---
title: "Shrek the Third"
year: 2007
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/shrek-the-third"
fi1m_id: "shrek-the-third"
imdb_id: "tt0413267"
tmdb_id: 810
wikidata_id: "Q486588"
fi1m_score: 50
critics_score: 47
critics_reviews: 19
published: "2026-10-01T19:56:16.794525+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-01T19:56:33.354869+00:00"
region: "UA"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Shrek the Third (2007)

Directed by Chris Miller · 1h 33m · Fantasy, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family

## Identity

Shrek the Third

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/shrek-the-third
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** shrek-the-third
- **IMDb ID:** tt0413267
- **TMDB ID:** 810
- **Wikidata ID:** Q486588
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413267/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/810, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q486588

**Fi1m score: 50** · Critics 47 from 19 reviews

*In a sentence:* A frog king takes four goes to die and gets the biggest laugh; the rest of the film should have taken the hint

> Chris Miller’s third outing is handsomely built and has about twenty minutes of jokes in it. Shrek’s reluctance to rule is stated in the first reel and then repeated for an hour, while Donkey and Puss wait in the wings.

## Synopsis

Far Far Away. King Harold (John Cleese), who has been a frog since his last adventure, is dying, and Shrek (Mike Myers) and Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) have been standing in for him at court: knighting courtiers, christening ships, splitting the royal tights. On his deathbed Harold names Shrek his heir, with one alternative: Fiona’s cousin Arthur, a boy away at a school called Worcestershire. Shrek sets sail to fetch him with Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), and as the ship pulls out Fiona shouts from the quay that she is pregnant. Artie (Justin Timberlake) turns out to be the most picked-on pupil in the school. Back home, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), reduced to dinner theatre, gathers the fairy-tale villains in the Poison Apple tavern and proposes they take the kingdom.

## Review

Chris Miller directs the third [*Shrek*](https://film.one/film/shrek) film from a script he wrote with Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman and Aron Warner, and its question is whether an ogre who has spent two films refusing to be anybody’s hero can be made to run a kingdom. The answer is no, and the film gives it inside ten minutes. Standing in for his ailing father-in-law, Shrek (Mike Myers) knights a man badly, splits his tights in front of the court and sinks a ship with the bottle meant to christen it. Everything that follows, all 93 minutes of it, makes that point again.

The best scene is the king’s death. John Cleese’s Harold, a frog since the last film, lies in state on a lily pad, gathers himself for his final words, croaks, and dies; then does not; then does again, while the mourners begin their lament too early each time and have to trail off. We laughed, properly and more than once, which we had not expected to, and the credit belongs to the editors, Joyce Arrastia and Michael Andrews, who hold on the frog a beat longer than is decent every time. The funeral that follows is sung by a chorus of frogs to a Wings song, and that is funny too.

Rupert Everett’s Prince Charming is the other thing the script gets right. Reduced to dinner theatre, performing his own life story to an audience that heckles him, he gathers the fairy-tale villains at the Poison Apple tavern and interrogates Pinocchio (Cody Cameron) about Shrek’s whereabouts, and the puppet’s long, grammatically perfect refusal to lie is the sharpest minute of writing in the film. Everett plays Charming as a man wounded in his vanity rather than his ambition, and he is the only character on screen who wants something badly. Doris the ugly stepsister (Larry King) tends the bar in a voice an octave below everyone else’s.

It is a handsome object. Guillaume Aretos’s Far Far Away is Beverly Hills with turrets, palm trees down the boulevards and boutiques under the castle walls, and Artie’s school is a prep school built inside a keep, with jousting on the playing field and cheerleaders in wimples. Shrek’s skin takes the light like wet clay, and the water in the harbour moves as water does. Israel Segal’s costumes give Fiona a wardrobe of gowns the plot never finds a use for. Harry Gregson-Williams’s score runs on fanfares and keeps the pop songs down to a few, which after two films of them we counted as a kindness.

The trouble is Artie, and the trouble is the middle. Justin Timberlake voices him as a sarcastic American teenager, and the film’s one idea about him is that he thinks he is a loser and needs telling otherwise. Shrek tells him. Merlin (Eric Idle), a wizard who has retired to a clearing in his dressing gown after some sort of breakdown, tells him. Shrek tells him again. The sea voyage out and back takes up most of the running time, and it is where Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), who between them carried the previous film, are reduced to the odd aside; they are handed one gag in the second half that ought to have run for a reel and is dropped after a scene. By the midpoint we were bored, and then faintly cross about being bored, because Andrew Adamson, who co-directed the first two films and has only a story credit here, knew how to keep an ogre, a donkey and a cat talking.

Fiona (Cameron Diaz) does better than her husband. Her news that she is pregnant, shouted from the quay as his ship pulls out, gives Shrek a nightmare in which the castle fills with ogre babies, and the sequence has the panic the rest of the film lacks. Back at the palace she and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) host a baby shower for a set of princesses, and the second half gives the women a strand we will not describe except to say it is livelier than the men’s.

