Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The lovable green ogre Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) has settled into a not-so-exciting domestic routine with wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and their three young children. Shrek does the same things every single day, deals with the same problems, and puts up with the same annoyances. He doesn’t realize how much of a rut he’s in until his child’s first birthday. With everyone making demands on him and the Three Pigs ruining the birthday cake, Shrek loses his cool, lets out an ogre roar, and stomps away from the party.
Fiona comes after him, but Shrek gets even angrier when she doesn’t take his side in the whole thing. He slinks off by himself, and ends up drinking in a tavern with devilish deal-maker Rumplestiltskin (Walt Dohrn). Rumplestiltskin offers Shrek a chance to trade a day from his past for a day that will make him feel like a scary ogre again, like he did in his bachelorhood before he met Fiona, Donkey (Eddie Murphy), Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), and the rest of his current crew. The angry Shrek agrees, without having read the contract all the way through. As it turns out, Rumplestiltskin took away the day Shrek was born, meaning his whole life will soon disappear — and the lives of those he loves will change forever.
A frantic Shrek looks for some way out of the contract. It’s Donkey who finds the hidden exit clause: only True Love’s First Kiss can break the contract, which means Shrek has to convince Fiona (who now doesn’t know him) to fall in love with him all over again and kiss him before the day ends.
The rest of the film follows this It’s a Wonderful Life theme, as we see how Shrek’s friends’ lives would have turned out without him. This being a fairy tale, everything is righted by the end and the main characters get their “happily ever after” tag.
Liked:
- The main characters are so familiar by now that they’re enjoyable even when they aren’t doing much. Puss in Boots with his big-eyed begging face when he wants something, Donkey’s mile-a-minute commentary, etc. These things work in the film, and should have been featured more.
- It was short. I think the running time was just over 80 minutes (not including the credits), which was good considering the fact that lots of young children (including my own) were in the theater and probably wouldn’t have been able to sit through much more.
Disliked:
- This wasn’t exactly an original storyline, was it? And it wasn’t executed particularly well, either. I didn’t like the Resistance plot, and wished the writers had come up with something else for Fiona to be doing without Shrek. Fat, lazy, spoiled Puss in Boots was kinda cute, but that was the only part of the alternate universe that was interesting.
- The Rumplestiltskin character just seemed off in some way. He wasn’t as diabolical as he could have been, nor was he a clownish idiot, like some of the past villains in this series. He was in the middle, and consequently, pretty bland. Or maybe it was just the fact that he wasn’t voiced by a “known” actor that made me feel this way.
Rating:
I thought the first two installments of the Shrek franchise were very good, but it’s clear that Shrek Forever After should be the last attempt. Please let these characters fade away now. Do moviegoers really need to see Shrek and Fiona going through all the stages of parenthood and marriage? I give this film 3 stars out of 5.
Burn Notice 4×02 — “Fast Friends: This was kind of a “meh” episode for me all the way around. I’m not digging this new Jesse character thus far. I mean, he’s supposed to be a seasoned spy, and yet he was going all gung-ho like the greenest rookie during the first attempt on Khan’s place. That just seemed wrong in so many ways. Also, Mike’s cover ID was a bit lacking. The voice was annoying, and I didn’t understand the eating/talking all the time thing. Was that supposed to be a shoutout to Rusty on Ocean’s 11? (The Brad Pitt character.)
I don’t watch many foreign films at all. I hate to admit this, but I’m used to the way Hollywood tells stories, and am a bit impatient at the way some foreign films take their sweet time to get to the point. Plus, there’s the whole issue with subtitles, which gets tiresome after a while. I guess I’m just not cultured enough to appreciate some arts!
Plot summary (with spoilers): After a recent breakup with her latest boyfriend, 30-something Jen (played by Katherine Heigl) goes on vacation to Nice, France with her parents Mr. Kornfeldt (Tom Selleck) and Mrs. Kornfeldt (Catherine O’Hara). While there, Jen meets and falls in love with Spencer Aimes (Ashton Kutcher), who, unbeknownst to her, is a spy/assassin. 
Plot summary (with spoilers): Before becoming a famous novelist, Jane Austen (played by Anne Hathaway) was just a regular young woman living with her parents and sisters in a tiny house in rural England. Mrs. Austen (Julie Walters) is anxious to marry all her daughters off not only to ensure secure futures for them, but also to relieve the financial burdens of the household. After all, Mr. Austen (James Cromwell) is just a country rector with a modest income.
I just read that Rue McClanahan, who is probably best known for her role as Blanche Devereaux on the ’80s sitcom The Golden Girls, passed on today. Manager Barbara Lawrence confirmed that McClanahan suffered a stroke at about 1am local time in New York. The actress had previously survived breast cancer and a heart bypass surgery. 
Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Based on a true story, The Soloist tells of the friendship that develops between L.A. Times reporter Steve Lopez (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) and Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a former musical prodigy whom Lopez finds living on the streets in Los Angeles.