Shrek Forever After

On viewing the 15 foot cinema posters featuring the tag-line 'What the Shrek just happened?', I couldn't help but to sigh and think "Oh Dreamworks, won't you just give it a rest?". Not because of the tag-line itself, that is obviously comic genius, but because at the time the makers of Shrek seemed to be on a suicide mission. The Shrek orange hath been squeezed. Juice a new one. And by that I mean a new idea for a film.

This, of course, being before I'd actually seen the latest movie. Yes, I admit it, I pre-judged. But let's be honest, Shrek's track record hasn't been tremendous. The first, a classic, the second, eagerly awaited but deemed unnecessary and the third, just down-right forgettable. That, along with Christmas specials and 9 years of full-on merchandising, was it any surprise that there was a sour undertone before the fourth spin-off even reached cinemas?

However, you have to hand it to the makers, they didn't want the last thoughts of Shrek to be eternally connected to the bomb-shell that is the third film. And so, they decided to start a-fresh and incorporate the ever-popular 'It's A Wonderful Life' narrative into the land of Far Far Away. Essentially, Shrek makes a deal with Rumplestiltskin (a new character, voiced by Walt Dohrn) to be rid of his hum-drum married life and spend a day being a true ogre. Obviously, things do not run swimmingly and Shrek finds himself and his loved ones in mortal danger. A spanner is thrown into the works though, as Shrek not only has to save the day, but also has to try and re-kindle all of his past friendships (Fiona and Donkey etc.) as, in a kind of 'parallel universe' kind of a way, nobody knows who the beloved ogre is.

The new story is refreshing, not only in the sense that you get to meet the characters all over again, but also because Dreamworks seem to have finally attempted to go back to more of the favoured elements of the original film. One of these being the music, using familiar and sometimes humorous tunes really made the difference when it came to entertainment. Also, the use of jokes that are both for adults and children were incorporated which seem to have been all but forgotten in the past two movies.

Overall, despite the fact that there have been a few misses in the series, you can't deny that most of the time Shrek has been a fun and entertaining watch for all ages and successfully goes out with a bang.