Shrek the Third (**3/4)

Saw this on opening weekend. The short version: it’s nothing special, certainly not enough to spawn such hysteria had it been the first in the series rather than the a follow-up to a classic original and a 2004 sequel that felt like a really long epilogue.

It starts off fresh and fun, with the plot hinging on the death of the king of Far Far Away, which looks like Hollywood with medieval trappings. The classic storybook animation is so fine you can see the characters’ dermatological flaws. Do we really need that level of realism? Anyway, the ogre Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) is the heir apparent to the late ruler, even though it’s Princess Fiona’s (Cameron Diaz) dad who’s kicked off. This plotline may be symptomatic of the series’ transformation from fresh and original to reactionary. It’s as if Prince Philip had inherited the throne over Elizabeth in Britain.

Yet Shrek doesn’t want power. Why, he doesn't even want to rule over the baby Fiona’s going to have, so he goes off to search for the other potential heir, a high school nerd (Justin Timberlake) who looks like another strike against a hereditary aristocracy. The American high school with drawbridges is fun here. Accompanying Shrek on his quest are the mildly tedious Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and the amusingly effete Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas). It’s something like The Wizard of Oz, with Shrek as Dorothy and Justin as the Cowardly Lion, and sure enough a wizard turns up.

Meanwhile, Fiona spends her pregnancy hanging with Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and someone who appears to be a transsexual (who’s funnier than the whiny heroines), while the villain—yes, there is one—Prince Charming schemes to usurp the throne. The Charming technique is to turn all of the classic storybook villains, Captain Hook and all, against Shrek. A bold move, using the same plot as the execrable Happily N’Ever After, which came and went in January.

Wow, that’s a lot of plot that comes to naught. Things start off well, with rapid-fire sight gags and humor that manages to be contemporary without straining to be hip (i.e., no Paris Hilton jokes). Soon enough, the humor flags. And there’s no payoff, plot wise, just some moralizing pap for the kids, the ultimate message being, boy, it’s sure easy to manipulate cartoon villains. Or, perhaps, frazzled parents with insistent children.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413267/