What’s big, green, has sticky-out ears, talks with a Scottish accent and breaks wind with unapologetic frequency? The answer, if you believe America’s film critics, is not an ogre called Shrek – but a giant cinematic turkey.

Early reviews of Shrek The Third – one of many “three-quels” on offer this summer from Hollywood – have complained that the world’s most lucrative animated movie franchise is showing signs of middle-age; worse, that the latest instalment of the ironic fairytale is lacking “much of the bite and a good deal of the wit” that made the first two Shrek films global blockbusters. It is released next week in the US and next month in Britain.

The disappointed verdicts come not from the nitpicking New York press, but from the usually supportive bibles of the LA film business: Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

The latter concluded: “The rude send-up of beloved fairytale conventions remains – somewhat – but these playful jabs no longer come as a pleasing surprise. You expect them. And you expect better.”

BACKGROUND

• Shrek the Third

• Shrek the Third

• Game Review - Shrek The Third

• Shrek turns to shrink

• How an ogre became a cash cow . . . and a turkey

BACKGROUND

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• Pictures: Shrek The Third premier

Related Internet Links

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The first Shrek was released in 2001 – based on the 1990 children’s book of the same name by the late William Steig, published when the Polish-American cartoonist was 83. It helped to establish the DreamWorks animation studio, created by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, as a credible rival to Walt Disney Pictures.

It also proved that a children’s film could appeal to adults with a witty script, alternative rock soundtrack and Alist voice actors – in particular the Shrek/Donkey double-act of Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy.

The sequel, Shrek 2, improved on the formula, and the two films made a combined $1.4 billion (£700 million) at the world-wide box office – without the revenues from DVDs, TV licensing and merchandise.

While the fairytale element established its mainstream appeal, the Shrek series also attracted a cult following for its in-jokes. These included an apparent swipe at Michael Eisner who was head of Walt Disney at the time, as the diminutive Lord Farquaad (the joke was alleged to be a dig at Eisner for his infamous comment about the DreamWorks partner Jeffrey Katzenberg: “I hate the little midget”). But those jokes – along with clever parodies of Beverly Hills (as the Land of Far, Far, Away), Disney characters, TV game-shows and other pop culture icons (including camera effects that are stolen from the Matrix movies).

However, these are showing their age in Shrek The Third, say reviewers. Still, as the success of the critically panned Spider-Man 3 showed, pleasing the critics isn’t always necessary to make money.

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