Shrek Forever After: Movie Review

Shrek Forever After offers nearly as much enjoyment as the original Shrek. The plot takes you on a journey back in time to the tower where Princess Fiona waited for her brave, true love to defeat the fire breathing dragon and set her free. Writers Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke (not writers for Shrek or Shrek 2) crafted a different outcome for the princess, so an alternate story line delivers a clever new rendition of the first movie. The animation and humor do not disappoint. However, 3-D viewers will not gain anything over regular screen audiences other than a few “wow” moments.

Thankfully, Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother are no longer part of the cast and the new villain Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) moves in to the character line-up. Cookie, an ogre chef (Craig Robinson) also adds memorable humor as a new character.

Shrek Forever After: The Breakdown

Shrek has grown weary of the day-to-day repetitiveness of being a husband, dad, and well-respected ogre of the community. His temper flares during his triplets’ first birthday party and he heads out a back door grumbling to himself. He wishes aloud that he could have his old life back. He’d like people to be scared of him again. After all, he is an ogre. He says he want to go back to when he could do what HE wanted to do – just for ONE DAY! The deal maker of all-time, Rumpelstiltskin (Rumpel), overhears him. He offers Shrek a deal – Shrek gets the day he desires in return for giving one day of his past life to Rumpel.

Shrek’s so ready for a break that he signs Rumpel’s contract with only a little hesitation. Any reservations he has, Rumpel reassures him that all would be OK – just sign the paper! Immediately, Shrek begins enjoying the life of a no-name ogre, scaring people all over town. Soon he discovers that Rumpel is the reigning king over the Kingdom of Far Far Away, has made his friends slaves to the wicked witches, and has a plan to wipe out all ogres from the land. Shrek hurries to the King’s palace raging over the changes only to find that he only exists for one day because Rumpel took the day Shrek was born in the deal. Since he wasn’t born, no one knows him at all.

In a tale reminiscent of the Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, Shrek discovers how the lives of Fiona, Donkey, and all the good storybook citizens of Far Far Away turned out dramatically worse without Shrek. He has to save Fiona and his friends and he only has ONE DAY.

Morals and Values

Positive Impact: strong marriage and family values, appreciation for what you have, dangers of making deals with evil people, prioritizing self gratification has negative effects, witchcraft and spells bring harm, love conquers all

Negative Impact: Drinking alcohol and getting drunk is acceptable for good guys and bad guys. As with all prior Shrek films, crude behavior and humor abounds. Parents should use the same precautions with children as they felt appropriate for other Shrek films.