Shrek the Third: Critic Reviews

Shrek the Third sticks to the swamp it knows best, in a mild climate of palatable jokes about fatherhood, high school, girl power, and a drug-education program for teens that advises ''Just Say Nay.''

Shrek the Third seems at once more energetic and more relaxed [than its predecessors], less desperate to prove its cleverness and therefore to some extent smarter.

Shrek the Third isn't awful, but it's bland, with a barrel-scraping averageness.

The world of the fanciful fable looks particularly vibrant this time with its signature blend of realism and fantasy. It is a pleasure to watch these fairy tale folk be themselves -- yet again.

The film's humor is all in the business and nowhere in the lame story's two subplots, neither of which is strong enough to sustain a real movie.

Director Chris Miller and the credited writers are determined that if these films are to be a collection of riffs and gags, with a sweet afterthought for a finale, then they ought to be very good. And, largely, these are.

Blinded by avarice and all out of ideas, once again, Hollywood can't tell when enough is way more than enough.

Where the first two films laced their stories with references to and appearances by familiar fairy tale characters, Shrek the Third is almost totally dependent upon them.

A parallel world of wonders, zestfully conceived and radiantly rendered, in which the great-hearted ogre tries his likeable best to avoid the parallel threats of kingship and parenthood.

The movie's tidy running time is crammed with so many yuks that I'd have to watch two or three times to catch them all. And I wouldn't mind.

Disposable, clever and never willing to pass up a chance to show how hip it can be, Shrek the Third should make kids titter, adolescents snicker and cash registers ring.

One measure of comedy's pleasure might be how often you recount the best bits after leaving the theater. Shrek is loaded with the sort of set pieces, both hysterical and satisfyingly amusing, you'll irk friends with.

Computer-generated animated movies with wall-to-wall jokes can be excruciating, but these jokes are the funniest money can buy.

The plot material isn't as strong as in the first two movies -- if anything, it feels a bit desperate -- but the anti-Disney joke blunderbuss remains in good working order.

It makes the mistake of thinking slapstick action is funny for its own sake. True, characters zooming and bouncing around are easy to write because no creative invention is required to set them in motion. But so what?

I doubt even rabid fans of the first two will consider Shrek the Third a worthy addition to the franchise.

The charm has evaporated. Cinephiles will enjoy some of the in-jokes (watching an awful play, one character cracks, "This is worse than Love Letters"). But then, if you're a cinephile, why would you bother with this?

As far as the adventures of Shrek go, it grieves me to report that the third time is charmless.

A deflated, weakly plotted effort that only intermittently recaptures the jubilant humor of the earlier films.

The formula still works. Maybe not as well, but it works.

At least this sequel finally establishes how many licks it takes to finish off a popular fairy tale spoof. Three.

While still mirthful and eccentric enough to amuse his hordes of admirers, the irascible green ogre begins to show signs of encroaching middle age in Shrek the Third.

[Monty] Python-ish nuttiness is thinly scattered, but it makes the movie worth seeing -- once.

It's fitfully amusing, and only 80 minutes long.

What the characters and satirical situations may lack this time out in a certain fresh vitality, they more than compensate for with a warm, laid-back familiarity ... and the occasional, out-of-left-fjord surprise.