*Shrek* began as a jab at the Disney fairy tale. By this third film it is an institution itself, and it behaves like one: agreeable, well made and nearly without malice, where the first two ran on cheek. It is a U, and children who like Donkey will be content for an hour and a half. Adults will laugh at the frog and the puppet and then check how long is left. Watch it at home, where you can go back to the frog.

*Fi1m score 50, published 1 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics call this a tired third outing. The reviews lean negative: ten are unfavourable, eight are mixed and only one is positive. The complaint that recurs is a thin, half-baked story and jokes that land less often than they did in the first two films, with several reviewers writing that the series has run out of ideas. The praise, such as it is, goes to the animation, which most agree has weight and polish, and to the supporting cast: Eddie Murphy’s Donkey and Antonio Banderas’s Puss in Boots, the Gingerbread Man, and the early sight gags before the quest plot settles in.

The spread is fairly wide. At one end, Paste finds the film as entertaining as the original and better than the second; at the other, The Guardian thinks the series should have stopped after part two. In between, critics split over whom it serves: some say it will still divert young children, while the Los Angeles Times finds too many of the jokes aimed at adults.

## Straight answers

**Is Shrek the Third worth watching?**

*Shrek the Third* is worth watching only for the frog king's death scene and Rupert Everett's Prince Charming, and we scored it 50. It is handsomely made and nearly without malice, but Shrek's reluctance to rule is stated in the first ten minutes and repeated for an hour, while Donkey and Puss are left with the odd aside. Children who like Donkey will be content; adults will laugh twice and check how long is left.

**How long is Shrek the Third, and what is it rated?**

*Shrek the Third* runs 1h 33m. It is a fantasy and adventure film.

**Where can I watch Shrek the Third in Ukraine?**

*Shrek the Third* is streaming on Netflix in Ukraine, and it is also available to rent from Apple TV from ₴3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How does Shrek the Third compare to Shrek?**

*Shrek the Third* is the weaker film, and the first [*Shrek*](https://film.one/film/shrek) is the one to choose. The original runs on cheek, with a jab at the Disney fairy tale and an ogre and a donkey who are funny whenever they talk; the third has become an institution and behaves like one, agreeable and well built but short of jokes. Only the frog's funeral and Pinocchio's refusal to lie match the earlier film's best.

**What should I watch after Shrek the Third?**

After *Shrek the Third*, try [*Monty Python and the Holy Grail*](https://film.one/film/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail) (1975, Fi1m 87): Cleese and Idle on Arthurian legend, with a budget of about four coconuts. Then [*The Princess Bride*](https://film.one/film/the-princess-bride) (1987, Fi1m 86): The fairy tale sent up with affection, and the swordplay is real; and [*Ernest & Celestine*](https://film.one/film/ernest-and-celestine) (2012, Fi1m 84): A French bear and mouse; an animated comedy that never once raises its voice.

