SHREK 4-D

THE PRE-SHOW




 You are locked in a Dungeon, and above you, you see The Three Little Pigs in cages; Pinocchio trapped in a box with only his legs and nose sticking out; and Gingy (The Gingerbread Man) on camera in the same room where Lord Farquaad tortured him. The Magic Mirror tells you about the events from the previous film ("Shrek"), and he and the others warn you to get out because Lord Farquaad (Voiced by Jonh Lithgow) is back from the dead. Lord Fraquaad is now a ghost and he threatens you and the other prisoners to tell him where Princess Fiona is. With no one knowing where she is, including The Magic Mirror; he plans to torture you for answers. You then proceed through the theater doors.

While I was waiting on line I expected it to be colorful, funny, full of gags and surprises just like the first film, boy was I wrong. The minute I stepped into the Dungeon, I knew this wasn't going to be your average Shrek film. I mean the Pre-Show had such a dark tone, that it kind of made me nervous to see what the main show was going to be like. However, it did have funny moments like when the magic mirror is about to tell kids the story of "Star Wars" instead of telling the event's from the first Shrek film, but on the other hand there's also some dark humor as well. Another thing I loved about the Pre-Show is how they covered the story from the first Shrek film by showing a montage of clips shown in the Magic Mirror as the Magic Mirror himself is narrating it, while The Three Little Pigs are either interrupting the story, or making a comment on a scene. So far the movie's scary and funny at the same time, but that's only the Pre-Show, let's see how good the Main Show is.

THE MAIN SHOW



You're in the theater and you put on your "OgreVision" 3-D Goggles"(4-D glasses) and the film begins. Aren't we supposed to be tortured? Anyway, Fiona (Voiced by Cameron Diaz) gets captured by Lord Farquaads executioner Thelonious and Farquaad plans to kill her by making her his queen so he can be king of the underworld. Yep, you read that plan right, despite that Lord Farquaad found her "hideous" as an Ogre and tried to kill her in the last film, he's now madly in love with Fiona even if she's still an Ogre. What happened to Lord Farquaad, why did he just suddenly love Fiona, clearly it's not like him. Another thing I wonder about his plan is how he could be King of the Underworld with Fiona as his queen, it's never explained how. Getting back to the plot, it's up to Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) and Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) to rescue Fiona, but Farquaad sent a stone Dragon to eat them. Another flaw in Farquaads plan, if he kills Shrek and Donkey wouldn't they be ghosts too? Lord Farquaad may look a little threatening, but I must say his plans suck!

Alright, just talking about the flaws in Farquaad's plan may sound like the movie's going to suck, since it's basically the plot for the whole movie, but actually there are a lot of good things about the Movie. One of the many things that held movie up are the jokes! No matter what scene you see there's comedy and they use all kinds of comedy such as Slapstick, Gross humor, Dark humor and movie parodies. Another thing I love about the film is its Dark atmosphere, I really love that the creators went with a different tone for the film. It has all kinds of things that can scare kids such as Spiders; A giant stone fire breathing dragon; even Lord Farquaads ghost is surprisingly creepy. Don't worry, it's not that scary for kids, but it will make kids scream or jump off their seat. What I think really made the film was its 4-D effects! It has all characters jumping out of the screen or reaching out of the screen; movable seats; water being sprayed at your face; and the theater itself also has surprises. As for the voice actors reprising their roles, they successfully bring the same charm as they did in the first film.

Aside from the show having a dumb plot, it's still definitely something kids will enjoy! The film isn't just shown at the parks it's also on a DVD called "Shrek 3-D", but only the main show is shown, but I highly recommend that you see it at the Universal Parks.

RATING 4/5