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A ministry of the ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP Ministry) A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Christian Ministry. www.capalert.com/ Entertainment Media Analysis Report A service to His little ones through you in His name by His Word MAR27031  (2007), PG [Hard 13-PG*] (1hr 24min) The #1 Christian entertainment media analysis service on the Internet. We give you OBJECTIVE tools NO ONE ELSE CAN to help YOU make an informed decision for yourself whether a film is fit for your family. Over 1100 analyses for parents, grandparents, pastors, youth leaders and more. |
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(While the Scriptural references are certainly not subjective, my commentary may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)
 Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database Production (US): DreamWorks Animation, Pacific Data Images, DreamWorks SKG Distribution (US): DreamWorks Distribution, Paramount Pictures Director(s): Chris Miller, Raman Hui Producer(s): Andrew Adamson, Denise Nolan Cascino, Aron Warner, John H. Williams Story by: Andrew Adamson Screenplay: Howard Gould, Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman, J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Jon Zack Book: William Steig Music: Harry Gregson-Williams Film Editing: Michael Andrews Production Design: Guillaume Aretos Art Direction: Peter Zaslav Viewed At: Driftwood Theater 6 It is becoming rare that we are provided the resources and opportunity to prepare a film analysis report before the film's first public showing. But in this case of Shrek the Third we were able to do so. On his death bed King Harold (voice of John Cleese) asks Shrek (voice of Mike Meyers) to become the new king. Retching at that suggestion Shrek begged the king to name another successor. King Harold told Shrek the second successor is Fiona's long-lost cousin, misfit high school student Arthur "Artie" Pendragon (voice of Justin Timberlake) in the land of Worchestershire or something like that which is far, far away from Far Far Away. Since Shrek is the husband of Princess Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz), Shrek must stand in for the dead king and when doing so must wear the girdle-tight royal ceremonial garb, including the wagon wheel of fluff around his neck. In an effort to relieve itching he could not reach, Shrek has a court attendant scratch his posterior for him. This is a good example of the caliber of the rest of what is to come. As this is happening, in spite of Fiona's warnings the curtains open to the court with hundreds of subjects watching the court attendant "scrub" Shrek's clothed posterior. From there a sequence of slapstick antics pelt the audience. Shrek must now travel by ship to fetch Arthur. With the help of Donkey (voice of Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (voice of Antonio Banderas) the trio sail far, far away to the land of Worchestershire or something like that. Upon arrival, after a barrage of "Valley Girl" eeyew-eths and other "look-down-the-nose" behaviors by the indigenous yet worldly teens, Shrek and company find Arthur being tormented by Lancelot (voice of John Krasinski) and his gang. Though Arthur seems to Shrek to be the most unlikely type for becoming king, after a spot of revenge for Arthur on the tormentors Shrek drags Arthur to the boat and off they go back to Far Far Away. Meanwhile, Prince Charming (voice of Rupert Everett) is trying his best to make it big in the dinner theater business. After another failure, Charming vows to get back his rightful claim to the throne. Charming enlists the aid of a various sundry of villainy: witches, Captain Hook (voice of Ian McShane), Cyclops (voice of Mark Valley), Rumplestiltskin (voice of Conrad Vernon), the Headless Horseman (also the voice of Conrad Vernon), and others from a local bar and tavern and launches an aerial assault on Far Far Away to capture Fiona. But not to worry, Fiona has a few tricks up her sleeves; Sleeping Beauty (voice of Cheri Oteri), Snow White (voice of Amy Poehler), Cinderella (voice of Amy Sedaris), Rapunzel (voice of Maya Rudolph) and, of course, the now widow Queen Lillian (voice of Julie Andrews). There is more to this 84-minute film but since this report is being posted before the first public showing I will not spoil it any further. Now to the reason most parents, grandparents, pastors, youth leaders ad others come to our pages. By the way, Fiona has a wee one -- or two? -- on the way. I am not happy telling you this but Shrek the Third is a hardcore 13-PG, meaning it is rated PG but its final score of 55 places it at the very bottom of the range of scores earned by PG-13 films (67 to 55 out of 100) in the comparative baseline database: just one point above the scoring range earned by R-rated movies (54 and below out of 100); just one point above R-PG. Does anyone remember what RPG stands for in terms of military weaponry? It is "Rocket Propelled Grenade." An RPG is what this film may be thought of in terms of potential damage to the developing moral standards of the, whether intentional, target audience who are quite likely the most morally vulnerable. With animated behavior such as Shrek the Third is not a toy. Regarding character babies viewing male frontal nudity, I am not surprised. Mike Meyers has twice that I know of, Shrek the Third being one, played characters which appeared nude to a baby or babies. The first time I know of was as Austin Powers as he pranced nude in a PG-13 film with an animated baby watching him, the baby's head hiding Meyers' genitals from the viewer. The following scoring data comparative should help you grasp the gravity of the decay in the Shrek films.  