Review of Shrek Forever After (2010) by Shiira — 12 Aug 2010

So it's not a wonderful life; so they lied. Lying awake at night, Shrek, a husband and father of triplets, undergoes an existential crisis, as Fiona sleeps soundly, oblivious to the paradox that vexes her domesticated spouse, who misses the ogre condition of alienation and veneration.

The sheer awe that Shrek's size and stature commanded from the townsfolk, in hindsight, so he thinks, was adequate compensation for his lonely bachelor life in the swamp. The marital bed, suddenly a coffin instead of a haven, inspires Shrek to take out a "Wanted" poster, the highlight of his outlaw notoriety, from the dresser-drawer and affixes the ephemeralia to the mirror, creating a jarring disconnect with the ogre's reflected self.

Shrek realizes that he's half an ogre; his resentment lies in incubation 'til the next day at the birthday party, where he reveals his true colors. In the 1947 Frank Capra classic that loosely informs "Shrek Forever After", George Bailey(Jimmy Stewart), the stabilizing force of Bedford Falls, matches the ogre's disenchantment with being a household patriarch, in the housewarming scene where Mary(Donna Reed) gives her wanderlust husband a knitted picture that reads: "George lassos the moon.

" Like the lunar surface, Shrek can be his own man in the swamp, lonely, but away from the pressures of being a husband and father. In the Capra film, Mary doesn't realize the double-edged significance of the moon; she sees the sphere as merely a romantic object, and not an object of despair, the final outpost for George's wandering spirit.

Like "It's a Wonderful Life", one wish made in haste and self-absorption transforms a town and its people for the worse. Rumplestilskin's rave hints at the noirish qualities of Pottersville, since a rave promotes bacchanalia and in this instance, a means of institutional control.

The witches turn into good-time party girls as FarFarAway Land becomes a fertile ground for intolerance and nihilism.