Shrek Forever After: The Final Chapter (previously promoted as Shrek: The Final Chapter) is a 2010 computer-animated American comedy drama film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth and final installment of the Shrek film franchise and the sequel to Shrek the Third (2007).
Plot[]
Having become weary of his duties as a family man and celebrity, Shrek wishes to go back to being a "real ogre". When he comes across the conniving Rumpelstiltskin, Shrek gets his wish in exchange for the day he was born and is transported to an alternate Far Far Away where he never met Fiona and ogres are hunted like prey, and he must find a way to nullify the contract to restore the world and reclaim his true love. Shrek the Third
Why It's Great[]
- It improves over Shrek The Third (2007) and tries to have genuine effort to return to the roots of the franchise and pays homage to the first two films (Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004)), in addition to becoming a suitable goodbye to the franchise, fully respecting the legacy of Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004).
- Decent musical score and the song choices are much less questionable than Shrek the Third.
- Weezer's cover version of "I'm a Believer" is incredible.
- Darling I Do is an emotional music
- Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy still do great jobs as their respective characters (Shrek, Fiona and Donkey)
- Rumpelstiltskin is an entertaining antagonist who keeps the stakes high throughout the entire film. What makes him stand out among Shrek villains is that he actually succeeds in his plan! He tricked Shrek into signing the contract to wipe him out of existence, which allows him to take over Far Far Away. Plus Walt Dohrn does a great job voicing him.
- It's very sweet how close Shrek became with his triplets, considering how afraid he was of being a bad father throughout the third film.
- Great call-backs to the character's dynamics from the previous films.
- Once again, Donkey is Shrek's only confidant until he meets the alternate Fiona and Puss.
- The alternate world's Puss and Donkey becoming friends so quickly is nice considering the animosity that preceded the real Puss and Donkey's friendship in Shrek 2.
- One of the ogres in Fiona's resistance, Cookie, is very funny and likable.
- Fiona once again takes the forefront as a badass action girl leading an ogre resistance after her gradually diminishing role from the second film onwards.
- The Pied Piper, like Puss in Boots before him, manages to be both a funny, clever take on a fairytale character and a badass bounty hunter.
- Having this movie be somewhat darker than the previous three is an admirable move on the filmmakers' part.
- The ogre babies are integrated into the plot more organically than in Shrek the Third, where they were dismissed as a kid-oriented marketing gimmick. It helps that Shrek shares a few genuinely sad and heartwarming moments with them.
- Shrek's character development is really shown in this film; when arguing with the alternate Fiona, he insists that true love will solve everything and it does exist, a big contrast to how he dismissed the notion in the first film and Fiona insisted on the power of true love.
- The credits feature moments from the previous three films, which is very heartwarming for people who grew up with the entire Shrek series.
- The birthday party scene is delightfully hectic and a great metaphor for what Shrek the Third had diluted the franchise into: loud, annoying and childish, and what really drives it home is how it takes place in what used to be the dark and seedy Poison Apple bar.
- It totally ignores the events of Shrek The Third (2007). On top of this, Arthur Pendragon and Merlin don't seem to even exist anymore and aren't even mentioned. You can skipp Shrek The Third (2007) and just watch Shrek (2001), Shrek 2 and Shrek Forever After: The Final Chapter (2010), and everything will still fine. The only thing that needs to be explained are the sons of Shrek, but you can kinda understand if you think something like "okay, Shrek 2 (2004) and Shrek Forever After: The Final Chapter (2010) has like a time skip from a movie to the another, so it makes sense that Shrek and Fiona have two sons and one daughter now ".
- The film has a lot of respect for the franchise, the first film especially
- The main characters from the predecessors are still likable and put in a new and original light, Fiona in particular where we see how life locked up in a tower has affected and traumatized her.
- Emotional and heartbreaking moments, notably when Shrek cries for the only time in the series upon discovering he had brought his daughter's doll with him, a symbol of everything he had lost, as well as Shrek's final moments with the alternate Fiona where explains to her that she gave him everything and that he got the chance to fall in love with her all over again.
- The climactic battle between the ogre resistance and Rumpelstiltskin's witches, as well as the fight between Shrek and Fiona against Dragon, is amazing.
- The idea of adding more Ogres is so creative
- Decent voice acting, thanks to the cast, like Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy reprising their roles.
- It’s a good send-off to Shrek.
Bad Qualities[]
- The entire configuration of the alternate universe is not as fully explored as it potentially could have been, mainly thanks to the short execution time. We also never see the consequences of Shrek correcting the timeline, other than Rumpelstiltskin's arrest at the end - does Shrek feel any remorse or is he concerned about erasing all his ogred friends from the alternate universe? They show up at the dance party and two Christmas shorts after the movie, but how are they there and how does Shrek still know them?
- As mentioned, this is probably the darkest installment in a franchise primarily known for its comedy.
- What happened to Fairy Godmother in the alternate reality that Shrek was never born? Like, it is obvious that the Charming was killed by Dragon and Lord Farquaad was killed by the Rumpelstiltskin’s Witch Army (proof of this is that the Farquaad‘s Magic Mirror in the first film is now part of the Far Far Away kingdom, dominated by Rumpelstilskin in that fourth film in the alternate reality where Shrek was never born), but what happened to Fairy Godmother?
- A notable script hole: It was shown in ''Shrek 2'' that it takes at least a few days to get from Shrek's swamp to Far Far Away, but it appears to take far less than a day for the witches to bring Shrek to Far Far Away.
- Few viewers were happy with Shrek for blowing up on Fiona after he came out furious at his kids' party, which was a thick attitude of the character, although, understandable, since Shrek was bored with his new life full of responsibilities and was homesick for when he could do what he wanted, which is quite identifiable.
- It rehashes elements from the first film, as well as It's a Wonderful Life and The Little Mermaid; for example, both this film and The Little Mermaid share the concept of a main character making a magical deal with the antagonist that would grant their wishes, but signing the contract activates a countdown, and said main character has to nullify the contract by getting a kiss or else something bad will happen to them.
- Rather inappropriate dialogue, notably "I'm being ass-napped!" and the infamous "My donkey fell in your waffle hole!"
- Some attempts at humor are rather either nonsensical or cruel, notably when Shrek is about to continue interrogating Gingy... right before Puss eats him, as well as when Shrek suggested to Rumpel that he erase the day he met Donkey.
- False advertising: Though the Gingy from the alternate universe is shown in many of the film's posters, he has little to nothing to do in the film before he gets devoured by Puss.
Reception[]
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Shrek Forever After has an approval rating of 58% based on 196 reviews and an average rating of 5.9/10.
Box Office[]
Shrek Forever After earned $238.7 million in North America, and $513.9 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $752.6 million.
Videos[]
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