MyRating: YYY1/2Director: Mike Mitchell
Voice: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Walt Dohrn, Julie Andrews, John Cleese
MPAA: Rated PG for mild action, some rude humor and brief language
Why Hollywood (DreamWorks as the studio) kept making Shrek movies? The answer is simple. Because the first three movies have made a lot of money, with a total worldwide gross of US$ 2,203 Million (Shrek, Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third made US$ 484 Million, US$ 920 Million and US$ 799 Million, respectively). The green ogree and his friends also have a huge fan base, so, many peoples still want to see Shrek. However, there are also peoples who don't seem to care for the new Shrek. And the answer may be also simple, because these people are not the fan base of Shrek at the first place. Many peoples maybe disappointed with Shrek the Third (like I did, I think the third movie failed to give a satisfying story), but the fact is, if you are a fan, you will still come to see the fourth one, no matter what.
This latest installment of Shrek somehow brings back the fun and entertainment of the original movie. Shrek (Myers) feels bored with his life. Even though he already has a complete family, a wife with three little children, and friends who adore him, he feels that something is missing in his life as an ogre. He misses the days when peoples feared him as a real ogre, not his current being, where peoples tend to make fun of him. Overwhelmed with his identity crisis, Shrek makes a fatal deal with Rumpelstiltskin (Dohrn), a slick priest, who promised him that he could get one full day to experience his life as a frightful ogre again, but as a trade, Shrek has to give one day of his past life to the priest.
What Shrek doesn't realize is, once he signs the contract, everything in his life changes. He comes back to a totally different "Far-Far Away" world of his. He never rescued Fiona (Diaz) from the castle, never married her, and they never have kids. Even Donkey (Murphy) and the warrior cat, Puss in Boots (Banderas) never knew him as a friend. And soon Shrek realizes that he has made a fatal mistake, as he has to run with time to change everything back to normal, because as soon as his 24 hours is gone, so will he.
This fourth movie is much-much better than the third one. It did bring some of its magic back. The story was quite good and enjoyable. It has enough funny moments as a Shrek movie (even though I have to say that it was not as funny as the first one), Donkey and Puss in Boots were the real laugh makers in this movie. The popular songs parody, as the Shrek trademark, were still fun to watch. And the action sequences were also satisfying. I think totally it worked well as a Shrek movie, and I don't think this one will disappoint its fan base.
But I did asked myself when watching this movie, why I did not laugh as much as when I watched the first movie? Is it because Shrek has become less and less funnier than it should be? And I have a logic explanation for this. It's because we have seen this series so many times (the fourth time now) with the same magic formula and approach of humors. For the first time viewers, maybe they will find the popular songs parody in this movie as something hilarious, but for us the old viewers, we will say that "It's funny, but I have seen this thing before", that's why we will not be as surprised as the first time we saw it. It's the law of nature, which cannot be avoided. So, when reviewing this movie, I have to put that fact in my mind, and that should not cloud my total judgement towards this movie.
If people ask me whether Shrek has lost its magic, then my honest answer will be "Yes". It has lost some of its magic sparks and charms due to the reasons I have explained above. But should the Shrek franchise ends here? I think if this movie makes a lot of money in the box office, the producer can always come back with a reason to make the fifth one (even though they have said that this one will be the last). It's the law of business. Peoples will still come to see the movie because it is "Shrek". And I don't think that Shrek will ever die in our hearts because it has given us so much joys. But, if the filmmakers expect the peoples to embrace the movie with the same love like they did for the first one, then, except the filmmakers could find a really-really brilliant writer to write something really new and fresh, I think it's the time for the studio to create a new franchise, with a totally new story, new characters and new magic formula. It's the law of freshness. Then peoples will experience the first time love and magic again.
To sum up my review, is this fourth Shrek movie worth to be watched? And my answer is "Yes", except if you are a Shrek hater. (MJ)
