Shrek whimpers to an end in tired 3D outing

You know that a film franchise is beginning to tire when its central character is in the throes of a midlife crisis. Such is the case with the lovable ogre in Shrek Forever After, the fourth and promised final film in the animated series that has proven a money-making machine in its past three incarnations. Premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, this instalment should prove equally lucrative – especially with the extra coin that 3D and Imax bring to the table – but it also reveals a definite been-there, done-that feeling.

The film wastes no time reintroducing its beloved characters, including the sassy Donkey (Eddie Murphy), the adorable Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and the suave Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas). Shrek (Mike Myers) is now a staid married ogre with three adorable ogre offspring who finds himself chafing at his rigid domesticity and his being embraced by the very villagers who once feared him.

In an effort to shake things up, he enters into an unfortunate pact with the devil or, more precisely, new villain Rumpelstiltskin (borrowed for the occasion from the Brothers Grimm and voiced by story editor Walt Dohrn). Suddenly, he finds himself in an alternate Far Far Away Land where he was never born: Rumpel is king, Fiona is the fierce warrior leader of a band of rebel ogres, Donkey is in the employ of a band of cackling witches, and Puss is now a pampered housecat with a serious eating disorder. Desperate to reclaim his former life, Shrek attempts to woo back Fiona and extract a kiss from his "one true love" to undo the effects of the spell.

Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke's screenplay creates some fun with the personality and visual changes the characters have undergone, but as with so many sequels to sequels, Shrek Forever After has lost much of the simple charm, humour and heart that marked its predecessors. No doubt looking to exploit the sensory stimulation offered by 3D, the filmmakers have ramped up the action, most notably in a high-flying broom chase featuring Shrek and Donkey and the witches and an elaborate climactic battle sequence.

The 3D effects are impressive, but some of the visual quality is sacrificed with the inevitable image darkening. The fact that much of the story is set in a literally bleaker landscape doesn't help. (Reuters)

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