“Shrek Forever After,” the fourth and final installment of the Shrek movie saga, finds our hero aggravated and stressed about having to be a father and misses being feared by villagers, as he was when he was a “real” ogre. Shrek finds himself manipulated by Rumpelstiltskin into giving up one day of his childhood for one day of being a free, feared ogre again.

What Shrek doesn’t know about his deal, is that Rumpelstiltskin has been trying to take over Far Far Away Kingdom since before he rescued his wife, Princess Fiona, from her castle in the very beginning of the story, and the day Rumpelstiltskin decided to take from Shrek’s life was the day Shrek was born.

Shrek finds that none of his old friends, Donkey, Puss ‘in Boots, or even Fiona, know who he is since he was never born. When Shrek realizes he will never get his life back with Fiona, his kids, and friends, he finally understands how much he has lost.

Using a little help from Donkey, he fights to return his life to the way it should be, and save the rest of Far Far Away from the tyrannical rule of Rumpelstiltskin.

The film uses the two truest and most overused themes that there are, “be careful what you wish for,” and “you don’t know what you have until you lose it.” “Shrek Forever After” was overall a very cute, appealing movie with many funny parts. It was fun to see “Shrek” in 3D, although I didn’t think the filmmakers took as much advantage of the advanced special effects as they should have.

It was hilarious to see Shrek meet the characters again for the first time, especially his encounters with Donkey. It really stayed true to how the characters were in the beginning of the story.

I did wish it had a bit more of the other characters in the film as it focused primarily on Shrek, since Donkey and Puss ‘in Boots are two of my favorites. The new villain, Rumpelstiltskin, voiced by Walt Dohrn, who mostly does voices in children’s cartoons, was great! He was one of the most entertaining and crazy characters.

Compared to the other “Shrek” films, “Shrek Forever After” was the third best. The first movie was an original, classic fairy tale that I really don’t think could have been beat. The second film was great as well, and I think, even though the story wasn’t as good as the first, the humor was. I wasn’t particularly fond of “Shrek the Third,” and found it to be less clever and engaging as the first two. “Shrek Forever After, while better than the third, still doesn’t match up to the initial creativity and wonder of Shrek’s story.

The film is best suited for older children, though really most people could be fond of it, especially those who have already been enchanted with the “Shrek” films.

Aran Kirschenmann, 13, is a contributing writer for the Bellevue Reporter and an eighth grader at The International School in Bellevue.