The first obvious matter revealed by the comparative is the final scoring: 2001 - 81; 2004 - 74; 2007 - 55. A downhill trend. Both the 2001 and the 2004 versions are true PG films earning scores equivalent to the PG films in the comparative baseline database. But the 2007 version dropped to one point out of 12 from the top of the scoring range earned by R-rated films (54 and below out of 100). None of the individual examples of ignominy were particularly extreme but there were so many of them, thus giving credence to our CAP Rule of 1000 discovery which states a film with many issues of "bad", each being seemingly innocuous (such as Shrek the Third), is as influential and maybe more so than a film with few issues of "bad" but each being rather extreme such as typically associated with R-rated films. I will leave to you other conclusions made evident by the comparative. Let us hope Shrek 4 and Shrek 5 (already in the works) are a little better. Wanton Violence/Crime (W) Some of the issues of violence are shown above. Others include a barroom brawl, vandalism, action violence (repeatedly). choosing to use violence to settle conflicts, many threats to kill and threats with blades Just as God [1 Cor. 15:33] and the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and other professional health agencies warned us, such "communication" negatively influences many. See Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children Congressional Public Health Summit for more information regarding the influence of violence in and as entertainment. [Prov. 16:29] Impudence/Hate (I) There are no noted uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary in the entire 84 minutes of Shrek the Third. There are, however, a number of examples of impudence such as lying, flatulence, tattoos, "I said whatever I had to say", disrespect of "father", posterior humor and social warfare. Teens freely show disrespect to their elders. [Rev. 22:14, Mal. 4:1, 1Tim. 5:1] Sexual Immorality (S) The ugly sister with the man's voice is back. In the other Shreks there was nothing to clearly identify this man as being anything but a woman with a man's voice but the character made me uncomfortable nonetheless. For a good reason evidently. This character is a man in queen drag. A secular review of Shrek the Third said so as well. I did not include this matter in the scoring of the other Shreks because of the obviously engineered ambiguity of the matter but have done so this time since corroboration of the matter was found. Retrofitting the other Shrek reports would not change the scoring enough to make it worth the expense. In addition to the matter above of Shrek being seen as nude by story characters, Shrek and Fiona are in bed with him nude as evidenced by Donkey's comment when Donkey is exposed to Shrek under the sheets from his feet up. Yes, that is a rude thing to say but it is right there on the screen and in the script, all for your PG-aged viewers. Also, Shrek is seen nude from the rear as he stands nude before hundreds of babies. One more thing. A brassier is burned by Fiona and her platoon of female commandos in defiance of their gender. [1 John 2:26, James 1:21] Drugs/Alcohol (D) In Shrek the Third there are scenes in a bar and of drinking and drunkenness. As revealed by American College of Physicians (ACP), to expose children to drinking/drunkenness in and as entertainment is dangerous. Their finding revealed that adolescent exposure to drinking in and as entertainment leads to undeniable abuse of alcohol among underage kids. The finding entitled Relation Between Parental Restrictions on Movies and Adolescent Use of Tobacco and Alcohol reports that of 4544 youths from grades 5 through 8 of fifteen Vermont and New Hampshire middle schools (90% were under fourteen years old) only 16% were completely restricted from viewing R-rated movies. The researchers selected R-rated movies because they assumed R-rated movies typically present more drinking than movies of other classifications. This assumption is no longer true. The researchers were not aware of the matter of "R-13" proven by this ministry (see R-13 and four years later by Harvard University scientists (see Harvard Agrees With Us). And by our finding in Investigation Area Scoring and Trend in CAP Entertainment Media Investigations it is not so much the alcohol and drinking as it is the attitude portrayed. The bottom line? The focus is the influence of adolescent exposure to drinking in and as entertainment is undeniable regardless of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) classification. Within the ACP study population, the prevalence of having tried alcohol without parental knowledge was Rather revealing of the influences of the entertainment industry wouldn't you say? Well!? If the MPAA is going to label all films with smoking in them with the R rating, shouldn't films with drinking be included? And emboldening children to sin with drink in and as entertainment screams of violating Luke 17:2. Even the University of Connecticut There is even a scene in Shrek the Third which "pokes fun" at a film which had teenage boys falling out of a parked van intoxicated with dope. I don't remember the film title but Sean "Dude!" Penn was one of them. Offense to God (O) Witches and witchcraft are present in Shrek the Third. Witchcraft is used to control, intimidate and do harm [Deut. 18:10 - 11, Eph. 5:11] as well as unholy "magic" being used to do good. [Isa. 5:20] Prince Charming is seen often as being divisive and stirring up dissension to facilitate his aggression. [Prov. 6:16 - 19] Murder/Suicide (M) Prince Charming is seen callously and apathetically slicing to death by sword two characters as if the murder victims were disposable. [Ex 20:13] By the way, in the trailers selected for the showing I attended, Bart Simpson is seen frontally nude with a French fry hiding the most intimate features of his gender-specific parts, about the same amount of Austin Powers' flesh hidden by the baby's head. Come quickly, Jesus! We are morally attacking our children! I know this report paints a rather dark picture of Shrek the Third what is there is there. Shrek the Third is, however, quite probably a good example of fulfilling the prophecy of Ps. 12:8, Jude 4, Col. 2:8 and Eph. 4:19. SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S) If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page. CHAPTER/VERSE ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry*** As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie. |
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 Wanton Violence/Crime (W) Impudence/Hate (I) Sexual Immorality (S) Drugs/Alcohol (D): Offense to God (O) Murder/Suicide (M) |
| There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings. |
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