If I sound a bit disenchanted, that may be because disenchantment has been the point of the Shrek movies all along. Expressing a sometimes explicit animus against the Disney versions of well-known European folk tales, the franchise set out from the start to scramble the traditional polarities of good and evil, setting itself up as a more sophisticated, knowing brand of pop-culture magic. But those old stories — and those classic Disney movies — were almost more complicated than the parodies allowed. Their eerie subtexts and haunting ambiguities have always been more crucial to their power and appeal than the overt lessons they teach.
Shrek, Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, by contrast, are flat and simple, hectic and amusing without being especially thrilling or complex. Their naughty insouciance makes their inevitable lapses into sentimental moralism all the more glaring. In this movie we hear some speeches about how it's important not to care about what other people think of you, and to be yourself above all. Yeah, fine, whatever. This doesn't strike me as necessarily good advice, and in any case today's wised-up kids don't need life lessons from an ogre. But then again, the kids are not the ones who identify with Shrek as he makes his grouchy way through the life cycle.
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