Scared Shrekless

Shrek challenges the cast of regulars -- with Eddie Murphy replaced by Dean Edwards as the voice of Donkey -- to a competition at telling scary stories for Hallowe'en. But for purposes of this TV special, they have to hold the competition in Lord Farquaad's ruined and spooky castle.

There are a couple of gags repeated from the feature movie, and Mike Myers doesn't seem to be using the exactly the same voice, but for a half-hour TV special, it's certainly amusing. The scariness of the stories seems to be muted for appropriateness of a TV audience. This seems a bit odd to me, considering some of the scatological gags of the original movie, but it's fun.

On Halloween, Shrek and several fairy tale characters go to the castle of Lord Farquaad, where they compete in telling scary stories. The last one remaining in the castle wins. This twenty-minute cartoon consists of three stories done as a homage to cult horrors. Gingerbread's story is inspired by the film "Bride of Frankenstein", Puss and Donkey squabble in their usual way through a parody of Hitchcock's "Psycho", and Shrek wins the night with scenes from the movie "The Exorcist" applied to Pinocchio. Imaginative, witty and technically well done. I enjoyed it very much.

8/10

I marvel at how much Dreamworks has exploited their Shrek franchise. I mean, how many movies, specials and short films can they make until enough is enough? While I clearly am worried about the future of the series, I must admit that despite everything, "Scared Shrekless" clearly has gorgeous CGI. So, despite being a short and having a substitute voice for Fiona, it is still amazingly nice to look at and features a lot of what made the other films enjoyable.

The episode is set at Halloween. Many of the old storybook characters come to Shrek's house to celebrate and tell scary stories. The Gingerbread Man tells a story about his mate--how he and a crazed baker made what SEEMED like the perfect partner. But, things go awry and the story is frighteningly cute. Then, Puss tells a story that is clearly inspired by "Psycho". But, again and again, Donkey keeps interrupting the story--making a mess of it and forcing Puss to tell what REALLY happened. Finally, Shrek tells a story he says is a cute version of "The Exorcist".

All in all, I was surprised that I enjoyed this film as much as I did. All three stories were very enjoyable and worth seeing...surprise! Nice, light viewing for the entire family.

Surprisingly hilarious Halloween special with the first episode, a brilliant Bride of Frankenstein parody, particularly outstanding.

After the average Christmas special the writers really upped the ante and came up with some gruesomely funny ideas and jokes, using the by now all too well-known Shrek characters remarkably well.

The result's an entertaining half-hour roller-coaster with only the middle section lagging.

Since the first two installments, Shrek has never been this funny. Aaaargh!!!

7 out of 10 haunted castles

Scared Shrekless (2010) is a short film in which Shrek's friends take it in turns telling him scary stories in an effort to frighten the big fella and prove that ogres can be terrified too. Leading the charge is Donkey (surprisingly not voiced by Eddie Murphy), who instigates the whole ordeal, and he's joined by Puss in Boots, Gingerbread Man, Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs and The Big Bad Wolf. Only the first three get to actually tell a tale because Shrek himself chimes in with a story that just so happens to have the world's best pun as a title. The three stories are all enjoyable in their own right, as is the framing device. There are several entertaining, if ham-fisted, references to previous movies in the series, as well as to other films and to the fairytales that lend the franchise its characters. It's really fun, actually, and is varied enough to never feel stale. It's a pacy, well-animated affair that's much better than I was expecting it to be.