Shrek Forever After (2010)

The supposed last instalment of the Shrek franchise is not as great a movie as the first one, not as funny as the second, but at least is miles ahead of the very lame and very poor third movie. The main flaw with the third movie was that they had many many characters, all trying to evolve in their own way but without time to do it, and in trying to squeeze them all in, the result became a boring repetition of what had been done before, and a very superficial work indeed. The fourth one learned with this mistake and the storyline was very cleaver to dismiss the side characters that had been gained along the way to focus mainly again on Shrek and Fiona. It was not really a movie with beginning and end, but more of another chapter of an ongoing adventure. It showed one adventure and then it ended, without dwelling at all on story development to a 5th instalment or being much preoccupied on what had come before. So that worked well. We know the characters, we know their back story, so just give us a few laughs and an easy going adventure and all's well. Not a great movie, but a nice watchable one, with the usual family melodrama to give some moral to the children paying the ticket (or the parents paying the ticket for them :) ). Basically, Shrek is a little sad of the routine of married and father-life, and so he is tricked by evil new character Rumpelstiltskin to sign a contract to be a real ogre again for a day. To have that day in an alternative universe he has to give a day in return. But Rumpelstiltskin cleverly chooses the day Shrek was born, so he never exists, he does not save Fiona from the tower, and she, Donkey and Puss do not know him. In this weird and strange universe, Shrek has only one day to break the spell, which of course is broken by true love's kiss. But Fiona does not know him, so he has to win her all over again, at the same time as the ogres (leaded by Fiona) conspire against Rumpelstiltskin, who now rules Far Far Away. Predictable, yes, but enjoyable nonetheless, with nice references to the first movie throughout. The good old Shrek humour is back, some times very cleverly indeed, but this one does not stay with you, as the first one did. As I said, it is just another enjoyable adventure, as a new episode of a series. Next week you can have one as enjoyable. I honestly believe that if they opted for this kind of approach every couple of years, the Shrek franchise could go on forever. More story development and characters leads to failure, as it did on number 3. Just two more things, the 3D on this one was very cleverly used, with many perspective shots taking advantage of the depth of the image, and lastly, I am sorry I can't comment on the voice talent. Portugal is yet a country where, although live action is subtitled, animation still has a hard time in finding a cinema where it is not voiced over.