Shrek Forever After

Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life is re-interpreted in director Mike Mitchell's CGI-animated Shrek Forever After, which finds thoroughly domesticated Shrek in the midst of a midlife crisis, grumpy and frustrated over the mundane monotony of a life spent minding three screaming ogre youngsters. Thanks to a diabolical ploy by the sinister, smooth-talking Rumpelstiltskin (voiced by Walt Dohrn), Shrek (Mike Myers) winds up seeing what the Far, Far Away world would have been like if he'd never been born and never met Donkey (Eddie Murphy), Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), the Queen (Julie Andrews), the King (John Cleese), and other fairy tale characters. Turns out that before Shrek appeared on the scene to break Fiona's curse, Rumpelstiltskin was manipulating Fiona's parents to turn over the kingdom. Now, the little villain rules in a parallel Shrek-less universe where Fiona is a freedom fighter leading an ogre rebellion. Shrek Forever After features the usual silly puns and fractured pop culture references, while Myers remains gruffly lovable, Murphy is sassy, Diaz is feisty, and Banderas is suave. But the campy—yet sincere—simplicity that made the original Shrek into a classic is largely absent from this fanciful conclusion to the popular franchise. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary (by director Mike Mitchell, head of story Walt Dohrn, and producers Gina Shay and Teresa Cheng), a “Spotlight on Shrek” series appreciation (14 min.), deleted scenes (6 min.), “Secrets of Shrek Forever After” (4 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are “The Animators' Corner” with additional commentary from the animators, “Shrek's Interactive Journey: IV” with concept art, “Shrek's Yule Log” animated digital fireplace (30 min.), “Conversations with the Cast” (10 min.), “The Tech of Shrek” (8 min.), a “making-of” for Shrek the Musical (8 min.), a “Cooking with Cookie” recipe featurette (7 min.), “Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular” short (5 min.), the “12 Days of Christmas” pop-up book (2 min.), a “Donkey's Decoration Scramble” game, the “Who I'd Be” music video from the musical, the “Darling I Do” music video, and the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a winning extras package for an uneven final chapter.] (S. Granger)