Well, there are jokes within the movie that will fly over a child’s head.  These jokes are placed to make the parents happy.  A perfect example would be a joke from the first film about Lord Farcquad and the size of his tower.  The obvious joke was that the characters were making fun of his small size, which in turn meant that he had a small ding dong.  Shrek would make jokes saying that the Lord was trying to “compensate for something.”  Jokes like that are what made the Shrek series such a hit for all ages. 

Kids loved it because it brought all the famous fairy tales together and made fun of them.  Why make a third film in the series?  Well, considering the first two did EXTREMELY at the box office, making hundreds of millions of dollars, why not?  The series does have a pretty big following.  Shrek The Third brings back a lot of the same characters from the earlier films and also includes some brand new faces.  You will hear the voices of Mike Meyers (Austin Powers, Wayne’s World), Cameron Diaz (The Mask, Vanilla Sky), Eddie Murphy (Coming to America, The Nutty Professor), Antonio Banderas (Desperado, Spy Kids) and Justin Timberlake (Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan). 

The Plot: Shrek The Third picks up pretty much where the second film left off.  Princess Fiona (voiced by Diaz) and Shrek (voiced by Meyers) are married and living at Fiona’s castle.  As we saw in Shrek 2, the king of Far Far Away, Princess Fiona’s Father, was turned into a frog by the evil fairy godmother.  Shrek The Third starts off with the king on his deathbed.  He tells Shrek and Princess Fiona that they are going to be King and Queen of Far Far Away (which has a sign up in the mountains written exactly like Hollywood). 

Shrek does not feel that he is cut out to be the king.  While the King is dying, he tells Shrek that there is one last heir to the thrown and his name is Arthur (voiced by Timberlake).  After the king dies, Shrek, Donkey (voiced by Murphy) and Puss-In-Boots (voiced by Banderas) go on a journey to find this Arthur-guy to bring him back to be king.  Obviously, they encounter some problems along the way.  On top of all that, Princess Fiona is pregnant with Shrek’s kid.  She happens to tell him this right as he is leaving on his journey to find Arthur.  The villains in the film happen to be every villain from every fairy tale ever told.  Prince Charming, who is bitter about not being able to take over the thrown of Far Far Away, rounds up all the villains so that he can overthrow Shrek and his gang. 

The Review: Overall, Shrek The Third was a very funny and decent film.  I would not say it was OUTSTANDING or GREAT, but it was entertaining and that is all that matters.  In comparison to the other two Shrek films, I would say Shrek The Third was the weakest of the films.  My BIGGEST ISSUE was the missing chemistry between Donkey and Shrek.  That was one of my favorite things about the series.  Don’t get me wrong, both characters are still in the film together, but there wasn’t enough banter back and forth between the characters.  A lot of the banter this time around was between Puss in Boots and Donkey, which was still very funny. 

There was still a lot of adult humor, especially with implied curse words.  I really love when they do that kind of stuff because I would fill the word in my mind, but obviously it would not be said on screen, considering the movie is rated PG.  One of my favorite characters in the series is the Gingerbread Man.  He is back in this film and just as funny as he always been.  His flash back sequence was hilarious. 

The Verdict: I guess the big question is whether or not Shrek The Third is the best of the series.   Well, in my opinion, I do not feel that it is.  You are so used to the sarcastic humor by now, you are waiting for it.  One thing that is really good about the series is how they take care of cheesy moments.  The writers would put a joke at the end of all the cheesy moments, which point out how blatant they are. 

I give Shrek The Third 3.5 BDK’s because I feel that it should be seen in theatres or on a rental.  If you can’t rush out to see in theatres or you don’t have kids, you won’t be missing much because you can wait for the rental.  Now on the other side of the coin, if you have kids and they are begging you to see this, it is the perfect Saturday/Sunday matinee movie.  Basically, there is no need to RUN OUT RIGHT AWAY and see this tonight, but it is still something that is enjoyable and should eventually be seen.  Go catch the matinee or rental, hence the 3.5 BDK rating.