Shrek 4: The Review

Shrek Forever After [2010]

Shrek Forever After Movie Poster

So, I don't just like to watch action films or adult-rated films. In fact, every now and then I like to branch out and see a kid's movie. And I rate kid's movies differently than I do movies for teens or movies made for adults. Why? Because not all children films are really made for adults. This is definitely not one of them.

Synopsis:

This is a movie about the character's you've come to know and love from the first three Shrek films. It starts out with a birthday party for the three ogre children Shrek and Fiona had and slowly Shrek becomes more and more angry at the life he's living. Finally, he just wants to break away and is granted the opportunity when handed a magical contract by Rumpelstiltskin. Well, as anyone could have guessed, the contract has two sides to the deal and so the rest of the movie is about getting the contract null and void (to put it in the simplest of terms).

The Verdict: 3 / 5 Stars

Unlike the first film which had a really nice, new flavor to it (something different that was about the same old, so it goes), this movie didn't have that sort of charm. And since the second movie (Shrek 2) is in my opinion the best one yet, there was a lot on the table. Unfortunately, the plot line was so predictably the same and the fantasy land that it's based in just wasn't played up the way it should have been. So I felt like there was a lot left to be desired. For instance, in Shrek 2 they really play up the fact that Far Far Away is a hip, cool town. They play up the characters, they really work on the theme of the fairy tale, and because of that it has the same charm the first one had but with just more of it. This one did not exactly have that. In fact, it was like they made up their own charm instead of working with what fairy tales told.

Beyond that, the plot was as basic as it could get. You knew when everything was going to happen, you knew there wasn't going to be any plot twists, and you knew who the bad guy was and what he was going to do. In fact, the plot was so easily laid out for anyone over the age of 6 that it really hurt the story. So I would have loved in they would have reworked it to add in some sort of twist that would leave me thinking about it in the end. Too bad.

And if that's not bad enough, I felt like all the characters weren't played up very much in this one. It was a new movie all about Mike Myers instead of about the entire cast. I think that's what really made the charm of the second one was the large ensemble of people in it that all played an astounding part. But this movie, with the exception of the cook (that I liked) there wasn't much of a cast to be had. Donkey was Donkey, Puss in Boots was fat, and Fiona played up her usual sort of character. So it would have been nice to have seen more of the side characters come in, maybe develop them some more. I think that's what was missing and why I subtracted another star.

My personal feelings? 3/5 stars, as in it's worth it for the kids to see.

Source Code: The Review

Source Code [2011]

Source Code Movie Poster

Alright, so the movie I'm actually currently in the middle of watching is, imagine that, Source Code. I'm writing this review now because above all, I'm sort of board with the plot. But no worries, we'll get to that in a second.

Synopsis:

So the story starts with a man who wakes up on a train, not sure where he is or who the person talking to him is. Immediately things start happening, the situation starts moving onwards and then, bam, the train explodes. The man then wakes up in a dark room with a  glowing screen in front of him. He's strapped into a chair, talking to someone he's never met before. Then they start informing him what's happening, he's in a version of a simulation and he has to go back. So, the story continues where the main character begins going back and replaying the same last eight minutes.

The Verdict: 3 / 5 Stars

The acting is exactly what you would expect from Jake Gyllenhaal, really good and brings you into the whole thing. And the other people around all take up part too, helping with this action flick to make it better. So why not a perfect score for this movie? Well, what great acting and nice action cannot replace is an amazing story, which this movie lacks. From the second time through seeing the train scene I had the whole thing figured out, to which I'm not going to say what, but I knew everything about the main character, I knew who was causing the problem, and I just was bored the rest of the way as I watched him jump through a bunch of loops (some of which were stupid and made no sense) to get to what I had figured out on the second time around. And even now as I keep watching through this, I just know exactly what's going to happen. So it's less interesting.

Don't get me wrong, I have all the love for movies where they play back the same scene again and again and you learn it's got a deeper depth than that. But this one wasn't that thick, in fact it was lacking depth and that's what hurts me. I was really hoping for a project that left more to be wanted. And not just in the repeating scene, but also in the current world where real things are happening. The people just aren't as interesting as I was hoping. So it hindered what would have been a cool idea. Overall, 3/5 stars is what I'd give this for that large story lapse.