Shrek The Third (DVD)

In the third installment of the wildly popular SHREK series of computer-animated movies, everyone's favorite hygienically challenged green ogre (voiced by Mike Myers) faces both parental and royal responsibility when his wife, Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), finds out that she is pregnant and that her father, King Harold (John Cleese), is on his death bed. The shock of these revelations leads Shrek on a journey with his loyal companions Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) to seek out another heir to the throne--an awkward young boy named Artie Pendragon (Justin Timberlake). Waiting in the wings is the scheming Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), who sees the perfect opportunity to make his own bid for power and rallies a villainous crew to attack the castle. Taking over the reins from director Andrew Adamson, Raman Hui and Chris Miller fill the land of Far, Far Away with even more fairy-tale characters in SHREK THE THIRD. Although this takes away from Shrek's own screen time, it introduces the highly amusing Princess Squad--which includes Snow White (Amy Poehler) and Cinderella (Amy Sedaris)--and the bullying Lancelot (John Krasinski), among others. And, as always, this SHREK outing features many pop-culture references, even managing to nod to two horror films (THE EXORCIST and ROSEMARY’S BABY) in a single shot. The movie also allows for more hilarious interplay between Donkey and Puss in Boots, resulting in a comedic adventure tale that, while over-populated, is still undeniably entertaining.