NEWYORK TIMES REVIEWA Grumpy Green Giant Who Would Not Be King For all I know, there may be an endless supply of “Shrek” sequels in the pipeline. That DreamWorks ogre’s skin is the color of money after all. But there is nonetheless a feeling of finality about “Shrek the Third,” a sense that the tale has at last reached a state of completion. In the first movie Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) met and wooed his lady love, Fiona (Cameron Diaz); in the second he got to know the in-laws. The current installment finds him faced with impending fatherhood and something of a career crisis. Will he take over his father-in-law’s business or remain true to his vocation of bellowing and smashing things?
(Click to read full review)(A.O.Scott for NYTIMES)WASHINGTON POST REVIEWShrek's Funny, Yet Third Time's Not So Charming"Shrek the Third" manages to be something of a paradox: It contains two theoretically self-canceling polarities. It's (a) quite funny and (b) quite bad.
Hmm, possibly that's actually harder to pull off than to make a movie that's (a) funny and (b) good or (a) unfunny and (b) bad. But the end result is that you laugh a lot and you go home grumpy.
(Click to read full review)(Stephen Hunter for WASHINGTON POST)HOLLYWOOD REPORTER REVIEWThe third time is not the charmYou can't help but miss Shrek. You know, that ornery, mammoth, flatulent, trumpet-eared, icky-green-colored ogre. Oh, he's still large and green (and brilliantly voiced by Mike Myers) in his third movie outing, "Shrek the Third." But his manners and disposition have improved to the point he is threatened by middle-class respectability. Nor is he the only character to have changed for the worse. Donkey (Eddie Murphy) is less the hilariously annoying motormouth companion to Shrek and more a helpful, even empathetic pal. That's bad enough, but he is no longer very funny either.
(Click to read full review)(Kirk Honeycutt for HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)VARIETY REVIEWWhile still mirthful and eccentric enough to amuse his hordes of admirers, the irascible green ogre begins to show signs of encroaching middle age in "Shrek the Third." After a buoyantly funny first half-hour, stylish animated comedy takes a breather before ramping it up again for a rambunctious, girrrl-power finale that provides a convenient springboard for further adventures to come. As the $920 million in worldwide B.O. for "Shrek 2" three years ago nearly doubled the take of the 2001 original, there can be little doubt about similarly monstrous results this time around.(Click to read full review)(Todd McCarthy for VARIETY)USA TODAY REVIEWRoyal lineage of laughs goes on Shrek remains a savvy showman. And the shenanigans of his eccentric coterie are still fun, if a bit familiar and a jot more bland.
It's pretty tough to resist a curmudgeonly ogre and his spunky royal wife, a loquacious donkey and a dashing cat in a plumed hat. Not only are the characters in Shrek the Third (* * * out of four) endearing and their antics consistently amusing, but the witty dialogue also feels up-to-the-minute and a fairly natural progression from its predecessors.
(Click to read full review)(Claudia Puig for USA TODAY)ROLLING STONE REVIEWShrek ain't dreck, it's just that the third chapter in the life of the bilious-green ogre is listing from taking on the heavy load of virtue, a poor substitute for mischief. I mean, really, isn't it way early in the sequel stage for our boy Shrek (again voiced by Mike Myers) to be facing a midlife crisis? With the king dead, should Shrek wear the crown? With wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz) knocked up, should Shrek embrace the responsibilities of fatherhood? Decisions. Decisions. What the hell happened to the swamp where Shrek farted without fear during his mud showers? Who wrote this thing, Dr. Phil? Actually Chris Miller, who co-directed with Raman Hui, is one of the four screenwriters it took to spoil the fun with "to-thy-own-self-be-true" message mongering. I just flashed on another sequel with Shrek as Lear. Yikes!
(Click to read full review) (Peter Travers for ROLLING STONE)LOS ANGELES TIMES REVIEW'Shrek the Third' is way too grown upThe success of movies like "Shrek" and "Shrek 2," with their giddy, free-associative referencing of grown-up pop memes and in-jokes, has for some time now made me wonder if there's really such a thing as a kids' movie anymore. Having just seen "Shrek the Third," I'm now wondering if there's really such a thing as a kid.
Possibly not. If "Shrek the Third," directed by Chris Miller and Raman Hui from a screenplay by Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman and Miller & Aron Warner from a story by Andrew Adamson (whew), is any indication, what kids these days want from their stinky green ogres is a lot of Gen-X parenting anxiety and career agita mixed in with plenty of winky elbow-nudging about celebrity lifestyles.
(Click to read full review)(Carina Chocano for LA TIMES)SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE REVIEWShrek is back again (again), and this time out the ogre gets to rule the kingdom. Thing is, he doesn't want toAnyone who has ever watched a sitcom for a few years already knows the pattern. First, the setup. Later, the main characters are married off. Finally, when the writers get really desperate, they bring on the babies. The "Shrek" series is following that road map, and yet something funny is happening along the way: "Shrek the Third" gets back the mood, the pleasure and even some of the freshness of its first installment.
(Click to read full review)(Mick LaSalle for SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE)
