REVIEW: Shrek The Third

Saw Shrek the Third last week (immediately after 28 Weeks Later). I thought that Shrek 2 (2004) was an unmitigated disaster, especially in comparison to the delightfully irreverent original Shrek (2001). Happily, the latest Shrek is not a "waste of digital storage space" like the 2004 version was but is somewhat closer to the 2001 version. The second Shrek made significantly more money than the first one ($441 to $267 million), thus making "The Third" inevitable.

The third Shrek is happily a mere 92 minutes long (compared to the overly long Pirates and Spider-Man "three-quels" and this may contribute to my generally positive impression leaving the theater.

Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas all do excellent voice work. The new addition of Justin Timberlake (who happily has no scenes with ex-girlfriend Diaz) is not embarassing, but the more interesting "guest stars" are the British super groupe of Julie Andrews, Eric Idle and John Cleese who play delightfully eccentric characters.

The plot? Ummm, fuhgeddaboutit. There is one, but it doesn't really matter. The Shrek movies are more about the modern, adult jokes that are embedded in the milieu of a children's cartoon fairy tale. Shrek The Third follows the recipe and delivers the expected non-nutritional entertainment.

GRADE: B-.