It's sad to watch a fall from greatness and that's what can best be described for the 'Shrek' films. The series started out strong with the first two movies and began to stumble into routine with the third. Now all the novelty and energy is gone and with 'Shrek Ever After' the audience gets a predictable, by-the-numbers, formula movie.
I think the main problem has to do with the fact that Shrek, Donkey, Fiona and Puss have lost all of the chemistry that made the earlier movies fun. The comfort in their interactions drains all of the opening scenes of life. The main crisis in this film is also a little weak: Shrek has grown tired of his life as a celebrity ogre (this plot point is handled awkwardly in the opening scenes) and makes a deal with Rumplestilskin to go back to when he was feared by others. You know the movie's in trouble when this "It's a Wonderful Life" scenario is inserted to try to breathe some novelty into Shrek's story.
This wouldn't be a problem if the movie had fun with this situation. Sadly, it focuses more on action scenes to show off the 3-D effects rather than focusing on the alternate realities of the characters. There is an extended scene of Shrek flying a witches broom to escape from Rumplestilskin's castle, which is cool, but really exist for no other purpose than to give the audience a roller-coaster simulation. The same can be said for a drawn out flying dragon scene in the beginning of the film as well.
This movie also has less of the pop culture references that made the other films in the series enjoyable for adults as well as kids. The first film, in particular, seemed to be taking a lot of jabs at Disney, now it seems like Dreamworks is less hostile towards their competitors. Ultimately, The film wastes opportunities to have fun not just with the series regulars but also with the new characters: the Pied Piper, Rumplestilskin, the witches and all the other ogres. This was disappointing way to say goodbye to Shrek:(
I think the main problem has to do with the fact that Shrek, Donkey, Fiona and Puss have lost all of the chemistry that made the earlier movies fun. The comfort in their interactions drains all of the opening scenes of life. The main crisis in this film is also a little weak: Shrek has grown tired of his life as a celebrity ogre (this plot point is handled awkwardly in the opening scenes) and makes a deal with Rumplestilskin to go back to when he was feared by others. You know the movie's in trouble when this "It's a Wonderful Life" scenario is inserted to try to breathe some novelty into Shrek's story.
This wouldn't be a problem if the movie had fun with this situation. Sadly, it focuses more on action scenes to show off the 3-D effects rather than focusing on the alternate realities of the characters. There is an extended scene of Shrek flying a witches broom to escape from Rumplestilskin's castle, which is cool, but really exist for no other purpose than to give the audience a roller-coaster simulation. The same can be said for a drawn out flying dragon scene in the beginning of the film as well.
This movie also has less of the pop culture references that made the other films in the series enjoyable for adults as well as kids. The first film, in particular, seemed to be taking a lot of jabs at Disney, now it seems like Dreamworks is less hostile towards their competitors. Ultimately, The film wastes opportunities to have fun not just with the series regulars but also with the new characters: the Pied Piper, Rumplestilskin, the witches and all the other ogres. This was disappointing way to say goodbye to Shrek:(