Shrek Forever After

The lovable green ogre (voice by Mike Myers) feels trapped in his marriage to Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), but when he gets the chance to have his old fear-and-loathing life back for one day, it could ruin his entire world. The fourth movie in the Shrek saga is a vast improvement over the miserable Shrek the Third—even better than the first, in fact, thanks to a script (by Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke) that cleverly grafts the plot of It’s a Wonderful Life onto its fairy-tale setting. Under Mike Mitchell’s direction, the startling expressive animation (always a hallmark of the series) serves a real story rather than the lame gag parade of the last movie, and it makes a huge difference in emotional power. Subtitled The Final Chapter, it should be; this one ends the series on a glorious high note.