Fridae

Yet another three-quel! After Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek 3 invades our multiplexes for more box-office gold. But as we've witnessed, not all franchises get to be third-time-lucky.

Shrek 3 is fine as a piece of entertainment, but its heavy reliance of pop culture references is starting to lose its appeal. One wonders how successful Shrek would be, if it had to make its own original jokes instead of spoofing other movies.

This time round, our favorite green ogre Shrek (Mike Myers) has to face up to the responsibilities of being a father to his child with Fiona (Cameron Diaz). He also has to rule Far Far Away when his father-in-law (John Cleese) dies.

Unwilling to carry out his duties, he goes on the road with Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss (Antonio Banderas) to search for Fiona's cousin Artie (Justin Timberlake) and ask him to be king. In the meantime, Prince Charming (gay actor Rupert Everett) is planning to invade Far Far Away and grab the throne for himself...

Directed by Chris Miller, Shrek 3 alternates belly laughs and chuckles. Some of the jokes fall flat, but we can forgive them between the good ones. The addition of new characters especially Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Rapunzel is a hoot. Even Larry King is funny as a transgendered handmaiden ("That Prince Charming makes me hotter than July," Larry trills.)

All in all, Shrek 3 promises a good time � even if the sense of newness, surprise and originality is somewhat missing.