The final Shrek film had a lot to live up to. The magic of the first two was a little let down in the third, but here we are delivered an enjoyable ride that, while it doesn’t quite recapture the original magic, surely traps a bit of fairy dust.

The tale goes that Rumplestiltskin has turned everything we know about Far, Far Away on its head. You see, Shrek (Myers) is a bit bored with family life and reminisces about his heyday. He foolishly signs a contract with Rumple which doesn’t at all turn out as he intended. Shrek must gather up the friends he knew in the old kingdom and find a loophole, before it’s too late.

The original gang are all back and they are still able to deliver the characters that we’ve loved since the first film. All the cast do a stellar job as do the Dreamworks animation crew. The characters look amazingly lively for a donkey, an ogre and a cat, among others. While the overall story is very much an homage to numerous other films, there are many more laughs thrown in which helps you to forget the paint by numbers story. But it is a film directed at the younger audience and I think in terms of this, it delivers. Also it’s a must-see for Puss-in-Boots (Banderas) as he has really let himself go, which is the source for many a good chuckle.

The story is set in a small German town where a pastor and his children, a baron, a doctor and a schoolteacher live. The pastor (Klaußner), a very strict man, ties a white ribbon to his two eldest children, to remind them of the innocence and purity that they have strayed from. Strange happenings begin to take place in the town: one of the baron’s sons disappears and is later found with his hands and feet bound, having been whipped; a barn is set alight; and a farmer hangs himself, just to mention a few. The schoolteacher’s (Friedel) growing suspicions lead him to confront the pastor and reveal what he believes to be happening, but the pastor quickly dismisses him. Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia and the dramas of the small town are soon forgotten.

The film is beautifully depicted in black and white and, along with the fantastic performances from the actors and the captivating story, the film comes together just perfectly. However the ending left me feeling a little like I felt after watching Picnic at Hanging Rock – like I was left hanging, leaving me a bit empty and open to speculate. The raft of awards which it has won, including Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes and a number of awards at the Cannes Film Festival, serve as testament to the film’s quality.