The first two movies had heart, charm, wit, originality, parfait and, most unusually for an animation, characters you could properly care about. This, though, has very little of any of the above, and it breaks my heart.

| Aug 22, 2018

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 18, 2011

This is a very skillfully made corporate product, but I wonder who, exactly, will be fully satisfied.

| Apr 7, 2008

On this evidence, thrice is definitely enough.

| Jul 7, 2007

There can't be another episode in the pipeline unless it is decided to erase the memory of this one which simply doesn't achieve what the first two films managed: to appeal to kids and parents as well.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 29, 2007

It would be a good idea for those involved to quit while they're still (just about) winning.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 29, 2007

In the end, Shrek the Third, like so many Hollywood animation movies today, neither trusts itself nor cares to create any new magic. If it were a child in a classroom, it would be the back-row smart arse, rather than the poetic dreamer.

| Jun 29, 2007

Shrek the Third isn't awful, but it's bland, with a barrel-scraping averageness.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 29, 2007

Children may devour the slapstick, but the once-mighty Shrek has somehow lost all his charm and spiky humour.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 29, 2007

A shame it lacks the smart sassiness of its predecessors. Time to call time, we think.

| Original Score: 3/6 | Jun 29, 2007

Computer-generated animated movies with wall-to-wall jokes can be excruciating, but these jokes are the funniest money can buy.

| Jun 29, 2007

Another summer threequel, another case of slipping standards - not so much in the visuals, which remain predictably impressive, but in the all-important gag rate. To waste both Donkey and Puss is a crime...

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 29, 2007

Great animation and good jokes.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 26, 2007

It suffers from that common virus, sequelitis -- the ennui that afflicts blockbusters when they've outlived their capacity to amuse.

| Jun 8, 2007

This is the most visually impressive Shrek yet. It's also the least inspired.

Full Review | May 21, 2007

The plot material isn't as strong as in the first two movies -- if anything, it feels a bit desperate -- but the anti-Disney joke blunderbuss remains in good working order.

| May 21, 2007

Sequels usually follow the rubric 'same thing as last time, but more.' Shrek The Third instead goes for less: fewer jokes, less energy, and toned-down characters reiterating old banter, as if from a half-finished outline of a script.

Full Review | Original Score: D | May 19, 2007

Kids craving a safe summer-film sugar rush won't care much, though adult fans are bound to wish upon a star for something besides another animated feature running on autopilot.

| Original Score: 3/6 | May 19, 2007

Feels sluggish and tired; its relentless, not-so-great gags hit with the soft thud of stone-hard bread crumbs.

Full Review | May 19, 2007

The film's humor is all in the business and nowhere in the lame story's two subplots, neither of which is strong enough to sustain a real movie.

| May 18, 2007