Shrek the Third

It’s the summer of trilogies! Well Shrek the 2^nd installment of the threes has hit the box office with a bang. Not quite as fellow blockbuster, Spider Man 3 but close. I saw this movie opening night and let me tell you I thought I was going to have to pry thru a sea of children to get into the theater but I was surprised to find that my local theater had a wait of about 10 minutes to get my tickets. Not bad considering its opening night! Along with each purchased ticket I scored a demo for my pc of the Shrek the Third video game soon to hit shelves. Sweet! Short wait AND free stuff, I’m stoked. But the surprises don’t stop there. I purchased my tickets for a later showing to avoid sitting in the very front of the theater where it’s so close if I were to sneeze I’d get germs all over Shrek’s face. Anyways, I went home grabbed a bite to eat, picked up the kids (I personally wanted to see this movie but figured I’d blend in if I took some kids. The lucky recipients of the free demo game were my sister who’s 9 and my nephew who’s about to turn 8) and headed back to the movies. We walked in to take our seats and stopped halfway to see that the concession stand now had a snack bar INSIDE the theater, no not really, but the usher had a huge cart with tons of concessiony goodness on it. More sweetness! Anyways, enough about me, now to the movie.

In a nutshell: (*WARNING! If you have not yet seen the movie and do not wish the outcome of this movie I strongly suggest you stop reading….now)

This movie opens up with Charming trotting dutifully thru the forest to save the princess who has been trapped in a tower by an ogre. Wait, didn’t Princess Fiona marry Shrek? Turns out Charming is the lead in a play of his version of what should have happened. With Fairy Godmother now gone Charming decides to take things to his own hands to overthrow the throne. The king, still a frog, is gravely ill and close to croaking. Shrek, longing to return to his home near the swamp desperately seeks the only other known heir, “Artie”, to the kingdom to avoid assuming all royal responsibilities.  Upon his departure to find this long lost relative Fiona reveals to Shrek that they are with child. All the while Charming is gathering together all the villains and outcasts to join him as he takes the throne that he believes belongs to him.

That’s about as much as I’ll reveal. You can expect some good laughs and an early departure as this movie comes in at an hour and a half. Not nearly as long as the other trilogies out this summer. The only new characters introduced in this film are Artie, the teen cousin who gets bullied even by the nerds at his school and Merlin, an ex-magic professor whose beard is longer than his robe. All in all, this movie delivered everything you would expect from a Shrek film but there just wasn’t anything new or exciting to make it a Must-See. This movie is for all to enjoy, there are the obvious falls and crack-ups for those young enough to find it amusing and double meanings for those with just a tad more understanding.