I just got back from a family outing to see Shrek the Third. We saw it at the Century 20 Oakridge in San Jose, in a large digital theater, and got our ideal seats in the "sweet spot". It's worth going to a weekday first matinee sometimes, where you won't even stick to the floor and there may be fewer than 10 people in the audience as today - and wonder of wonders, everybody turned off their phones and nobody made a sound.

This movie qualifies as EYE CANDY. Dreamworks keeps setting the bar higher on it's animated releases, and this one is no exception. See if you can dig up a show with one of the new generation of Digital Projectors to see what I mean. Century 20 Oakridge has a massive Christie CP2000, 500+ pounds, a 7KW projector lamp, with native 3-chip DLP engine (with 2048X1080 resolution), and a cylindrical screen. They drive it with a Dolby Cinema Server and it's set up PERFECTLY.

You will see every pore in the ogre's face, every skin blemish, and every hair on Puss N' Boots. There are subtle textures and shadows and shadings, all manner of things you don't see in lesser animated flicks. From time to time, this is positively jaw-dropping.

As for the plot - well, I can't use any superlatives there. It's not bad or anything, but we have seen most of the gags before. The Three Little Pigs gig was funnier the first time than the third. There is a new character (Arthur), voiced by Justin Timberlake - and the animators must be ribbing him, his character is a dead ringer for his real face, complete with the wierd-shaped dimple.

The Frog King croaks, disclosing to Shrek (who really, really doesn't want the job) that Cousin Arthur is also an heir to the throne. Fiona's pregnant, and the Dragon has already birthed a brew of dragon-donkeys. Shrek saves the day as usual, and Fiona has triplets.

The aspect ratio is approximately 1.85:1, the sound is pristine SDDS with lots of surround presence and good bass.

In the balance I give this one a B-. See it in the theater if you can find a decent digital theater. See it regardless if you have small kids, even if you must see a 35mm print. It could also be a reference quality HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disk, given a decent amount of attention to mastering. Hopefully we will get a vanilla release without any of the buggy interactive menus in the HD disk formats.

Gary

I just got back from a family outing to see Shrek the Third. We saw it at the Century 20 Oakridge in San Jose, in a large digital theater, and got our ideal seats in the "sweet spot". It's worth going to a weekday first matinee sometimes, where you won't even stick to the floor and there may be fewer than 10 people in the audience as today - and wonder of wonders, everybody turned off their phones and nobody made a sound.

This movie qualifies as EYE CANDY. Dreamworks keeps setting the bar higher on it's animated releases, and this one is no exception. See if you can dig up a show with one of the new generation of Digital Projectors to see what I mean. Century 20 Oakridge has a massive Christie CP2000, 500+ pounds, a 7KW projector lamp, with native 3-chip DLP engine (with 2048X1080 resolution), and a cylindrical screen. They drive it with a Dolby Cinema Server and it's set up PERFECTLY.

You will see every pore in the ogre's face, every skin blemish, and every hair on Puss N' Boots. There are subtle textures and shadows and shadings, all manner of things you don't see in lesser animated flicks. From time to time, this is positively jaw-dropping.

As for the plot - well, I can't use any superlatives there. It's not bad or anything, but we have seen most of the gags before. The Three Little Pigs gig was funnier the first time than the third. There is a new character (Arthur), voiced by Justin Timberlake - and the animators must be ribbing him, his character is a dead ringer for his real face, complete with the wierd-shaped dimple.

The Frog King croaks, disclosing to Shrek (who really, really doesn't want the job) that Cousin Arthur is also an heir to the throne. Fiona's pregnant, and the Dragon has already birthed a brew of dragon-donkeys. Shrek saves the day as usual, and Fiona has triplets.

The aspect ratio is approximately 1.85:1, the sound is pristine SDDS with lots of surround presence and good bass.

In the balance I give this one a B-. See it in the theater if you can find a decent digital theater. See it regardless if you have small kids, even if you must see a 35mm print. It could also be a reference quality HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disk, given a decent amount of attention to mastering. Hopefully we will get a vanilla release without any of the buggy interactive menus in the HD disk formats.

Gary

Well put. I took my five year old to this one. As you stated, the animation was superb. Plot was just so-so. I liked the first Shrek, the 2nd was just ok, and Shrek the Third is a little less than ok, but didn't put me to sleep. It had some funny moments that made me laugh. Definitely worth a rent when it comes out on DVD for the kid's sake.