Shrek 4 : Il était une fin

On the day that Shrek rescued the cursed Princess Fiona from the tower where she was kept prisoner of the dragon, her parents King Harold and the Queen were ready to sign a contract with the cunning Rumpelstiltskin delivering the kingdom Far Far Away to him. On the present days, Shrek feels bored with Fiona, his family and friends and near a breakdown, and he misses the years when he was a terrifying ogre. Rumpelstiltskin overhears a discussion between Shrek and Fiona and meets Shrek, offering a deal to make he feels a frightening ogre again. In return, Shrek should deliver one day of his childhood to Rumpelstiltskin. Shrek is lured and Far Far Away is distorted under the reign of the tricky Rumpelstiltskin. Now Shrek misses his family and friends and has to win Fiona's heart again to save Far Far Away, his friends and himself.

I have just watched "Shrek Forever After" and my expectations were very low, based on the IMDb user's rating and a couple of reviews that I had glanced. However I liked this underrated animation a lot, which has a good story with many hilarious moments. Once again, Donkey "steals the movie" and this character has been for years the best role of the wasted Eddy Murphy. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Shrek para Sempre" ("Shrek Forever After")

"Shrek Forever After" is a surprisingly good film. Though it is not as great as "Shrek" or "Shrek 2" it is a HUGE improvement over "Shrek the Third." The movie helped the franchise gain some of its heart back that was lacking in the third film and had some terrific action scenes. The first time I saw it I didn't think it was very funny, but when I went back to see it a second time I was laughing plenty of times. The film also teaches an important lesson that if you have a good life you should not give it up for anything. If Shrek had never met Fiona or any of his friends they all would have had rough lives. Overall, the movie is a great conclusion to the film series.

When I found out that a fourth Shrek movie was being made, it made me frown because it seemed pretty needless, especially that the last movie was such a bore. But then again, if you take the storyline into consideration, this becomes a fitting final chapter to formally close the Shrek series. The movie is originally entitled SHREK FOREVER AFTER, but in other regions of the world including ours, it is entitled SHREK: THE FINAL CHAPTER, so it's obvious.

First we go to the more unpleasant aspects; this movie works more as a fantasy-adventure movie rather than a comedy. That's because the humor factor of Shrek has gone old already. This movie seems to squeeze the very last drop of what is left of the Shrek series' dried out desert of humor. Sure, it may make us give out a chuckle here, a chuckle there, but this Shrek movie cannot make us laugh out loud anymore. When you look back at its title "Shrek the Final Chapter" you would realize that this movie does seem to apologize with the fact that this'll be the last and probably an admission that they could not squeeze any more decent thing out of the Shrek saga after this one; it's a final effort to make one last buck.

On the other hand, Shrek's main story aspect is a little more interesting than its humor. As I said earlier, this movie is better as a fantasy adventure because we do get to see an alternate reality where Shrek is back into being an outcast Ogre and everybody else who was originally part of his circle of friends has not met him yet. Eventually, they get into an adventure wherein he must face a new enemy, a new problem, and he even gets to meet other ogres and an ogre resistance army that pretty much reminded me of Warcraft (the old-school Warcraft 2 to be exact). In this bizarro world, Donkey has not met him, Puss has become obese, and Fiona is the leader of the Ogre resistance. Shrek must go through this alternate universe and survive it before the day passes and a curse will consume him for good. Shrek gets to have some action with a horde of witches and must face the dragon once again. I could not say that the action was impressive but it has its little cool moments. I particularly loved the chain skull weapons that the witches use.

In addition, this movie works also as a family domestic drama where it maturely deals with the simple family issue of boredom and being sick of how repetitious family life can be. I daresay that the film can work as a satire or perhaps a metaphor that some married men can learn from. There is one sequence in the movie that does capture this crisis; I am talking about the scenes where we see Shrek realize that despite the fact that he does live a happy life, it can get pretty dull and annoying at times, but then again that's life.

Perhaps it becomes boring because many of us choose not to grow up; many of us choose to not let go of what our past lives were. That is what happens to Shrek in this movie. To escape the mediocrity of a family life, he wishes to relive the moments when he was still just a normal ogre again. And because of this, he puts his family life in jeopardy. Shrek 4's tale comes full circle in the sense that it questions if Shrek did have a "happily ever after" ending in the past three movies, and puts one last fantastic circumstance to let him live out a reality that this never happened.

And lastly, Shrek 4's main potential lies in its romance. With an alternate reality story, Shrek faces a Fiona that has never met him. Therefore, Shrek must find out some way to make Fiona fall in love with him all over again. If you ask me, the romantic aspect of this movie is as innovative as the first Shrek movie, in ways that it tells mature subject matter in the guise of fantasy. The Fiona of the alternate reality mirrors the plight of women who gave up on romance, and one scene certainly negates the falsity of most fairy tales with a line that goes something like: "a mere kiss does not solve everything" It negates other fantasies like "Sleeping Beauty" or "Snow White" because it destroys the superficial aspect of those obsolete fairy tales with a more realistic approach, because indeed, a kiss is nothing if there is no true love that goes with it. In my opinion, Shrek 4 succeeds in this aspect.

Shrek may not be the best movie this summer, or it might not be the funniest Shrek movie, but it certainly is one that is very rich story-wise. Just as his line in the first movie went "I have layers" and there certainly are deeper layers to this story rather than one that will just make you laugh. Of course, this works out as a great family movie, but it is certainly perfect for couples, most especially married couples, and parents alike. I give SHREK FOREVER AFTER a.k.a. SHREK: THE FINAL CHAPTER a Matinée rating for single serving; and a Full Price rating for family servings.

The final chapter in the SHREK series recalls that familiar term "Be careful what you with for". I too was careful at what I wished SHREK FOREVER AFTER would be. After the disappointing SHREK THE THIRD, the bar isn't set high for this supposedly final chapter. It's never going to compare with the superior first two, but if Dreamworks Animation really wanted to conclude their beloved property with this, they might as well give it all that it has. SHREK FOREVER AFTER, while certainly more elaborate than its immediate predecessor, is not the most original of the series, but if this is really a happily ever after for Shrek, at least he went out on a good note rather than a disappointing one.

The story is basically IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE with Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) trading places with George Bailey. Shrek's life couldn't be better: he has his loving wife Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz) and three kids, best buddies Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss (Antonio Banderas) are current visitors, he's got his swamp back, and above all his days as the flesh-eating ogre are way behind him. But everyday of the same day-to-day rituals can get too routine for our big green ogre. If only he could wish he could be that flesh-eating ogre again! His wish is granted when he meets the crafty Rumpelstiltskin (voiced by Walt Dohrn), but it at a terrible catch. Before you can say "Happily Ever After no more!", Shrek is trapped in a depressing alternate universe where he was never born and none of his pals know who he is.

The real treat of the premise of FOREVER AFTER is that it gives us a chance to warm up with these characters again and recall why we loved them in the first place, and then find out a few new reasons to like them all over again. We already know these characters and we have met them before, and this might just serve as a reunion after the occasional slog of the previous follow-up. Unlike its immediate predecessor as well, this one actual has a storyline instead of the simple premise to be used to hang pop culture reference and in-jokes. It's not a great storyline and certainly not anything original, but it's a step on the right direction. Director Mike Mitchell has at least put Shrek right back on track, and not a moment too soon. If this is really the series' finale, the creators have at least done a credible job at reminding us of the appeal that these characters. In a way, SHREK FOREVER AFTER is a satisfying conclusion, if not a grand one.

Rating: ***1/2 out of 5.

Well it was bound to happen, most animation saga's or trilogy's end eventually and some better than others. With Shrek Forever After this is the case, still packed full of gags, funny moments and hilarious one liners its a good end to a fun enjoyable franchise. We all hoped it would also end this way, in a positive way as the last 11 years has been Shrek sequels some better than others. With this final adventure, old characters are reunited and new ones enter the fray.

Plus we also get a fresh new setting for this latest and final tale, some good dialogue too and of course improved animation. Considering this was always gonna go up against Toy Story 3, we knew it would be a close fight for the throne of the summer blockbuster. Otherwise, however Shrek Forever After has done a good job of grabbing it for me until I see Toy Story 3, until then I believe this is the best animation summer blockbuster of the year.

If you want quick gags, laughs and family fun Shrek Forever After is for you and also for fans of the franchise.