Shrek the Third

The fairy-tale farce is back for another romp through the classics, this time with the grumpy green ogre Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) setting out on a sea voyage with Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) to find a candidate to take the throne. "The franchise, which desperately turns to the Camelot legend for inspiration, is clearly facing an identity crisis," wrote critic John Hartl on MSNBC. "It's as eager to please as the first two films, and the central characters are often just as endearing. But the first film is looking more and more like a unique achievement." He described the third take as "a cluttered, uneasy mixture of '1' and '2.'" Cameron Diaz is back as Princess Fiona, Justin Timberlake is the callow young prince, and the voice cast includes Rupert Everett, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Cheri Oteri, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amy Sedaris, John Krasinski and Ian McShane. Chris Miller and Raman Hui direct. There are apparently supplements, but DreamWorks made no copies available for review. Available in separate wide-screen and full-screen editions, and in HD DVD format.