Shrek 3 = King

I actually wans't a huge fan of the first one. I thought the fairy tale theme was cute, but the jokes iffy and Donkey annoying. The sequel was much better (particularly the Cops riff and American Idol sequence on the DVD).

We caught an advance screening of "the Third" Wednesday and were pleasantly pleased with the result. JT actually did a reasonably good job with the voice of Arthur ("Artie") and the use of Pythonite Eric Idle as Merlin was great. There were also some great set pieces, including Artie's school, the ass-kicking ladies, and the bar where the villians hang out. Actually, the whole film was funnier than the other two, and caters even more so towards adults. Ignore Yahoo! Movies B- critics score. It's a quick 90 minutes that's well worth your time.

Also, I caught "Children of Men" last night. I didn't really get what the big deal was. The plot was kind of lame - a special lady magically emerges and she needs to get through the bad guys so she can reach her necessary mecca. It's been done before (Fifth Element, some other stuff I can't think of). Visually, the animated signs and what not reminded me of "Minority Report". I did like the the last half hour of shootouts and apocalyptic bleakness, which was shot with no music and worked well with the theme. But, overall, it was unsatisfying.