Shrek Forever After

Dreamworks can't hold a candle Pixar. The Shrek movies come close in a different manner, but everything else Dreamworks does looks either uninspired or just plain awful, and I'm never interested enough to see if my first impressions (and most critics) were wrong. As their sole successful franchise, the Shrek movies have had a pretty good run. The first two were surprisingly entertaining films, but the third entry was a dull, lazy film that seemed to descend into the very thing the first movie seemed to parody – generic, cliché, pop-culture trash (Okay maybe I'm being rough on a film I've only seen once several years ago). But it seems that the series is finally ready to close it doors as Shrek Forever After is apparently the last in the series (aside from a Puss in Boots spin off movie). Thankfully, Shrek Forever After turns out to be a surprisingly funny and enjoyable affair.

The plot is basically a take on "It’s A Wonderful Life", which reflects a world in which Shrek was never born. In viewing the trailers, I felt this came off as a rather underwhelming and lazy plot. However, the writers Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke manage to do enough with the material and place Shrek in quite an entertaining setting where his friends and family do not know him. The best main character here is the lead villain of the story Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpel is played like a conniving, snake-like Southern Californian swindler with a Napoleon complex. All the best scenes and material come from Rumpelstiltskin, although the true show-stealer and crown jewel of the movie is the minor character of a little fat kid in the beginning of the film who only has 3 lines of dialogue and manages to be the funniest character in the film (my friends and I are still quoting him).

The frustrating aspect of the movie comes from DreamWorks’s penchant for casting big names in very minor and borderline bit roles, such as Jane Lynch as a random ogre by the name of Gretched. Jon Hamm makes his voice acting debut as an ogre named Brogan in Fiona’s resistance movement, but Hamm is left with little to do, making his casting rather pointless. DreamWorks Animation features tend to rely on celebrity stunt casting more than any other studio and nearly rival the Simpsons in terms of pointless celebrity guest stars. If Shrek Forever After is to be the final chapter of Shrek’s story, at least the franchise ends on a positive note. In no way does the movie exemplify revolutionary or fine cinema such as Pixar’s works, but it possesses a good sense of humor, provides a few good chuckles, and is even touching at times making the movie feel satisfying if this is the last they ever do.

Glee - Season 1b

The extra nine episodes that were added to Glee's first season really feel that they should have given room to breathe as its own complete season. In fact, I spend a bit of time musing about how different the storyline would have developed if it was the proper 2nd season. These episodes "add on" status forces the various plots to rush themselves and squander their potential. The back nine episodes have certainly given us some great episodes of television - "Dream On" and "Theatricality" are probably the series' strongest hours, with "The Power of Madonna" coming out as the most fun. But overall, the conclusion to the show's first season is a bit uneven. The mid-season premiere Hell-O left a lot to be desired as it quickly undoes all that characters had accomplished in the prior run, while a great arc about Rachael finding her mother is rushed to hell and back. I mean, they have a small build up to it, the reveal tied nicely to the main arc, and then their relationship is quickly explored and wrapped up in one episode...as a B-story (well, as a b story to a really good main plot, but still more time could've been given to the story).

Perhaps, even worse is the revelation that the writers have no clue how to handle relationships. Will and Emma are somewhat tolerable. But the season's main triangle between Rachael, Finn and new boy Jesse St James. For one thing, The thrust of Jesse's relationship with Rachael is that he's exactly like her...without all the quirks that make Rachael enduring to watch. Also their relationship wasn't believable as Jesse's intentions weren't clear. The writers just kept flip-flopping about whether Jesse was actually in love with her or was just using her, so when the big betrayal comes along and Jesse starts going on about how he's the victim in the all of this, it extremely difficult to buy into because their relationship was poorly developed. It really really was the worse relationships I've seen played out on television in some time.

Anyway its not all bad. As I said, The back nine episodes have some of the season's best episodes. Sometimes, the show amazes me by bouncing great humor off of strong dramatic moments. The songs here are even more infectious the the last batch, the dancing is fun and the drama is both what you would expect from a high school show, while also making fun of the genre. The writers can do a great job when they put their minds to it and I guess they'll have had more time to plan the entirety of season two as it's produced. They get some good guests like Kristin Chenoweth and Neil Patrick Harris, and it's mostly enjoyable week in and week out. It definitely walks a fine line every time out, but I don't think they've really stumbled yet. I'm definitely interested in seeing more.

Glee - Season 1a (Review)

FOX extended this season by nine episodes that will air in the spring, but it's clear from the mid-season finale that these past 13 episodes were envisioned and written as a full season on it's own so I'll talk about this first part of the season as such. I really hadn't planned on watching this show at first, but the previews and the catchy songs they played during them got me interested enough to check it out. The show details Spanish teacher Will Schuester's attempt at forming a Glee club at his high school and that club's attempt to win at the sectionals competition, while cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester tries to disband or just outright destroy the club. Meanwhile all the students and even some of the teachers have to deal with their own problems; mainly multiple love triangles and multiple pregnancies. Oh...and all of this is a musical in the sense that we watch the glee club's performances and some of the characters have fantasy musical numbers (all pop-culture songs by-the-way).

Anyway, after the fairly ingenious pilot episode, the show kinda spends a few episodes trying to set an identity for itself. The show initially presented itself as a musical comedy, but at first it steered a bit too far into a musical drama with some fairly crazy storylines. The songs chosen to be preformed were odd (though preformed well) as most seemed to be done more for weak laughs than narrative progression. Luckily, the show finds its feet and plays to its strengths. The storylines becomes tighter and even the odd story arcs become interesting if just to see where they're going with them. The songs become stronger and fit into the various storylines much better and the characters have also developed a complexity rarely seen in high school series.

The characters are more likable than I initially expected. The pretty attractive Matthew Morrison makes the lead character Will Schuester loveable and relateable, while villainous Sue Sylvester is played to near perfection by the always hilarious Jane Lynch. Just as attractive and talented is Cory Monteith and Lea Michele as the student leads Finn and Rachel and Michele in particular shows considerable singing talents (taken from her years on Broadway). The rest of the cast all have their moments to shine (gay guy Kurt and wheelchair bound Artie are probably my favorites) and can all carry a tune pretty well. The show features some pretty good songs and performances from show-tunes to more recent popular music. The only real problem with the performances is the over abundance of auto-tune and at times flat-out piss poor lip syncing. That aside, Glee is pretty good and I'm curious to see where the remaining 9 episodes that will air in April will take the series.