Puss in Boots (2011)

After Donkey, Puss is my favourite character from the Shrek series. It's probably because I love cats, and because Antonio Banderas's accent is something else. Anyway, Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After didn't do well with this character which is why a solo movie sounded like a good idea. It was, to be honest. Puss in Boots is entertaining and fun, but it has a problem, it lacks the magic of the first two Shrek movies. 

Years before meeting Shrek and Donkey, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) is a wanted fugitive with a mission, to find magic beans. But Puss isn't the only one after the beans and he crosses paths with Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), a female feline who is helping Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis), and egg of questionable intent and Puss' old friend. Puss eventually agrees to work with them and steal the beans from the outlaw couple Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris) but things don't go according to plan.

Shrek Forever After (2010)

A good first film followed by an even better sequel. That's how I would have described the Shrek series if they had stopped there. But they didn't. They made Shrek the Third, a forgettable film, to say the least. That wasn't enough and they made a fourth movie, Shrek Forever After, another terrible addition to the series. There's a bright side though, with this one they finally stopped wearing down Shrek. 

Since they were out of ideas, Shrek (Mike Myers) has some sort of mid-life crisis. He is drowning in his domestic routine life, all he wants is to be a real ogre again and makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) to go back to his life before rescuing Fiona (Cameron Diaz). As he is erased from existence, Shrek finds himself in a dark alternate timeline where Rumpelstiltskin is king, ogres are hunted, and he and Fiona have never met so he sets out to restore his world.

Shrek the Third (2007)

Forgettable. That's the first word that comes to my mind when I think of Shrek the Third because I've seen this film several times and yet I barely remembered a thing about before rewatching it. 

In this one, the king (John Cleese) of Far Far Away and father of Fiona (Cameron Diaz) dies and Shrek (Mike Myers) becomes the successor of the throne. But he doesn't feel like the right guy for the job so he decides to find Arthur (Justin Timberlake), the only remaining heir aside from him. But while Shrek, Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) are away, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) comes back with an army of evil fairy tale creatures and attempts to take over.

Shrek 2 (2004)

Like I told you last week, Shrek was one of my favourite films when I was a kid because it was fun and made fun of fairy tales. It's pretty much the same with Shrek 2. And I don't know how people feel about this one, but for me it's one of those times the sequel is better than the original. 

Picking up when the first film left, Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are now happily married and live in his swamp with the annoying Donkey (Eddie Murphy) who is having some marital problems with the dragon. But then a letter from Fiona's parents (John Cleese and Julie Andrews) arrives, inviting them to dinner to celebrate her marriage which brings a lot of unhappiness in their lives because, as if Shrek and Fiona's father not getting along wasn't enough, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), the guy who was supposed to marry Fiona, returns from a failed attempt at rescuing her and works alongside his mother, the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders), to separate Shrek and Fiona.

Shrek (2001)

Genres

Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Fantasy

Directors

Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, Vincent Cassel, Conrad Vernon, Chris Miller, Cody Cameron, Simon J. Smith, Christopher Knights, Aron Warner, Jim Cummings

Storyline

When Lord Farquaad (Vincent Cassel) exiles all the magical creatures to the woods, the fairy-tale beings decide to camp outside the house of ogre Shrek (Mike Myers) who loses his peaceful life. So, in order to get his land back, agrees to rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) for Lord Farquaad.

Opinion

Flying over the fact that I haven't seen it in over 3 years (yeah, shame on me), Shrek has been one of my favourite animated films since always and has a special place in my heart not because it's fun, but because it makes fun of fairy tales. 

The story would have been your typical fairy tale story with a princess that needs to be rescued if it wasn't for the fact that there is no Prince Charming here. The hero is a grumpy green ogre who only acts for self-interest; he's basically a mercenary hired to do a job. And the prince (actually he won't be a prince unless he marries a princess) is a coward and rather pathetic little man. This twist (and many others along the way) is what makes the story interesting and charming. It's got some plot holes and a weird romantic subplot, but it eventually delivers its don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover message. 

The soul of the film, however, isn't the story but the characters. They are a bit stereotyped (I mean, the ugly evil ogre isn't that evil after all, the noble is evil, and the friend is all over the place), but they are amazing, especially Shrek who is incredibly grumpy but equally likeable and Donkey, Shrek's animal sidekick. Donkey is actually my favourite thing about the Shrek franchise and he'll always be one of my favourite movie characters because of the wonderful work of Eddie Murphy. He was the perfect cast for the role, and gave such a funny and sweet performance. It's impossible not to love Donkey.

Another awesome thing about Shrek is that the humour works on different levels. When I was a kid I was able to enjoy all the fairy-tale related jokes and references; now I can also enjoy a lot of one-liners, especially those from Murphy and Myers who does a really good job as Shrek. 

The animation is also nice. There's a lot of attention to backgrounds, textures and details which make up for the goofy movements of some/most of the characters.