Shrek Forever After

I've made no secret of my disdain for the new Shrek movie, Shrek Forever After. After the horrendous butchering of the once promising franchise in Shrek 3, I couldn't imagine the new one being any good at all. Considering that Shrek 3 crammed as many pop culture references in as possible to mask the lack of any discernible plot, and the sheer number of primary and secondary characters, the only possible way to "improve" on that would be to make it 3D. Right?

Right. So I really didn't want to see it. Or even acknowledge it. My opinions on gratuitous 3D-ification of films just so they can charge an extra £3 to get in are, shall we say, not great. As far as I can see it's a gimmick that not only detracts from and therefore robs the audience of the film itself, it also robs them of their cash. When the sole purpose of 3D in a film is to make people say "wow, look at the 3D!", the film has failed. The audience don't care about the screenplay, the script, the characters ... they just want the spectacle. It's gogglebox culture, writ large.

When 23inertia and I took our horde of children to the cinema to see Shrek 4, it was entirely for their benefit. I couldn't imagine myself enjoying it, and fully intended to pretty much doze through it. Much as I did when I suffered the Hannah Montana movie. Yes, I saw it. Mock all you like, I don't care any more. We didn't see the 3D version. That was sold out completely, and to be honest, we didn't fancy paying £15 extra for the privilege. Combine that with trying to get a 3 year old to keep 3D glasses on, and 2D seems infinitely preferable. The kids didn't care in the slightest that they weren't getting the "full 3D" experience. In we trekked to the almost empty cinema and took our seats.

And, oh, how wrong I was! This film is a true return to form. With a similar style and feel to the original film that made the franchise, it's a world apart from the crass commercialisation of the sequels. In fact, with a cunning bit of alternative reality wrangling combined with classic fairytale cliché, it's successfully removed everything that made the other sequels such a chore in one fell swoop. In fact, the only character who remains the same through out the entire film is Shrek himself, although the other characters are very much present. Am I confusing you? Good. You have to go see it to find out what I'm talking about.

It's got its funny moments, it's touching moments, and a whole lot of comical running about all wrapping up what is, fundamentally, quite a simple premise. Shrek is bored with his life. He wants to spice it up. In comes Rumplestiltskin with an offer of a deal ... You can see what's coming, but you won't see how it all falls into place. It is at the same time both utterly predictable (you know how it ends, surely?) but at the same time completely surprising. The joy is in watching how the story pans out, rather than in what happens in the end. This may render it harmless, but it's a feel-good family film of the best sort. It's got humour for the adults, and slapstick for the kids (who am I kidding? Slapstick for the adults, too). It's got everything the first film had, and was so sadly missing in the interim.

If you've got kids, and even if you haven't but liked the original Shrek movie, then Shrek Forever After is for you. It's the sequel the original deserved, rather than the ones it ended up with.