An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Nick Curtis's rating
Reader rating
Shrek mates: Cameron Diaz with her leading man at the film's British premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square
Diaz's ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake horses around with co-star Antonio Banderas
On his his third outing, Shrek cuts a diminished figure. The grumpy, green and exuberantly flatulent ogre now seems to be going through the motions.
His creators at Dreamworks have run out of fairy tales to spoof, and can't match the high standards of verbal and visual wit that earned the first two films critical plaudits as well as more than $800million in box office returns.
This third instalment sees Shrek facing fatherhood, responsibility and maturity. A plot filched from Arthurian legend quickly degenerates into sappy therapy-speak about "being yourself". The movie franchise that once transcended age groups now looks decidedly middle-aged.
There are glimpses of the old panache. At the start, Shrek (again winningly voiced by Mike Myers), is deputising for the sick frog-king in Far Far Away, a land that looks suspiciously like Beverly Hills.
He manages in the space of a brisk montage to sink a ship, mortally wound a courtier and demolish a banqueting hall while trying to scratch his bottom.
The subsequent death of the frog-king is a deliciously transgressive bit of kiddie-pleasing morbidity, followed by a frog chorus singing Paul McCartney's Live And Let Die, a gag aimed at savvy grown-ups.
But when Shrek learns he's due to become king, and a daddy to boot, he quickly scarpers to dig up a substitute monarch, one Arthur Pendragon. Although his old sidekicks Donkey and Puss in Boots (Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas) provide him, and us, with sterling comic support the film promptly falls apart.
Arthur (Justin Timberlake - wasted) is a nerd stuck in a medieval parody of a high-school movie. This conceit quickly fizzles out and Shrek embarks with Arthur on the same kind of rancorous but ultimately affectionate cross-country trek he made with his captive-turned-wife Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) in the first movie. Meanwhile, dastardly Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) is planning a coup similar to the one he tried in the second film, only without the light relief of Jennifer Saunders as his mum.
This third film's lack of imagination is signalled when deliciously familiar characters, such as the Gingerbread Man, are underused as much as new ones, like Ian McShane's Captain Hook. The plot lapses into a repetitive cycle of defeats and triumphant reversals so lacking in logic they would wrinkle the youngest viewer's brow in consternation.
The animation is sleek and proficient but stylistically bland, the formerly savvy wit and effortless charm strained. For instance: when Fiona and her fellow fairy-tale heroines forge themselves into a kick-ass sisterhood, director Chris Miller shows them burning a bra.
Surely, after this Shrek, there can't be a fourth one.
Shrek the Third is released in cinemas on 29 June.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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