Plot: What’s it about?
Let’s take a trip back to 2001, shall we? Not so long ago, the world was a pretty different place. But in the world of film, “Shrek” was just getting started. Nowadays even the word “shrek” has become so engrossed in our vernacular that we automatically think of the giant green ogre when the word is mentioned. As it turns out, “Shrek” was quite the success and even picked up an Academy Award for Best Animated Film beating out front-runner “Monsters, Inc.” “Shrek” became a worldwide phenomenon and the cast of voices was part of what helped make the movie what it is. The films are the brainchild of Mike Myers (known mainly for his SNL skits and the “Austin Powers” films), but throw in Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz and what have you got? Well, quite obviously, you’ve got “Shrek.” But that was 2001, this is 2010 and we’re now at “Shrek Forever After” (aka “Shrek 4”). Unless it’s the most blatant case of false advertising ever, this will be the last “Shrek” film we see. I, for one, enjoyed the final installment but there were those that didn’t. Nevertheless, let’s take yet another trip to Far Far Away Land.
Shrek (Mike Myers) is in a rut. He’s married with three children, two boys and a girl, and the monotonous humdrum lifestyle of a parent isn’t sitting well with him. He longs for the days when he had the swamp to himself and he was actually feared, not another stop on a tour. As fate may or may not have it, Shrek encounters Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) who is more than happy to grant Shrek his wish of having just one day where he can be his old self. The catch is that Rumpelstiltskin gets a day in the past in return (as “payment”, per se). But Rumpelstiltskin being the devious fellow that he is takes the day Shrek was born and, you guessed it, once the day is over Shrek will cease to exist. Shrek must now seek out Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) who is more of the leader of a rebellion, fall in love with her all over again else this day will be his last. Although Shrek does this solo, the cast of familiar characters are all there with Donkey (Eddie Murphy), the Gingerbread man and the rest of the ensemble.
Having read some other reviews of the movie, I wasn’t too excited to see this. I, for one, enjoyed it and felt it was a nice way to end the series. Admittedly I’d seen parts 2 and 3, but for the life of me can’t remember what happened in them. Maybe this will happen for me here, I don’t know. The “Shrek” movies have made an indelible impression on audiences and are some of the more successful computer-animated films; they’re right up there with the Pixar movies. No doubt the success of these films has helped pave the way for Dreamworks to continue their computer-animated films with others like “Madasgascar”, “Monsters vs. Aliens” and “How to Train Your Dragon.” If your kids have seen the previous “Shrek” films, there’s no reason they won’t (or haven’t) seen this one. There are some very humorous moments and again, I found it pretty amusing. Recommended for fans of the “Shrek” series.
Video: How does it look?
As with essentially every other computer-animated film out there, “Shrek Forever After” looks simply amazing on Blu-ray. The 2.40:1 AVC HD transfer is so vivid that you feel like you could reach out and touch it (you can’t though, it’s animated). I don’t remember any of the other “Shrek” films being bad looking on TV and what really grabbed me were the textures on the characters. The smallest, most minute details just look amazing. The subtle wrinkles and dirt on Shrek’s forehead, the gentle breaks in the cookie of the Gingerbread man. I could go on. You know what you’re in for in terms of visuals when you watch one of these movies and “Shrek Forever After” is no exception. This looks perfect in every way, shape and form.
Audio: How does it sound?
While not quite as impressive as the video, The Dolby TrueHD soundtrack does deliver. Paramount (Dreamworks) seems to be the only major studio that’s still encoding their soundtracks in Dolby TrueHD as DTS HD Master Audio is more of the standard across the board. Still, the uncompressed soundtrack delivers. Vocals are strong and consistent throughout and there are a handful of times when the LFE come into play. Surrounds chime in as if on cue for some added depth. It’s always hard for me to believe how a computer-generated movie can sound so amazing but this and the rest of the “Shrek” movies certainly do.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Dreamworks knows that this will be a hot seller so they’ve put enough supplements on the disc to warrant a purchase. We start off with an audio commentary with an optional picture-in-picture feature. The track is fairly informative, though I can’t imagine the target audience (kids) listening to it. We have a new feature, “Donkey’s Caroling Christmas-tacular” which can best be described as a musical review of sorts (and something to promote on the cover of the Blu-ray). We then have “Shrek’s Yule Log” which is just that, a Yule log with some interruptions by the characters every so often. Clever. I guess. There’s “Spotlight on Shrek” which gives us a history of our favorite ogre and “Secrets of ‘Shrek Forever After'” shows some of the hidden (read: inside jokes) of the movie. We get some deleted scenes, a music video and a preview of the Broadway musical. Yes, I guess that’s when you know you’ve made an impact on pop culture; when you have your own Broadway musical.
