Shrek 3:Get Ogre to the Movie!
A few months ago, my 2 year old discovered the joy that is Shrek, the movies. Every day, for weeks, upon finishing breakfast she’d ask to watch “Shrek and Princess Ferona. (Yes, I think it is the most precious that my daughter calls Princess Fiona, “Ferona.”)
I didn’t mind honoring her requests (and by “requests”, I mean “demands!”) because, I love Shrek and, let’s be honest, I was grateful she wasn’t crying for a certain purple dinosaur who makes me want to trash hotel rooms because NO I DO NOT LOVE YOU TOO, SO STOP SINGING THAT SONG ALREADY.
This went on for weeks. She’d eat breakfast, then together we’d watch Shrek 2.
We recently moved and in that process the Shrek 2 DVD was lost.
Oh, the devastation.
I can’t tell you the times I’ve listened to her cry how “bad I want to watch Shrek fart in the mud! Please, mommy. I. Want. Shhhhreekkk!” So, imagine my excitement—thrill even– to have been invited to a screening of Shrek The Third. And then, imagine the not excitement and not thrill to find out it was at 6:30 in the morning. But! I just knew that my daughter would love it, because she would get to see her precious Princess Fiona once again and oh, how her little heart would soar with happiness once again! So, for that reason, I would get up at 4 IN THE MORNING to go see Shrek The Third.
At five in the morning, my daughter and I met up with a friend and her daughter. We both dreaded getting up so early, but were thrilled at the idea of a morning out with our daughters. And, of course, Shrek.
We arrived at the theater just after 6:30. In the morning. Crazy! I know! The event was thrown by Activision, which meant there was a special treat waiting for us in the theater lobby. The Shrek The Third video game.
Confession: I am a Video Game Wimp. I mean, give me a game where the objective is to shoot large, flying rocks in space and I am all over that and will most likely, how do the kids say it? “Kick your butt.” However, any game made after 1989 is overwhelming and scary to me. When it came to Shrek the Third, I was able to overcome my fear of Modern Video Game Technology because the beautiful graphics (and, you have to believe me, they are beautiful) sucked me in and made me forget that I am not smart enough to figure out these games. I played for about exactly 30 seconds before I realized that, as amazing as the graphics were, I was unable to figure out which button I needed to push in order to MOVE FORWARD, so, I turned to the adorable 5 year old next to me and said “Would you like to play?”
She immediately put me to shame by knowing exactly where to go and which buttons to push. I do believe that I got served by a 5 year old.
Kids these days.
After playing for a few minutes, we headed on into the theater to find seats, because if there’s anything I hate more than getting beat by a 5 year old at a video game, it’s sitting in the front row of a movie theater.
Our girls were both so excited, which made us excited. So excited, that when the movie started, I felt tears filling my eyes, and I leaned over to my friend and said “It was worth it, getting up so early, to be here with our girls, watching Shrek, right?”
I wish I could say that my daughter sat through the entire movie, but I can’t, because she’s 2 and had been woken up at 4 in the morning, but, I can say that she loved it.
And so did I. (And I’m not just saying that because John Krasinski and Regis Philbin (Reeege!) were two of the new voices in the movie either.) I laughed out loud quite a few times and one could argue that it’s because I am a huge dork, but honestly? It was really funny. (I can’t wait to use the line “I know you’re busy not fitting in.” in real life.)
Gabby hasn’t stopped talking about it since we got home.
“Mommy, Shrek and Ferona had 1,2,3 babies!”
“Mommy, the babies farted!”
“Mommy, Snow White sang pretty!”
“Mommy, let’s go see Shrek again now please?”
Which, is cute, except for the last line, because that could be a problem in that I can’t afford to take her to see Shrek 3 again every single day, because I can promise you that she WILL ask to see it every single day because “Mommy, the baby donkeys were SO CUTE, let’s go see them again now please!”
In all honesty, I’m glad that I was able to drag myself out of bed to go get a sneak peek at Shrek The Third. It’s a great movie that made me laugh, made me tear up and made me wish that Dronkeys really existed so that I could adopt one.
I think that you should go see it and that you should take my daughter with you when you do, because she’s crying, wanting to watch it again, as I am typing this last sentence.
Yvonne Marie is a freelance writer who was recently featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal (yep! the front page). You can read about her daily life at her weblog Joy Unexpected.
