Shrek the Third Review

We went to see Shrek 3 while on vacation, expecting to laugh and have a good time.  My husband and I were seriously disappointed.  The original Shrek was excellent, and even Shrek 2 was interesting enough to be worth purchasing.  We won't be purchasing Shrek 3.

I felt that Shrek 3 had a promising storyline, but they ultimately dropped the ball by trying to cram too much into one movie.  They just tried to do too much within the time limits, and it just felt rushed to me. 

Each other Shrek movie took a main idea and branched off from it, but kept the main theme strong.  In Shrek 3, they had the king dying and Shrek going to fetch the only other heir, a boy who was drowning in his own poor self esteem, attacks by bullies, and other teenage issues only to be told he's to become King.  Of course he's REALLY reluctant, and then in addition the trip back home is fraught with peril.  

Even as events unfolded, I found it REALLY hard to like Arthur; and then at the end, he just spouts some trite garbage and is suddenly being cheered on to becoming King. 

Then there is the pregnancy of Fiona, which could have been a royal laugh in itself if they'd focused on her and Shrek during the pregnancy, or even the pregnancy and getting the boy Arthur to become a King through his awkwardness.  Instead of focusing on her pregnancy, she's leading a band of women against the villains trying to take over the castle.  This also had promise, but all the princesses turned into whiners and were boring.  Their butt-kicking, empowering women phase was amazingly brief.

Donkey and Puss change bodies, Prince Charming has his own drama throughout this, Arthur is a whining wimp, Shrek and Fiona are apart and their pregnancy is really only a side note, Dragon isn't hardly in the movie at all, Prince Charming is still a putz, but he's a scheming putz...

They took 2-3 movies, and crammed it all into one.  The comedy and laughs were forced, the action and story all over the place, and it all added up to what COULD have been a great movie...if they hadn't tried to juggle so many multiple stories that they couldn't focus and really give attention to one, with all the possible jokes and pratfalls and comedy possible in the situation.

I saw sooo much promise, and was very disappointed with their end result.  Seriously, the script writers and producers didn't notice?  Were they as tickled and proud of the 3rd as they were of the 1st?

I felt like they were just taking a franchise and running with it to increase their take, but that the heart and vision from the first one, and even the 2nd, was totally missing.