Olivia Sutton's Fanfic Journal

• Title:  Shrek the Third
• Director:  Chris Miller
• Date:  2007
• Studio:  Dreamworks Picturese
• Genre:  Comedy, Romance, Musical, Animation
• Cast:  Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Justin Timberlake
• Format:  Color, Widescreen Animation
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"I know what it's like to not feel ready for something.  Even ogres get scared, you know, once in awhile."  -- Shrek

"OK, girls, from here on out, we're gonna' take care of  business ourselves." -- Fiona

In the third Shrek installment, Fiona's father, the King, dies, and leaves Shrek as his heir.  But Shrek isn't ready, and thinks the kingdom won't accept an ogre as king -- so he finds out, on the king's deathbed, that there is another heir, Arthur.

Shrek decides to go with Donkey and Puss-in-Boots to find this lost heir.  Just before he leaves, Fiona tells him she's pregnant.  Shrek is nervous and slightly terrified at the prospect of  becoming a father.

Meanwhile, all the princesses and her mother give Fiona a baby shower.  This is thankfully interrupted by Prince Charming, who has gathered all the evil-doers in Far Far Away to attack the castle.  Charming, a frustrated actor who was failing at dinner theatre, is still trying to impress his mother, Fairy Godmother, by becoming king and taking over the kingdom.

Although Fiona, the Queen, and the princesses initially escape, they are betrayed by Rapunzel (who has made a deal with Charming to become his wife and defacto queen of  Far Far Away).  Once in a dungeon room, the princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty) all announce they will wait to be rescued.  Fiona thinks they should rescue themselves, but isn't sure how.  The Queen breaks them out of the dungeon cell -- and Fiona liberates the Princesses.  I loved this scene, especially the bra burning.  The Princesses, the Queen, and Fiona then attack the castle to rescue Shrek, and defeat Prince Charming.

However, during the final conflict at Charming's show (a play starring Charming and Rapunzel in which Charming defeats Shrek and wins the Princess), Shrek and Arthur convince all the villains they should be who they want to be, and fulfill their dreams.  Charming, however, is not taken in by this - as all he wants is control of  the kingdom.  Shrek and Artie  manage to defeat Charming.

Instead of the big musical number to end the film, this one has a montage of Shrek and Fiona as new parents to three little ogres.

Overall, I really liked the Liberation of  the Princesses part of this film (including the combat montage to "Barracuda"; the second plotline -- Shrek and Donkey (with Puss-in-Boots) on yet another quest to a distant  land felt like it had been done.  Charming's rousing of the villains was interesting - but by the end of  the film I actually felt kinda' sorry for Charming.  I think the film could have done a better job of  being fair to his character -- he almost became a cardboard villain so to speak.  Also, with a lost boy king named Arthur, I expected Arthurian/Holy Grail/etc type gags, but other than a psychedelic Merlin the film completely ignored that opportunity.

There also isn't as much in the way of  sight gags and verbal wordplay as there has been in the previous two films.

Recommendation:  See it
Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Shrek Forever After

• Title:  Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Directors:  Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
• Date:  1975
• Studio:  Columbia Tristar
• Genre:  Comedy
• Cast:  Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Connie Booth
• Format:  Color, Widescreen
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."  -- Peasant

"Let me go back in there and face the peril."  -- Sir Galahad
"No, it's too perilous."  -- Sir Lancelot

Monty Python's Holy Grail film is very silly -- but I mean that in a good way.  The film is full of  very funny, and very quotable lines (I'm delibrately avoiding listing all of  them) and it's episodic.  However, it does have a plot -- it's not a collection of random sketches, like the Monty Python's Flying CircusTV series.

The film begins, well, before even the plot of the film gets started we're treated to the irrelevant humor of  the Pythons as the film is subtitled, for no apparent reason, in Swedish - then the subtitles break down into an invitation to visit  Sweden and a discussion of  moose bites.  A title card then informs us that those responsible for the titles have been sacked (fired).  The new titles are alternating red and green flashing, with lots of  mentions of  llamas.  Needless to say - this is no better.  But it is an example of  the clever Python humor.

The film, proper, begins with Arthur, king of the Britons, looking to collect the bravest knights in the land to join his court at Camelot.  But no one has heard of  him.  Eventually he finds Sir Bedevere, the clever, scholarly knight.  The film then breaks to "The Book of the Film" to briefly introduce Arthur's crew of knights (including "The aptly named 'Sir not appearing in this film' ") -- which is one of  my favorite lines.  Arthur and company encounter the French taunters, then each knight gets a tale from Sir Robin's encounter with the three-headed knight, to Sir Galadhad's bravely facing the women of Castle Anthrax, only to be "rescued" by Sir Lancelot.  Sir Lancelot himself gets his own tale, to rescue the person in Swamp Castle about to be forced into marriage -- he is very surprised to learn the person is a prince not a princess!

Arthur and Sir Bedevere encounter the Knight who say "Ni".  Finally the group meet Tim the Enchanter who gives them a clue.  They proceed to the cave and encounter the Killer Rabbit, before getting another clue leading to the bridge of  death.  There, each knight must answer three questions:  "What ... is your name?", "What ... is your quest?"  and either "What is your favorite color?" or an actual question.  This task manages to whittle down Arthur's knights, 'til it's only Arthur and one page who reach the castle where the Grail is hidden - only to again run into the French taunters.  Arthur, however, is about to seize the castle with an impressive group of  Ren-faire knights when the police show up and the film ends.  (Throughout the film we see clips of this - an old historian is cut down by one of  Arthur's knights, he's found dead by his wife, the police arrive, the body's taken away, the police start to investigate, etc -- all of  this is silent drama for the most part).

Terry Gilliam's drawings and animations, made famous in the Monty Python TV series, then later in films, break the episodes of  the film apart, and act as transitions.  They are quirky and surreal but add little to the plot (except for the sequence with the Black Beast in the cave; and Arthur's crew somehow being stranded in the snow in Iceland or some such place for no reason whatsoever).

Again, the film is very funny, and very silly.  There really isn't any logic too it, but it's Monty Python -- logic is the last thing one expects.  It's also intentionally low-budget looking.  For example, no one rides a horse, but the sound of  Arthur's horse is provided by two coconuts.   'Course, other characters actually notice this!  Again, it's a fun, enjoyable film.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  4 of  5 Stars
Next Film:  Moulin Rouge

• Title:  Die Another Day
• Director:  Lee Tamahori
• Date:  2002
• Studio:  MGM
• Genre:  Action
• Cast:  Pierce Brosnan, Halle, Berry, Dame Judi Dench, John Cleese, Samantha Bond, Colin Salmon
• Format:  Widescreen, Color
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC