movie coverI'd rather be watching TV![IMDB link] [Netflix link]

PEOPLE: Different director and writers from the other Shrek movies, but most of the same voice actors. Except Rumpelstiltskin. He was voiced by a non-voice actor, Walt Dohrn who works on the story and such. Nobody came close to matching the voice he used during their table reads, so they used him instead of an actor. And it was a good call.

Also, Lake Bell from the hilarious AdultSwim live-action series Children’s Hospital voiced one of the witches.

UNCOMFORTABLE PLOT SUMMARY (inspired by this): [highlight for spoilers]→ Fiona reaches higher potential without Shrek, but then he drags her back down again.

QUIRKS: An partial-alternate-reality Shrek movie! They used the excuse of magic to come up with something that made the franchise fresh again. Impressive job!

VISUALS: Unfortunately we did not see this in 3-D, but the visuals are as awesome as any Shrek movie is. There’s a lot of things they really nailed in their animation style, and it looks really great in HD.

SOUNDTRACK: A few 80’s songs, and a remix of Bach’s Toccata & Fugue…

MORALS: Sometimes you need to lose what you have in order to appreciate that you ever had it in the first place.

CONCLUSION: I daresay this was better than the previous Shrek movie or two. Using magic to create an alternate reality adventure changed all the characters and situations, making this movie fresher than the last few, while still retaining the extreme feelgood feel of the Shrek franchise.

RATINGS:
Clint: Netflix: 4/5 stars. IMDB: 8/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 4/5 stars. IMDB: 8/10.
The native public rating for this movie is: IMDB: 6.7/10, Netflix: 4.0/5 stars (Netflix‘s predicted rating for us was also 4.0/5 stars).

RECOMMENDATION: See this. Hell, even if you didn’t see Shrek 2 or Shrek 3, you could skip right over them and watch this instead.

MOVIE QUOTE: Donkey: “And I thought the waffle fairy was just a bedtime story!”

COINCIDENCES: (Shrek 4, Transformers Prime S1E4) Two videos in a row with a # of 4 where a character wakes up from being unconscious/faking hurt, mumbling about grandmas. “Granny?” “Grandma? Are those cookies?”Music: Spike Jones – Jingle Bells Medley: Santa Clause Is Comin’ to Town/The Christmas Song/Jingle Bells