Shrek's Thrilling Tales

"The Pig Who Cried Werewolf" is an almost 5-year-old animated short film written and directed by Gary Trousdale. He made some of these little Shrek-related movies, but his by far most known work is still the 1990's classic "Beauty and the Beast". Anyway, this one here is an obvious spoof of Hitchcock's "Rear Window". A wheel-chaired pig suspects that the lady living next door is actually the big bad wolf in drag. The other 2 pigs do not take him seriously and pay the lady a visit in order to prove there is no danger there. Maybe not the best idea. I personally thought this short film wasn't really funny. It was wild, chaotic and over-the-top, but there is nothing memorable in here in terms of either animation or action. Not recommended, unless you are a huuuuge Shrek fan. "Night of the Living Carrots" is a 12-minute short film from 4 years ago and an official addition to the animated Monsters vs. Aliens franchise. This is also why most of the voice actors from the film, actually some well-known names like Seth Rogen, Kiefer Sutherland and Jeffrey Tambor, show up in this little movie as well. The world (or the front yard) is full of possessed little carrots and it's our heroes' task to get rid off them before they take over. The writer and director is Robert Porter who worked on several very famous films in the past already, even if not in such commanding positions. Here he does. However, I must say I did not find this short film as funny as I hoped I would. Not recommended, even if I like the sinister carrots. This 11-minute short film "Shrek 4-D" or "The Ghost of Lord Farquaad" came out after the very first of so far 4 Shrek movies. Fiona gets abducted and it's Shrek and Donkey's turn to free her from the evil Ghost of Farquaad. There's a spectacular dragon flight sequence and a couple more action-packed moments, but it's just not enough. It is really a bit of everything in here: action, comedy, romance, drama, fantasy, mystery... but none of these areas are elaborated on well enough, especially comedy, to make this a satisfying watch. In my opinion, this is one of the weaker Shrek short films and there are quite a few actually. Instead of watching this one here, I recommend the Halloween special from 7 years later, so far the last entry to the mega-successful franchise. That one is quite a lot of fun and even a bit creepy, but not too much. "Shrek 4-D" is not really a must-see unless you are one of the biggest fans of the franchise under the sun. Not recommended.

A thirty-minute omnibus of three stories, one of which is not even from the Shrek universe. Decent animation, but very boring. The first two stories might be interesting to preschool children, but the cartoon contains some jokes that are not really for young children. The third story is "The Ghost of Lord Farquad", which I have already written about. Only here appear Shrek and Donkey and only this one has some interesting moments, because of references to the cult films "Star Wars", "The Blues Brothers" and "The Sixth Sense". All in all, a total waste of time. 4/10