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'Shrek the Third'

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May 17, 2007 12:00 pm US/Eastern

'Shrek the Third'

Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
(AP)

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: This time, the lovably cranky ogre Shrek (voiced reliably as always by Mike Myers) struggles with the prospect of becoming king of Far, Far Away.
Dreamworks Animation

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It begins with a death, and from there the movie itself steadily dies. This third installment in this monster of an animated franchise still subverts the fairy tales we grew up knowing and loving, but it's smothered in a suffocating sense of been-there, done-that.

Thankfully, as the films go along, they rely less on gratuitous pop culture references. And visually this "Shrek" is more dazzling than ever, especially in the realistic background details. But it also lacks the zip of its predecessors; it feels draggy and, at the same time, rushed.

This time, the lovably cranky ogre Shrek (voiced reliably as always by Mike Myers) struggles with the prospect of becoming king of Far, Far Away after the death of King Harold, father of his wife, Fiona (Cameron Diaz). (Why Fiona can't take over in a fairy-tale land where all the other rules have been upended is never addressed.) So Shrek sets out with chatty Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and the suave Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas, still a scene-stealer) to find the only other possible heir to the throne: the nerdy, insecure Artie (Justin Timberlake).

PG for some crude humor, suggestive content and swashbuckling action. 86 min. Two stars out of four.