Guest Post -James M's review of Shrek (almost the whole film series)

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Greetings bloggers, CrazyGamerHistorian1999 here and today we will be taking a look at something hilarious, something awesome and something incredible. What is it? One word, Shrek!

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"WHAT. ARE YEH DOING. IN MY SWAMP?"
-Shrek, the first film and in the fourth

In the year 2001, just before the third and final entry in the Austin Powers trilogy (starring Mike Myers) hit theaters, the world was introduced to a legend; A Scottish-accented, fiery-tempered ogre named Shrek, voiced by Michael Myers. The film he debuted in?

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SHREK, what do you expect? Starring Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, John Lithgow and Cameron Diaz, this 90 minute animated movie produced by Dreamworks was a blast. When I saw this for the first time as a youngster in 2009 at my Uncle Mike's house, it was awesome. My second viewing in February of this year (2019), still a blast. So what is the plot of this movie?

The plot (of Shrek 1):

Shrek is an ogre who lives alone in a swamp, spending his days scaring people off and just doing what he does best. Things eventually change when he meets Donkey, who is a talking donkey voiced by Ed Murphy. Not long after, Shrek's swamp becomes populated by fairy-tale people, leading to Shrek yelling the iconic and meme worthy, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP?" After learning that Lord Farquadd was behind the fairy tale people's exile from their own land, Shrek goes to have a chat with Farquadd himself, who resides in a very big castle and is a very short man. Why does a dwarf-sized man live in a big castle? Maybe he's compensating for something.

Shrek talks with Farquadd, after taking out his guards, who tells him to go save Princess Fiona from a castle surrounded by fire. Adventuring there, Shrek does get Fiona out of there while Donkey falls in love with the dragon, who is actually a female. On the way back to Farquadd's kingdom, they narrowly evade Robin Hood and his Merry Men, after Shrek gets an arrow to the butt, before stopping for the night at a windmill. That night, while checking up on Fiona, Donkey is terrified to learn that Fiona is an ogre, due to a curse she received when she was young.

The next morning, Prince Farquadd arrives to pick up Fiona and take her back to his castle in preparation for their royal wedding. Thats right, the stinking nutcase wants to tie the knot with Fiona. Shrek heads back to his swamp and Donkey reunites with Dragon, who still loves him, while Fiona gets ready for her wedding. Meanwhile, Donkey visits Shrek and they discuss his, Shrek's, feelings for Fiona before they fly off to Farquadd's kingdom so they can crash the ceremony which has already begun. Before Farquadd and Fiona can kiss, Shrek breaks into the church and admits his feelings for her just as the sun sets and Fiona takes on her ogre-y form. Yes, ogre-y is a word.

Enraged by this, Farquadd is about to have Fiona and Shrek arrested until Dragon flies in and gobbles him up, resulting in Farquadd's demise. This means he will not be a reoccurring villain in the next three installments, but to give something away a little early, Farquadd's actions in sending Shrek after Fiona will have a lasting impact as Prince Charming and Fairy Godmother will be the big bads of the second and third film while a certain mythological baby-snatcher will serve as the big bad of Shrek Forever After. Either way, with Farquadd defeated, Shrek and Fiona tie up the knot and head off on their honeymoon as the movie ends with a bit of a musical number by the wedding guests.

Thoughts on Shrek 1:

Before we move on to Shrek 2, I will give my thoughts on the first film. It is really good and worth a watch, regardless of any dirty jokes in the movie. But as long as any innuendos fly over the heads of younger viewers, thats Ok. Mike Myers sells it with the Scottish accent as the voice of Shrek, its better than Fat Bastard's pirate voice in Austin Powers. The movie gets a 9 for its plot and humor, now enough dawdling. Lets move on to Shrek 2 and last two films afterwards...

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Released in 2004, Shrek 2 takes place shortly after the events of the first movie and is basically a part two, this movie is made by Dreamworks like the first and sees Mike Myers reprise his role as Shrek. Plans for this movie surfaced in 2001 not long after the first movie dropped and it took 3 years but the wait was totally worth it. I saw this movie months ago and it has its charms. Is it good? Of course Shrek 2 is awesome. So, whats the plot?

