There’s more to the story
MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER
|
There are more and more sequels that are hitting the market. Is it an indication of creative bankruptcy?
|
Third time lucky The not so jolly green ogre Shrek sets off looking for Arthur Pendragon in Shrek the Third
The third instalment of two wildly popular franchises opens today. You could either check out the latest events at Far, Far Away in the contrarily-named animated adventure “Shrek the Third” or you could follow the breathless adventures of
Captain Jack Sparrow and friends in “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.”
The two films are representative of two kinds of sequels – Shrek follows the standard issue template while At World’s End takes off from the cliff-hanger ending of the second instalment. The fact that we have two kinds of sequels speak a lot of the creative bankruptcy that seems to be plaguing the creative arts. But that is another story.
“Shrek the Third” is in the long tradition of sequels, where the same characters are put in different situations and locations. The gimmicks that worked in the first two instalments are featured.
Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner are on the hunt in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
There is the comfort of the familiar and the pushing of the envelope within clearly defined boundaries make for a placatory viewing experience.
Sequel movies have been popular for the longest time ever since Sean Connery stepped on to the screen and our hearts as the super suave gentleman spy James Bond in “Dr. No” in 1962. Since then the lead actor, director, locations and the megalomaniac villains have changed but the successful template of gadgets, gimmicks and gals have ensured its continuity. The third instalment of hunk fest “Ocean’s 13”, which is opening shortly finds George Clooney and other gorgeous men do many more heists looking deliciously edible as always. Then there is also Paul Greengrass’ “The Bourne Ultimatum” that follows the amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne through more twisted corridors of his mind to arrive at frosty post-Cold War truths.
When “Shrek” was released in 2001, the story of the jolly green ogre with Mike Myers providing a healthy Scottish brogue and his talkative side kick Donkey (brilliant voice work by Eddie Murphy) was a stupendous success for its tale of derring do as well as for the delightful subversions. It was after all the greatest fairy story never told.
“Shrek 2” upped the ante as far as subversions and pop culture references went. Shrek and Princess Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz) visit the parents in “Far, Far Away”. Fairy Godmother is doing her bit of evil magic while her son Prince Charming is wicked as ever.
New additions include Julie Andrews as Fiona’s mum Queen Lillian and John Cleese as King Harold. And of course the most successful of them all, Antonio Banderas as the suave Puss in Boots.
Who would be king
“Shrek the Third” finds Shrek up for kingship at “Far, Far Away”. But the ogre would like nothing better than to return to his swamp and spend his days in slovenly splendour.
So he sets out on the look out for the next in line, Arthur Pendragon, while Charming kidnaps Fiona and other fairy princesses like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.
Incidentally, Rapunzel goes over to the dark side – guess it is caring for all that hair that turned her.
Introducing Arthur (voiced by Justin Timberlake) should have been the cue to subvert the whole Arthurian legend but apart from having Merlin run about in a night shirt, the strand was not taken much further. The movie provides laughs but not gut-busting ones and the sly digs are not as clever as they are lazy.
“Shrek the Third” follows another time-honoured sequel rule that decrees that the second instalment is always the best.
We have seen this in the case of the “Alien” movies and the “Terminator” movies.
“At World’s End” is an example of the other kind of three-quel where the second part ends in a cliff-hanger. We saw it happen a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. In “Empire Strikes Back” (1980) which is the second or fifth part of the “Star Wars” saga, we see the rakish Han Solo frozen in carbonite.
Solo is rescued in the beginning of “Return of the Jedi” (1983) but the truth is all Star Wars junkies were holding their collective breaths for three years till Solo was rescued.
“Matrix” fans however did not have to wait so long. In the end of “Reloaded” which came out in May 2003, Neo is some hideous horrid danger. And in the beginning of “Revolutions”, which came out in November 2003, a daring rescue (which could not save the corpulent franchise) sets him free.
The second instalment of “Pirates”, “Dead Man’s Chest”, sees the jaunty Jack Sparrow (played with insouciant brilliance by Johnny Depp) captured by the dreadful Kraken.
“At World’s End” has Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightley), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Captain Barbossa (the irrepressible Geoffrey Rush) rescue Sparrow and then enters an alliance with pirates from the four corners of the world including Asia (the redoubtable Chow Yun Fat steps in) to defeat Lord Cutler Beckett who is decidedly a rotten egg.
While one of the cast mentioned the inappropriateness of having plunderers as heroes in a children’s film, the fact is director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer seem to have hit upon the formula of how to turn a theme ride into a multi-billion dollar industry. Savvy?
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
