spectacular moments that made the preceding two “Shrek” films so wondrous seem as distant as the magic kingdom Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) call their home.

The initial outing for the offensive ogre was something of a surprise from start to finish. With its fairy tale mish-mash, an ostensibly unloveable and gassy protagonist and a starkly unscary bad guy, Lord Farquaad (voiced by John Lithgow), “Shrek” was a contradiction of traditional children's stories. Even the beautiful, seemingly helpless princess turned out to be a grunting, green damsel in disguise.

“Shrek” part deux was an elevation of that formula, pushing the characters and the situations to outer limits of funny in a “Did you just see that?” swirl of madcap monster madness.

“Did Shrek really just turn into a human?” “Did Fairy Godmother seriously just break into a jazzy cabaret version of ‘I Need A Hero?'” “Donkey did what with that dragon?”

But when it comes to the third installment, the grumpy green giant is doing his best to grow up. Every “Shrek” movie has been imbued with sometimes-saccharide moral lessons, but the sentimentality has always been a complement to the smartly gut-busting humor.

Now, despite a handful of clever moments, Shrek and his pals seem to be struggling to conform - to adulthood and to the safety of the franchise status that accompanies such a money-making venture for Dreamworks Studios.

When “Shrek the Third” begins, Fiona's froggy father has fallen ill and Shrek and Fiona are suffering royal pains as they fill in for her mom and pop as interim King and Queen of Far, Far Away. As King Harold literally croaks, he tells Shrek that he'd be honored for his son-in-law to take the throne permanently.

Shrek shirks the responsibility and opts instead to seek out the only other heir to the monarchy, nerdy Arthur - “Artie” to his friends, though he has none - voiced by popstar Justin Timberlake.

With the help of Donkey and Puss In Boots, Shrek infiltrates a high school in search of his only hope of retaining his swampy lifestyle. While searching for Artie, the trio bumps into Lancelot, a jerky jock with a knack for medieval sports, setting up the King Arthur character nods.

We also meet Gwen, a prissy cheerleader with no interest in the future king, and Mr. Merlin, the high school's ex-magic teacher who tosses a couple of spastic spells at the group, transposing Donkey and Puss into each other's bodies - a gag that garners a few chuckles, but ultimately doesn't really serve the story.

Meanwhile, Fiona and her group of gabby princess pals are under attack as Prince Charming - in fear of living a life of underwhelming overacting in dinner theatres - has gathered a band of baddies (including evil stepsisters, wicked witches and Captain Hook) to help him stage a coup on the throne.

On top of all of that, Fiona spends some time tiptoeing around the idea that she might be pregnant, sending Shrek into mental convulsions over his fear of fatherhood; a fear founded on his own daddy issues (ground covered by a previous Mike Myers character in the third installment of the “Austin Powers” flicks).

“Shrek the Third” is another step forward as far as visual achievements go. The textures of buildings are sometimes so convincing you nearly believe that Worcestershire High School exists. As Shrek and his buddies tear through a beautiful landscape, however, you do get a feeling of familiarity - a sensation of seeing old pals after a long time apart. Of course you're happy to see your friends again, but you're both growing up and it's getting harder to find things to talk about.