Shrek Forefer After (2010)

I know that I'm a bit late with a posting that was meant for before Christmas and it's also quite far from the movie premiere (which was in the spring - summer). Anyway, usually I'm not even writing in this time of year = I take a vacation for 3 weeks ... but I said to skip that "custom" this year considering things have changed a bit for me = I don't really have the latest movies on my blog given the fact that where I've moved with my work the films are mostly dubbed in French at the cinema + anyway I don't have much time at my disposal to see anything (although I'll catch up a bit these days when I'm back home for Christmas...). For now however, I didn't see yet anything really new except the last part of Narnia ... (despite the fact that I said that I won't spend any money to see that movie). Although there are some improvements over previous ones, I still don't believe it's worth wasting the time and the space on this blog, and in order not to turn to the horror genre again on the second day of Christmas :D I'll stop at the last Shrek instead.

As it's probably already obvious, my final rating (which is the least important piece of my writing) usually tends to be relatively close to the IMDb one (and that's why I probably consider IMDb - with some exceptions - to be the most valid reference for how much or less better is a movie). However there are cases when me and IMDb have different opinions - and the fourth Shrek is one of them.

Firstly I didn't expect too much when I was about to watch it. Even though I'm a declared DreamWorks fan, I always thought that the title that basically made them known and which probably brought also the most money = Shrek, is a little overrated. If you ask me like.. what happened in Shrek 1, 2 and 3, I have no idea to tell you anything beyond the fact that in the first the green ogre has saved the princess ... who also became green in the final. Otherwise ... in the second and third I can't remember who was "the evil one", which was the conflict - the story, what was Shrek supposed to save ... etc.. The conclusion is that if this stuff happened, all of it was quite thin in terms of script. Maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned, but I really feel some need of good vs. evil story in an animation which is supposed to pass as a fantasy eventually. Even in the first Shrek, you can not say much about some conflict in the story. I really doubt that you can place the dragon in the category of evil character, but rather more to a natural disasters one. Here, in the final Shrek, at least we have a story in which "the evil one" might not be really at the same level with Sauron from Lord of the Rings, but it's still something more than in the previous two in terms of character development ( = this time I'll remember this part ).

What's the idea, to be more specific. Well ... in what is said to be the last episode of Shrek, the green ogre goes through an existential crisis, being sick of all and everything - festive parties, home, family, fans - and falls into a trap planed by the "evil one" mentioned above - Rumpelstiltskin - a wizard who offers a deal - one day in Shrek's childhood for 24 hours of specific ogreish solitary life. And obviously, the contract has a catch ... Which is not hard to guess:) but I prefer to let the rest of the plot to be discovered instead of saying everything now. Especially given the fact ... :) that again I'm writing on the run, and I am forced to end the topic a bit abruptly. To say one more thing, even if you don't have here the greatest DreamWorks production (not even up to a quarter of "How to Train Your Dragon" script), my point is that it might be at the same level with the first Shrek, and the a story is actually maybe a bit more coherent and complex from the narrative point of view. Besides this, it has that extra something that Pixar movies lack, and still is DreamWorks specific = it manages to be both funny and touching simultaneously without falling into attempts to generate excessive teardrop lakes.

Rating: 4 out of 5

( PS: light spoiler - after all who knows ... maybe I was so positive about the movie 'cause of my appetite for time travel / related life changes / stuff like that :) anyway speaking of time .. with the obvious delay I'm saying what I forgot to say last time: Happy Holidays! ;) )