Summary:

The film begins with Prince Charming on horseback riding towards the tower where Fiona was at in the last movie, but when he gets to the tower, the only thing he finds is a talking wolf in a nightdress, much to Charming's fury. Meanwhile, Shrek and Fiona return to the swamp from their vacation/honeymoon and soon receive an invite from Fiona's parents the king and queen, who reside in the Kingdom of Far Far Away, so their marriage can be blessed. Donkey asks if he comes along and what follows is a bit of a hilarious road trip even though there are no cars as this is medieval times. How is it hilarious? Well, Donkey asks "Are we there yet" over and over., at one point getting a yes from an irritated Shrek who then says no when Donkey asks, "Really?"

The married ogre couple arrive in Far Far Away and soon meet King Harold (voiced by John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (voiced by the well-known  Julie Andrews). Fiona's parents are in shock that Fiona has married an ogre. At dinner, Shrek and Harold get into a little yelling match. This whole thing is understandable considering the fact people hate ogres. Fiona is not to thrilled about her husband and her father fighting so she goes to her room and Shrek worries that his relationship with her may have gone south real fast.

That same night, Harold goes to a bar known as Poison Apple and meets Puss in Boots, whom he hires to actually try and destroy Shrek. The next morning, while walking through the woods, Shrek and Donkey encounter Puss. After a little fight, Shrek and Puss become friends before the heroic and lovable ogre steals a Happily Ever After Potion from Fairy Godmother and drinks it to become human while Donkey becomes a horse. This also causes Fiona to become human again as well. Yes, she's taken the ogre form following the first film. As Shrek and Donkey head back to the castle, they end up becoming imprisoned by Prince Charming's minions while Fiona comes face to face with Charming himself who actually tricks her into believing that he is Shrek in human form.

The following evening, the royal ball (meant to commemorate Fiona's marriage) commences and Fiona ends up dancing with Prince Charming, whom she still believes to be Shrek. So what is the diabolical scheme of Fairy Godmother, who is presiding over the ball? Its to make sure Fiona gets Prince Charming instead of Shrek. Speaking of Shrek, he and Donkey manage to escape their imprisonment with help from Pinocchio and some other fairy tale friends  and they manage to get to the ball just in time to stop Prince Charming and Fairy Godmother's scheme. After a lengthy final battle, the two villains are defeated in the end and King Harold (who got turned into a frog) blesses Shrek and Fiona's marriage while apologizing for being a jerk. The human-ogre couple turn back into ogres as the happily ever after potion's effects wear off at midnight and the movie ends with everyone partying to rejoice the momentous occasion itself.

Thoughts:
Shrek 2 is quite fun, hilarious and action packed. If you have time, go and watch it. I don't have much to say, otherwise, we'd be here all day. Lets go summarize the last two films now!



Synopsis (of Shrek 3 and Shrek 4):
Shrek 3

Shortly after the events of Shrek 2, Prince Charming vows revenge on Shrek for his defeat in the last movie. Meanwhile, Shrek sets out to find King Arthur, who can rule Far Far Away, but not before learning that his wife is prego which causes him to have bad dreams. Prince Charming amasses an army of bad guys and they conquer most of the kingdom and take Fiona hostage along with other beautiful women. Shrek finds King Arthur and they head back to Far Far Away. Arriving back at the kingdom, Shrek and his friends have to deal with Prince Charming and in the end Charming is defeated and Shrek decides he would be a great papa. Film three ends with him and Fiona at the swamp with their three kids and everything's great, right?

Shrek Forever After
Quite some time has passed after Shrek 3, Shrek and Fiona are still happy together with their kids. But Shrek misses the old days as his swamp has become a tourist attraction. During the baby ogres' birthday party, Shrek completely loses his cool and ruins the party, even telling Fiona that he wants things to return to normal. He later meets Rumpelstiltskin who offers to help him. Shrek signs a contract and ends up in a terrible alternate universe where he never existed. The result? Rumpy has taken over the world. Shrek finds Fiona and teams up with other ogres to defeat the creepy little mother effer. The final battle unfolds in Rumpelstiltskin's castle and Shrek defeats Rumpelstiltskin in the end, he kisses Fiona and everything returns to normal, they end up back at their kid's party and everyone lives happily ever after.

The end.

Overall Thoughts/Conclusion:
The Shrek series is fun and has its charms, I for one enjoyed all the movies and do plan on playing some Shrek video games down the road, not to mention I would be honored to see all the movies again from start to finish. As if this report, a Shrek 5 is actually in the works and I for one am curious about what the future holds. Here is my ranking of the movies from top to bottom...
1. Shrek 2 -Awesome
2. Shrek Forever After -Great
3. Shrek 1 -Likable
4. Shrek 3 -Enjoyable
With that, I shall take leave again. Bye people!
-James M.

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