Shrek Forever After

After nearly 10 years and three films that would be justly considered a mixed bag, in particular 2007's weak Shrek The Third with its abundant pop references and lack of steady pacing, it is finally time for Shrek and co to go out with a bang. With wonderful references back to the moments that made the first Shrek so brilliant interweaved within a clever It's A Wonderful Life-esque plot of Shrek signing his life away in a contract, the fourth Shrek film concludes this story in style. All the players are here, Donkey is perhaps the funniest he's ever been with Eddie Murphy on top form - particularly in his renditions of You've got a friend and Whitney Houston - yes, you heard me correctly. Even Puss in Boots who I haven't taken to since his first appearance in Shrek 2 shines as it appears that since Shrek was never born, the once fiesty swahbuckling feline has let himself go and has a large paunch on his little ginger self. The cat that got the cream you might say, considering he is the pet of Fiona in this ulterior universe, who is herself a noble protector of ogre kind.

All the old characters are there and even one or two new ones, the best of the bunch being the sly Rumpelstiltskin brilliantly voiced by Walt Dohrn who is also part of the writing team behind the fourth Shrek film. What is splendid this time around is how all the story elements are tied together. We return to the castle with Shrek as he wonders who has rescued Princess Fiona from the clutches of the Dragon and we watch the brilliant comic interplay between two characters who have become best friends, Shrek and Donkey, and by the end of the final chapter are definitely best buddies. We have taken a long journey with these characters over the last decade and it is brilliant to see the creative team behind the films bring the series to a satisfying conclusion. There are plenty of laughs, some moments that may make you well up just a little and Harry Gregson Williams returns with a score that blows the socks off the rest of the music for the previous Shrek films. Yes, True Love's Kiss has never sounded better. There are no gimmicks, there's thankfully no Justin Timberlake voice added to the cast and little product placement, it's all about the story, which is essentially what made the first of these films so special back in 2001.

The glorious thing about the last of the Shrek films is that ultimately the narrative purpose of these films is turned on its head. Back in 2001 the notion was to create a family friendly parody of the classic fairytale and the effect was a well honed, clever, original film. In tieing the series up the team working on the films, whether they intended to or not, have gone against their own sense of parody. Essentially, Shrek's redemption is his family. He is a family man and is just looking to hold on to love and life. That's about the best fairytale ending you could possibly imagine. Dreamworks animation are without a doubt on a high. Shrek set the high standard and in the last few years we have seen films like Kung Fu Panda and the incredible How To Train Your Dragon demonstrating the capability of the studio to capture our hearts and raise our spirits. Shrek Forever After can be proudly added to that high pedastal. 9/10