First off let me say I'm a big fan of the
Shrek series! I think the creativity and attention to details that the
Dreamworks team puts into each film is on a level par none. It's one of those rare computer animated film that you really question
"Is it REALLY for the kids?" Simply because the jokes are a bit mature. And unless your 3-5 yr old is a well-read scholar in the writing and works of
EVERY fairy tale
EVER written, I'm not sure they'll
FULLY appreciate the inside joke humor! So with that being said, let me get back to the film at hand, which is
"the Final Chapter" (yeah right!) in the
Shrek run. To begin with, I bought the tickets a day in advance to avoid the Sat.
"nanny and baby mamma matinee" rush that you know the opening weekend of a rated G movie can bring. So all that I needed to do was show up, get my cool 3D glasses, and sit my ass down somewhere. Honestly I'm starting to be over the whole
3D trend right about now, but I had a feeling that this movie would do it justice...and did it! From the first opening scene, you can tell that their intent was for this to be in
3D in the first place, and not just jumping on the bandwagon last minute to rake in a few extra bucks. Or it least I think they didn't (lol). Whatever the case, it worked. What also worked was the pacing of the film. The story about how married life for
Shrek was wearing him thin, didn't drag on. The main characters and plot was set up so you can jump right in, while being respectful to the story of the last 3 before this one. The
ONLY problem(s ) I did have was that the film's villain
"Rumplelambskin" sorry...
"Rumplestilskin" was (to me, in my opinion)
EXACTLY the same villain character (
"Syndrome") from
the Incredibles movie! Height, voice similarities, (red) hair and all! Mine you, I love both characters, but I'm just pointing it out. And the only
OTHER problem I had wasn't with the movie itself per se'. It was the fact that to the left of me seated was some freakin'
"man-boy" oooo-ing and ah-ing and cackling loudly at
EVERYTHING that came on the screen!
UNF**KIN' believable dude! Is this your first time
EVER watching a
3D movie and s**t?!? Or a f**kin' movie
PERIOD?!!? Sheesh louise! The louder he laughed, the
LOUDER I laughed, but he never caught on. Then to top things off to the right of me was some 10 yr. old kid
SNORING like a man twice his age! Then was pissed, when his dad finally woke him up as the credits was rolling! Kid, you're pissed? Yeah? Well we were too! Your pops shoulda woke that ass up a long time ago! I was thisclose to putting my popcorn bag over his head, and taking the charge! Leaving
Shrek in handcuffs
LOL! I'm giving this one 4 out of 5
M's!
OK I see you Dreamworks! Now that Shrek's run is done, it's time for the year of the panda huh? They know what they're doing too, cause Kung Fu Panda 2 packs a punch! Who says sequels can't be better than the first obviously hasn't seen this movie yet. Though I didn't think the humor was as good as the first, the kick-ass action fills in the void. What I dug about 2 was that they didn't fast forward and make Po seem like he mastered the art of Kung Fu overnight after the first installment. In this he's still in the learning process, and not yet fully respected by any of this peers. They only agree to his involvement out of respect for Master Shifu appointing Po as the "Dragon Warrior." 2 is set up as a prequel style movie of how Po questions how did he become the son of a goose noodle chef, which never seem to dawn on him. So "family" (or a sense of) is a heavy theme throughout the whole film even with the story line following the main villain. Which is a menacing peacock(?) named Lord Shen, skillfully voiced by (one of my favorite actors of all-time) Gary Oldman. What highly impressed me about this one was the sheer SIZE of the film! Dreamworks packed ALOT of stuff in this movie man! The Kung Fu sequences, the character details, the enormous city layouts, the lighting, the attention to being faithfully to that time period...ALOT! I even thought that the flashback/memory animation was BETTER than most of these films out now! The ONLY thing critical I can even fix my mouth to say is that most of the humor was centered around Po's center...his weight. But that's me nit-picking and being petty. FYI I saw it in 2D, but I'm betting this kicks ass in 3D even more. I give it 5 out of 5 M's. Don't "Fu" around and miss this film.
