by Daisy Creager| Staff WRiter
Although the multiple sequel virus has put many formerly great movies to shame, Dirty Dancing, Grease, and Gremlins among them, it is slowly but surely infecting animated movies as well.
Although DreamWorks has never quite been at the level as some other companies producing kids’ movies, *cough Pixar*, I have to give it credit for some of its better movies, The Prince of Egypt and Antz included. Don’t get me wrong, Madagascar and the first two Shrek movies were awesome and totally changed the way I see islands off the coast of Africa and Eddie Murphy, but sometimes they just need to stop.
Occasionally when writers and producers catch the sequel-bug, it works out well for the company, bringing such timeless movies as the Toy Story trilogy and Shrek 2. It’s when the virus gets to their head, and they beat the idea into the ground that the series does a 180.
The Shrek movies are a prime example of this. Although the first two were funny and original, legitimized by the reference to the first movie in Will Smith’s ‘I Am Legend’ (he always makes things better, even if indirectly), it just got bad from there. Hey it’s Shrek, he’s an ogre, fairy tales, cool. But the key to success in making movies, as with comedy, is knowing when an idea has been worn out. The multiple sequels and spin offs exhausted the story line quickly, and it doesn’t seem to getting better.
Despite what DreamWorks writers seem to think, throwing in more sexual innuendo adds nothing. Previously used as an attempt to draw parents in when forced to watch movies by their kids, excessive use only leaves parents, specifically moms, walking away questioning the rating of the movie. Take, say, their most recent spin off, Puss in Boots. I missed the first half hour of the movie, but it wasn’t hard to get the gist. Far before Puss meets Shrek and Donkey, the outlaw sets out on an adventure with Humpty Dumpty and a street smart ‘Kitty Soft Paws’ to save his hometown. Sure Antonio Banderas is amazing, and it was nice listening to him even if we couldn’t see him, but the continuous references to Puss as a ‘lover’ were a bit much. That as well as him waking up in bed with another cat and forgetting her name may have gone over my nine and six year siblings’ heads, but there really was no need.
Then of course there were other little kinks that stood out to me. Things like horses appearing out of nowhere and firewood and beanstalks disappearing into thin air happened throughout the movie. I know it’s just a movie, and a fairy tale at that, but these things don’t make sense. All in all, I was more interested in the two year old let lose in the theatre reeking havoc than the movie itself.
Is it just DreamWorks, or will other animated favorites be affected also? Is there any hope for Monsters Inc 2, the next Narnia movie, or the hopeful sequel to Tangled? Only time, Rotten Tomatoes, and Roger Ebert will tell.
