In a nutshell, better than Shrek 3.
The best part about catching this movie was going together with my kids.
Although the ticket prices can be a killer, I have reduced that slightly with a discount offered by one of the credit card promotions.
I was actually wondering how they would be able to continue this franchise to part 4 since 3 was abysmal.
If my kids weren't involved, I probably would not have gone.
Thankfully, the movie was much better than I thought.
I even got to reacquaint with an old children's character, namely Rumpelstiltskin.
I had forgotten about him.
I even forgot the story which he was based.
I knew that they had changed his story quite a bit for the movie though, so right after the movie, I read up on his story again and now I can't forget it.
The start of the story is about married life for Shrek.
The daily routine he goes through actually becomes mind numbing for him.
Of course, for the movie, the daily family scenes are highly exaggerated.
No self respecting father could ever agree with that family life would get to the point where he got sick of it, if he knew how to manage and love his family.
But for the scope of the movie, it served its purpose to compel Shrek to sign the magical contract.
The way they expanded the scope of Rumpelstiltskin is very good indeed.
It definitely gave much more breadth to the movie and even the comedy worked.
Except for the angry hair, which seemed to be inserted like an afterthought.
I thought having the replacement day contract was a good way to explore the alternative world and give this franchise a fresh breath of air.
Finally, at the end of it all, any father would have breathed a sigh of relief.
All fathers should go through this experience once to re-appreciate their family.
As they say in the movie, you don't know what you have until you lose it.
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