SHREK FOREVER AFTER

Shrek meets It's a Wonderful Life, and learns that (yes) his life isn't so bad after all.

Shrek (Mike Meyers) is having a mid-life crisis. Sure, he has three adorable baby ogres at home, a beautiful ogre wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz), and a beautiful ogre home. But the villagers aren't afraid of him like they used to be (darn that "nice" reputation), tourists flocks to look at his house, and his friends barrel in and out of his home. Basically, Shrek is having a mid-life ogre crisis.

Enter Rumpelstiltskin (hilariously voiced by Walt Dohrn), an angry little runt of a trouble-maker. He'll make your wildest wish come true, but always at a hidden cost. Shrek wants to be a fierce ogre again, and relive how fun it is to scare all the creatures across the land... just for a day, wouldn't that be nice? But after signing on the dotted line, Shrek is transported into an alternate universe where yes, he is scary, but due to the small print on Rumpelstiltskin's contract, Fiona is no longer his lady friend, he has no kids, he has no friends, and "poof!" he will cease to exist at the end of the day. Oops.

So, basically, Shrek Forever After is Shrek's Wonderful Life, aka Shrek doesn't know what he has until it is gone. Alternate-universe versions of all of Shrek's trusty pals make an appearance, including Donkey (Eddie Murphy), who is a work-horse (work-donkey?) for Rumpel and his kingdom of witches; Fiona, who has transformed into Fiona Warrior Princess; and Puss In Boots (Antonio Banderas), who is Fiona's spoiled, fat and lazy lap cat. (I missed Shrek 2 and Shrek 3, but I can see why Puss in Boots is a popular favorite of Shrek fans.)

And, well, that's all there is. Not much of a complex plot to make you furrow your brow. There is again the expected mismash of fairy tale characters that are all thrown together in a head-scratching casserole of a story (this time including the Pied Piper and the aforementioned witches, who I think are pulled from The Wizard of Oz). Plus there are pop songs thrown into the mix, including a wince-inducing moment of said witches breakdancing (does there HAVE to be an unfortuante animated breakdancing scene in every family movie these days???). This go-around, the film is in 3D as well, which frankly doesn't really add a whole lot to the action.

But there are some good laughs in Shrek Forever After, with the best laughs going to Puss in Boots, Rumplestilskin, and of course the ever-trusty Donkey. I heard that Shrek the Third was a pretty wretched sequel. Shrek Forever After is not awful, but is also not really memorable enough to become any sort of classic, kind of in that straight-to-video kind of way. It is what it is: an entertaining hour and a half of silly escapism.