Shrek Forever After

The book finally closes on the unique fairytale with everyone’s favorite ogre. Shrek, Donkey and Fiona return in “Shrek Forever After,” the fourth in a series that first stole the world’s hearts in 2001.

Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) returns in this delightful comedy as a father to three ogre babies, a doting husband and a celebrity, and instead of dodging torches and pitchforks—he’s signing them. He feels that he isn’t a real ogre anymore and longs to have those times back for just one day. After leaving his children’s birthday party he runs into the ultimate fairytale swindler, Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn).

The movie progresses with comedy and clarity provided by 3-D animation, and although only one scene included something that jumped out at you it was well worth the $12 I spent. I laughed from start to finished and the dialogue was clever. “Shrek Forever After” was as funny as the first movie and the plot was as good as “Shrek 2.” The moral—you don’t know what you have until its gone—really resonated and was clearly the theme behind the story. The returning characters were superb and didn’t lose their flair that was seen in the previous movies. Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) still maintained his Spanish zeal while being a portly housecat.

There is additional humor and complexity with new characters, like Cookie, the gay chef with the chimichanga stand, who added a touch of realism to a kiddie movie. There are also the renegade ogres led by Fiona (Cameron Diaz), who doesn’t remember Shrek because of his agreement with Rumpelstiltskin. The writers kept Fiona’s combat skills and the movie included a romantic training scene with her and Shrek, after his failed attempts woo her. Finally, for a series based on fairytale themes, the use of the Pied Piper was genius.

DreamWorks Animation proves that it can keep up with the big dogs (Pixar) by doling out this hit. Fans will “do the roar” for this movie over and over again.