Dosty Glory reviews Shrek Forever After

Shrek Forever After

Sequels are always troublesome.  Sequels to fairy tales are inherently embarrassing.

              One of the great things about Shrek was that it provided a new take on a classic item: the cartoon fairy tale movie.  It was filled with references to not only elements of the childhood canon, but also sassy bits of pop culture.  A movie that could be enjoyed by hoards of children and chuckled at by adults, where ugly triumphs over beauty and the prince in the castle is a dastardly fool, a new stage in fairy tale history.  It was also the first recipient of the Academy Award for Animate Feature.  The trouble with the films that have followed (mainly Shrek Forever After, seeing as I don’t remember the second one and didn’t bother with the third) is that the genre it is bending does not lend itself to continuance.  However cute and daring we may believe it is to look beyond “happily ever after,” in actuality what you get is a pathetic attempt to continue to milk the cash cow, and what results in guaranteed to be curdled.   

              In this installment of the series, Shrek is a poor bedraggled dad who misses his life before responsibility.  In the end (SPOILER ALERT) he grows to appreciate that which he once distained.  Just like the first film, this one is tackling a severely overdone plot line.  Very unlike the first film, the journey from sad to glad is done in the same humdrum way as ever.  There were no bumps and curves, no sense of urgency, no point where I wondered, “how is he going to do this?”  George Bailey had to really be convinced that the world needed him, but Shrek understands very early that he misses what he once had.  His journey to retrieve his lost love could have been noble and thrilling, but instead he was rendered pathetic and bland, with the supporting characters left to carry the weight of the film within their quirk. 

              As much as Shrek tickled me on its first release, I have since wondered at the tide of children’s films.  It is admittedly not a subject I’ve taken beyond occasionally pondering, but certainly one that puzzles me enough to be worth exploring.  Briefly compare Shrek, or many other contemporary children’s films, to the first animated feature, Snow White.  Momentarily set aside the saccharine elements that are so popular to make fun of now and various sociological complaints surrounding race and gender, and look at the film more clinically.  What you are left with is a finely tuned narrative that moves forward to a singular goal without distraction.  Evil and good are clearly marked, and evil doesn’t crack any jokes.  As I said, I’m no expert, but please let me know what kid’s movie contains a scene where the villain wants their opponent killed and their heart brought back in a box.  Beyond that, the film utilizes the visual medium to round out the action, such as when Snow White becomes trapped by the terrors of the forest or when the evil queen pushes her hideous new face into the cottage window. 

              My apologies, this is starting to sound like a love letter to the Disney technique and it meant to be a condemnation on current children’s films….

              The bottom line, naturally, is the enormous box office receipts and the kids giggling in the audience.  My complaint is that we could be doing better by our nation’s children.  Shrek Forever After is a parade of stiffly animated features, starring a green man with a funny accent who is no match for the legion of supporting characters that are necessary to keep the film afloat.  Our technology today can create amazing effects, but these effects are relied upon instead of the utilization of the full span of tension possible in that big box I paid $9.50 to sit in front of.  The audience is watching scary things happen; we aren’t experiencing them along with the characters.  Instead, we’re laughing at fart jokes and witches grooving to hip-hop, listening to a lazy and oppressive soundtrack of whatever pop hits they could throw their paws on, and watch a crowd of familiar faces do familiar things for the famillianth time.  For all their flaws, the older fairy tales spoke to the viewer, not down to them.  They were well-crafted narratives with inventive soundtracks and comical side notes, all feeding the experience of those in it and watching it. .  

              Before I go off the rails on that one again, I simply beg: enough is enough!  Let the end be the end, continue to be inventive instead of just unraveling your previous inventiveness, and give the audience a little credit while there’s still some to give.

-Dosty Glory