Monday, May 28, 2007 Third time's a not-so-charm By Miguel Antonio Lizada Kuya's chair
WHEN it comes to trilogies, I often enjoy the second or middle one best. This is true for the original Star Wars series where I enjoyed Empire Strikes Back best.
Also for the Lord of The Rings, for me The Two Towers still takes the cake. The same thing can be said for Shrek. While I had a good number of laughs, I still consider Shrek 2 the best among the three movies.
The movie made me keep saying: "yun lang?" until the credits started rolling. (Some light spoilers ahead.) For one, Prince Charming, compared to Lord Farquaad and the Fairy Godmother--the villains of the previous movies, was not that effective.
Also, I found the whole King Arthur thing a bit too flat. Since Shrek, after all, is supposed to be a parody of famous fairy tales and legends, I found the character of Arthur (voiced by Justin Timberlake) and how he was parodied a bit too flat.
It was like: okay I get it, he pokes fun at the traditional King Arthur story because unlike the original Arthur, "Artie" is weak, cowardly and he lacks charisma.
His supposed right hand, Lancelot, is the Alpha Male character and Guinevere is a popular chick in High School that Artie could not impress. I also found his change of heart at the end of the movie all too sudden to be predictable.
But I think it still falls short compared to what the previous movies did to the Fairy Godmother which I think was excellent because it really overturned the way the fairy godmother was portrayed -- from the idea of a happily ever after to the concept of beauty (she was having a diet). Artie as a character did not reflect that brilliant play of concepts.
Donkey and Puss, compared to all their antics in the first and second movie were not as funny as well, even after their switching of bodies. Although I did find the "drankeys" cute and amusing especially the "special child." And Puss in Boots was able to sport his "I am a poor pitiful, helpless cat" look again somewhere in the movie.
The whole princess thing was pretty as well especially when they were inside the tower. Snow White and her ability to summon animals, a clear parody of the Disney version, was the most amusing of all the ladies.
All in all, I am not saying that Shrek 3 was bad. It's still worth the money. It has its fair share of original and funny moments. But for me, Shrek 2 still takes the cake. I give Shrek 3 a decent 4 out of 5 stars.
Now we are on the subject of popular culture, a few words on some other things:
I wanted Melinda to win American Idol. I liked Blake the best. But it was pretty okay for me that Jordin won.
As much as Blake is a good performer and a different one - given his beat boxing antics - I never really considered him an "American Idol."
Anyway, as the past seasons and contestants showed us, you don't really have to win the contest to be successful in the singing career.
Also, for Star-craft fans, or those who enjoyed playing it some years back, Blizzard already released the trailer for the Star-craft 2. You can find them in You Tube or in the Blizzard website.
Harry Potter fans are in for a treat these next few months: with the release of the 5th Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and the launching the 7th and final book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
