I don’t know what possessed me—and I use that verb intentionally—to suggest Shrek the Third for weekend viewing. Apart from a Rosemary’s Baby and Exorcist mashup scene, it is a bad movie. I’ve been watching bad movies over the past few months, and developing an aesthetic for them, but I just can’t warm to Shrek the Third. The first two movies were quite good, and sequels frequently struggle. I’m trying to put my finger on why this one leaves such a bad taste in a viewer’s mouth. For one thing, it’s the writing. Not as snappy or crisp as the first two, it drags with politically correct emotional adjustment as Arthur tries to learn to be king and Shrek reconciles with being a father. What happened to the histrionics of Lord Farquad? Or the cluelessness of the fairy tale creatures with no leader? Instead there are hugs and reassurances.
Not that hugs and reassurances are bad, but they’re not Shrek material. Sudden character shifts don’t help either. The real thing, however, seems to me, to be the music. Many movies patch in contemporary songs to set the mood. The first two Shreks did this remarkably well, with one narrowly edging out two in several places. The Third lacks this artistry. The pop songs chosen just don’t fit. They tank the mood time and again. Music is important. It can make or break a film. In this case it’s only one problem. To me even the animation seems rushed.
There is an aesthetic to bad movies. I guess I was hoping to find it here (I’d seen it before, years ago). Maybe badness in movies is harder to make good when they’re animated. There’s an intentionality about everything when you know everything on screen was planned to appear exactly as it does. Good bad movies entertain. There’s a reason we come back to them, even knowing they’re not great. As someone who’s written for his entire literate life, I tend to think that good writing can redeem most movies. We can put up with low budget effects if the writing is strong. There’s a reason Casablanca is a classic, despite the low budget. The Third has the tag line, “The best Shrek yet.” Considering the bar set by the first two, that was a boast not likely based on anything like facts. Or taste. I’ve got to wonder, however, when big budget animations start going off the rails, when is it decided to simply let them go and hope that a classic will emerge?