### Reviews we read (19)

- **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (65/100, inferred): McCarthy finds the film amusing and stylish, though its middle section loses momentum. He praises the visual storytelling and especially the playful design of the stage productions framing the film. [Read](https://variety.com/2007/digital/awards/shrek-the-third-2-1200559375/)
- **Screen Daily**, John Hazelton (64/100, inferred): The visible excerpt gives no clear critical verdict, focusing instead on the film’s likely box-office performance. It does not reveal what the critic praises or criticizes about the film. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/shrek-the-third/4032264.article)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The review’s verdict and specific praise or criticism cannot be established from the inaccessible page. The available page text contains no review details. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/18/movies/18shre.html)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (2.5/4): Ebert finds the film a disappointing follow-up, though it has moments of amusement. He singles out its diminished comic freshness compared with the earlier films. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shrek-the-third)
- **Radio Times**, Jamie Russell (3/5): Russell finds the film entertaining but weakened by franchise fatigue and a half-baked storyline. He praises the lively double act between Eddie Murphy’s Donkey and Antonio Banderas’s Puss-in-Boots. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-m9aiwr/shrek-the-third/)
- **Time Out** (3/5): Time Out suggests the third installment is a disappointment rather than a magical return. It notes that, unlike some other recent trilogy finales, the film has at least one redeeming quality, though the available excerpt does not reveal what it is. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/shrek-the-third)
- **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (2/4): Gonzalez dismisses the film as witless, overstuffed, and largely unfunny. He singles out the brief tea-party scene with the Gingerbread Man, Pinocchio, and the Three Pigs as one of its rare funny moments. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/shrek-the-third/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Carina Chocano (40/100, inferred): Chocano finds the film uneven, with some amusing moments but too many adult-oriented jokes for a kids’ movie. She praises Shrek’s surreal anxiety dream and King Harold’s deathbed scene as particularly funny. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-18-et-shrek18-story.html)
- **The AV Club**, Tasha Robinson (D): Robinson finds the film sleepy and uncommitted, with little resonance in its responsibility message. She singles out the gags involving Shrek temporarily standing in for the king as the film’s best moments. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/shrek-the-third-1798202645)
- **The New Yorker**, David Denby (35/100, inferred): Denby finds the film’s plot weaker and its knowing humor increasingly tiresome, making the review largely critical. He praises Rupert Everett’s performance as Prince Charming, while noting that the computer-generated imagery gives the characters visual weight. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/05/28/not-kids-stuff)
- **Empire**, Dan Jolin (30/100, inferred): Jolin finds the film a disappointing sequel that will still sufficiently divert young children. He praises the impressive visuals but faults the sparse laughs and the wasted comic potential of Donkey and Puss. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/shrek-third-review/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Kirk Honeycutt (30/100, inferred): Honeycutt finds the third film disappointing, with less bite and wit than its predecessors. He praises the animation but says the climax and recycled visual gags let it down. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/review-shrek-third-135897/)
- **The Guardian**, Rob Mackie (15/100, inferred): Mackie sees the film as a tired, overly sentimental retread and argues the series should have stopped after the second installment. He complains that the thin script and lame jokes outweigh the occasional funny scene and technically impressive set-pieces. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/nov/26/dvdreviews.animation)
- **Paste**, Tim Basham (85/100, inferred): Basham finds the third installment as entertaining as the original and better than the second. He praises its inventive sight gags, biting dialogue, and deft musical choices. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/shrek-the-third)
- **/Film**, Peter Sciretta (6/10): Sciretta finds the story weak but says the film succeeds when it plays with fairy-tale conventions. He praises the early jokes and the comic side characters, while criticizing the slowing pace and recommending waiting for home video. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/496279/movie-review-shrek-the-third/)
- **Den of Geek**, Robert Mclaughlin (2/5): The critic finds the sequel a disappointing, creatively exhausted misfire. He singles out Snow White and Gingy’s flashback as rare bright spots amid weak jokes and a generic script. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/shrek-the-third-review/)
- **The Skinny**, Megan Garriock (★★): Garriock calls the film fun but forgettable and says it misses the mark. She praises the animation and voice performances, but criticizes the weak, obvious storyline. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/shrek-the-third)
- **Digital Spy**, Tony Delgado (25/100, inferred): The review finds the film a real disappointment, saying its weak narrative fails to sustain interest. It praises the opening visual gags but singles out the tedious quest and thin dialogue as major problems. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a62999/shrek-3/)
- **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (25/100, inferred): Kermode finds the film overblown and narratively weak, though it has a few good moments. She praises the adorable dragon-donkey children and the amusing school cliques, while criticizing the lack of sympathy for Prince Charming. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/shrek-the-third-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)

## Details

- **Director:** Chris Miller
- **Director:** Chris Miller
- **Screenplay:** Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman, Chris Miller, Aron Warner
- **Story:** Andrew Adamson
- **Editor:** Joyce Arrastia, Michael Andrews
- **Music:** Harry Gregson-Williams
- **Production design:** Guillaume Aretos
- **Costume design:** Israel Segal
- **Producer:** Aron Warner, Denise Nolan Cascino
- **Cast:** Mike Myers as Shrek (voice); Eddie Murphy as Donkey (voice); Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona (voice); Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots (voice); Julie Andrews as Queen Lillian (voice); John Cleese as King Harold (voice); Rupert Everett as Prince Charming (voice); Eric Idle as Merlin (voice)
- **Runtime:** 1h 33m
- **Release (Ukraine):** 17 May 2007
- **Genres:** Fantasy, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family
- **Part of:** [Shrek](https://film.one/collections/shrek.md) · 2 of 2
- **Budget:** $160 million
- **Box office:** $808 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InR865IDDjU

## Where to watch in Ukraine

- Netflix: streaming
- Apple TV: rent ₴3.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy ₴6.99, sd

*Checked 2026-10-01.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Animated Movie 2008: Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Animated Movie (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *Shrek 2* (2004): The one where the jokes still had teeth and Puss in Boots arrived.
- *Monty Python and the Holy Grail* (1975), Fi1m 87: Cleese and Idle on Arthurian legend, with a budget of about four coconuts. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail.md)
- *The Sword in the Stone* (1963): Another unpromising boy called Arthur, another wizard; gentler, shorter and funnier.
- *The Princess Bride* (1987), Fi1m 86: The fairy tale sent up with affection, and the swordplay is real. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-princess-bride.md)
- *Ernest & Celestine* (2012), Fi1m 84: A French bear and mouse; an animated comedy that never once raises its voice. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ernest-and-celestine.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/shrek-the-third