{"id":9246,"date":"2010-05-23T19:44:55","date_gmt":"2010-05-24T03:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=9246"},"modified":"2010-05-23T20:41:54","modified_gmt":"2010-05-24T04:41:54","slug":"shrek-forever-after-mike-mitchell-2010-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=9246","title":{"rendered":"Shrek Forever After (Mike Mitchell, 2010): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed at the West Wind Drive-in, Goleta, CA.<\/p>\n

\"\"In the final installment\u00a0to the series, Shrek Forever After<\/a><\/em>\u00a0\u00a0has been released\u00a0in theaters, and is\u00a0available for viewing\u00a0in Imax, 3D, or slumming it\u00a0at the drive-in.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to relive the glory days of my youth, I schlepped my family of five over to Goleta’s recently re-opened West Wind Drive-in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First of all, drive-ins were not originally designed with monster trucks, SUV’s or minivans\u00a0in mind.\u00a0\u00a0Serious viewers need\u00a0to\u00a0arrive at least\u00a0an hour early in order to\u00a0secure a decent viewing spot and also to\u00a0avoid having some genius in a minivan or SUV park backwards and open up their hatch, making visibility behind them nil.<\/p>\n

Here’s a little drive-in etiquette to follow:\u00a0<\/p>\n

1) \u00a0If you have great car speakers, get in your car, shut the door and enjoy your sound – don’t attempt to broadcast for the entire lot, as the clown next to me did, it’s just\u00a0not cool.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2) \u00a0If your kid owns a laser pointer, don’t allow them to use it on the screen once the movie has started – as some\u00a0punkass was allowed to do\u00a0continually throughout the film.\u00a0<\/p>\n

3) \u00a0Lastly, do not under any circumstances turn your lights on\u00a0(headlights or interior) intermittently for great lengths of time, as several bozos felt inclined to do for the 90 minute duration.\u00a0 During the politically incorrect 70’s these fools would have been severley\u00a0honked at (the equivalency of a spanking)\u00a0and tossed\u00a0out of the establishment!<\/p>\n

Needless to say, I will not be returning anytime soon to the West\u00a0Wind\u00a0drive-in (or any other)\u00a0unless I hear of major improvements.\u00a0 Despite these monumental distractions, I managed to focus on the film, and actually enjoyed it!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fourth in the series, and the Shrek team actually got it right.\u00a0 Unlike the Indiana Jones series which\u00a0began\u00a0a fall from grace\u00a0with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade<\/em> (1989),\u00a0and ended shamefully with\u00a0Kingdom of the Crystal Skull<\/em> (2008), Shrek Forever After<\/em> ended the series on a high note, surpassing Shrek the Third<\/em> (2007).<\/p>\n

With the honeymoon over, the reality of kids and the monotony of everyday life begins to set in,\u00a0and despite his love\u00a0for Fiona\u00a0(Cameron Diaz)\u00a0and the kids,\u00a0Shrek (Mike Myers)\u00a0no longer\u00a0feels like he’s\u00a0an ogre and stumbles into a mid-life crisis.\u00a0 While out walking in the woods and in a fit of anger, Shrek\u00a0is tricked into rescuing\u00a0Rumplestiltskin (Walt Dohrn)\u00a0from an overturned carriage, and\u00a0as reward\u00a0Rumplestiltskin grants Shrek a wish.\u00a0 Shrek’s wish is to feel like an ogre again, if only for a day, but he must trade one day of his youth for the wish to be granted.\u00a0 Unbeknownst to Shrek, creepy little Rumplestiltskin has a vendetta against him for rescuing Fiona with true love’s kiss,\u00a0and messing with his plans to acquire and become ruler of Far Far Away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The contract is signed and Shrek sets about frightening everyone in the local village and enjoying it, until he is captured by a group of witches and taken to a changed, more decadent Far Far Away ruled by Rumplestiltskin.\u00a0 Shrek learns that the day of his youth that was traded, was the day of his birth and he will disappear within that 24 hour day!<\/p>\n

Chaos ensues and Shrek manages to escape, as each character emerges in the plot one by one such as Gingie, Donkey, and The Blind Mice, but\u00a0not one knows the other.\u00a0 Fiona is the leader of a pack of warrior ogres, while Puss is her lazy pet cat.<\/p>\n

The writing in this sequel\u00a0is\u00a0solid and upbeat, very funny with the usual witty dialogue.\u00a0 When Rumplestiltskin offers a reward for the capture of Shrek with “no strings attached,” several characters bring in false Shrek’s including\u00a0Pinocchio, who\u00a0drags in his dad Geppetto in painted green face, posing him as Shrek.<\/p>\n

In true fairytale fashion, Shrek learns that he has everything he needs in life to be happy, and to be thankful for everything he has.\u00a0 Not too preachy or politically correct, the film contains a good message for us all.<\/p>\n

Clear and to the point, I found this fourth sequel more enjoyable than Shrek the Third<\/em>, which was filled with too many sub-plots and veered in a negative direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy.\u00a0 Viewed at the West Wind Drive-in, Goleta, CA. In the final installment\u00a0to the series, Shrek Forever After\u00a0\u00a0has been released\u00a0in theaters, and is\u00a0available for viewing\u00a0in Imax, 3D, or slumming it\u00a0at the drive-in. In an attempt to relive the glory days of my youth, I schlepped my family of five over to Goleta’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animation","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}