Because the poster for today’s film, Shrek Forever After: The Final Chapter (2010), had the words after the main title on it, I am going to use them to begin this review.  It seems that this was intended to be the final entry in the saga, but I guess the Hollywood executives that be decided otherwise since Shrek 5 is set to be released in 2027.  As I have said throughout my treatment of this series, I do not get them.  They are also not aimed at me, and that is okay.  I doubt anything I could say about them at this point would change anyone’s mind.  As such, I will do my best to give you my Catholic perspective on what appears to be an increasingly stale set of films.

For further evidence of the staleness of the franchise, I give you the opening to Shrek Forever After: The Final Chapter(henceforth just Shrek Forever After).  After a rehashing of the events that brought Princess Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz) and Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) together, we are shown a key moment in that process.  Worried that the spell that imprisoned Princess Fiona in a tower guarded by a dragon, cursed to be human by day and an ogre by night, her parents, King Harold (voiced by John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (voiced by Julie Andrews), seek advice from the “old crones” encampment.  The person they find is Rumpelstiltskin (voiced by Walt Dohrn).  He offers the rulers of Far Far Away a deal to end all their troubles in exchange for the kingdom, but the signing of the contract is interrupted by a messenger telling them that their daughter has been saved.  It leaves Rumpelstiltskin without one of his precious deals.  We then fast forward to the present day when Princess Fiona and Shrek are married with three children.  What appears to be marital bliss, particularly for her, becomes a Möbius strip of drudgery for him.  On top of the repetitive days, he recognizes that people do not fear and respect him anymore.  Instead, he is a celebrity on the best of days, and on others is seen as an odd tourist attraction.  He is nearing a mental breakdown when they take their children for a birthday party at the fairytale land equivalent of a Chuck E. Cheese.  Between constant requests for his autograph and for him to do his patented roar, and numerous other headaches like a cake not to his liking, he finally loses his temper.  Princess Fiona takes Shrek outside where he lists his grievances, wishing that he could return things to as they were before they met.  Lurking in the shadows is a down-on-his-luck Rumpelstiltskin.  Having overheard the argument, he catches up with the gloomy Shrek and entices the ogre into making a wish.  What is offered is for Shrek to be given one day as his old self.  To do so, he will have to give up a certain day from his past.  Not being able to pick a specific one, he allows Rumpelstiltskin to choose and signs the contract.  With a flourish of magical pyrotechnics, Shrek is transported through space and time.  It takes him a moment to realize the trick has worked, but before too long, he is happily terrorizing villagers.  As he is contentedly walking back through the forest, he notices wanted signs for Princess Fiona.  Worried, he rushes to where his hovel should be to find it just another lump of earth.  He is then attacked by a gang of witches intent on capturing him.  Once they have him cage, he sees that the cart he is on is being pulled by Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy), who does not recognize Shrek.  He is taken to a much altered Far Far Away with Rumpelstiltskin as its ruler.  In the palace, the imp gloats over Shrek, explaining that he had taken away the ogre’s existence, which gave him the ability to oust King Harold and Queen Lillian.  Further, when the next day dawns, he will disappear.  Now angered and more determined to find Princess Fiona, Shrek throws off his shackles, snatches a witch’s broom, and escapes with a confused Donkey.  Making their way into the forest, once they have re-established their relationship, Shrek must once again save Donkey when the talking pack animal wanders into a trap.  Following Donkey down what is essentially a rabbit hole, Shrek discovers an underground warren inhabited by other ogres.  They form a resistance against Rumpelstiltskin, and it is led by a warrior version of Princess Fiona.  Because this one also does not know Shrek, his attempt at kissing her is physically rebuffed. His goes for the smooch because he has just learned that love’s true kiss (sound familiar?) will reverse his curse.  The rejection means that he must make her fall in love with him all over again, a task complicated by their ongoing rebellion.  Her focus is in leading the ogres in an ambush against Rumpelstiltskin set for that night.  However, he has employed the Pied Piper (flute played by Jeremy Steig) to enchant the ogres into imprisonment.  Princess Fiona and Shrek are swept away by Donkey and an overweight Puss in Boots (voiced by Antonion Banderas).  This gives Shrek the opportunity he has been waiting for, but their kiss makes it clear that she has not fallen for him.  Thus, she goes to free the other ogres on her own, leaving a dejected Shrek.  Eventually, he receives some encouragement from Donkey and Puss in Boots, and an idea to turn himself in to receive the reward of a no-strings-attached contract to the person who brings in Shrek.  Because Shrek does it himself, he gets to the wish, and he uses it to free the others.  The one Rumpelstiltskin does not unchain is Princess Fiona, but the other ogres storm the castle to correct this part.  In the end, Shrek’s selfless gesture gets him that true love’s kiss, and everything is put to right.

By “put to right,” I mean that, at the end of Shrek Forever After, the title character is returned to his family and he is more appreciative of them.  Before he is given back the life he truly wants, Shrek makes a comment that can be interpreted in a Christian manner.  He says that before he made the deal with Rumpelstiltskin, Shrek did not realize what he had.  The Christian way of saying this is that many of us, even the most ardent followers of Christ, do not recognize the blessings in our lives.  More specifically, we do not see them as coming from God.  Instead, we are more like Princess Fiona in the alternate reality.  Shrek tries to tell her that her parents and others had tried to rescue her from her tower.  She responds defiantly, saying that it had been her that had gotten her out.  I am here to tell her, you, and anyone else that will listen that there is nothing that can be accomplished or obtained without God.  The miraculous might seem a little more obvious.  A pitchfork missing an ogre by a few centimeters, or looking up just in time in traffic to avoid an accident, these can be attributed to Divine intervention.  It is the mundane that is a little harder to attribute to God.  Early on, Shrek gets caught up in the repetitiveness without a sense of the love that had brought him the blessings of a stable family and life.  Princess Fiona tries to point these things out to him before he confers with Rumpelstiltskin, but Shrek will not listen.  It is love that calls us to the better things, and God is love as we are told in 1 John 4:8.  What people struggle with is that, if God is love, then why is my life not my version of perfect?  Only God is perfect, and His wisdom is beyond ours.  Instead, if we can learn to accept His love, then maybe there will be fewer Rumpelstiltskins in the world trying to tell you that you are not good enough.

I bet there are some of you who would like me to say that Shrek Forever After is good enough.  However, I am not going to do so.  For me, it is no different from the rest.  I appreciate the lessons, and I hope they have an impact on the young. Otherwise, I will look for more grown-up fare.