I didn't expect much from this one, given that I find the series rather overrated, bar the 2nd movie. But this one is quite an experience, and far superior to any of them.
I liked:
- the kid that insists on Shrek screaming
- Donkey was actually interesting
- the warrior Fiona was great to watch
- the villain was fun to watch, and his mannerisms reminds of that of the title character of Megamind
- the story is a lotta fun
- the Ogres species was fun to watch, and it was interesting to note that he looked like nothing compared to some of them; character design is amazing; check especially the cook
- great humor: the villain serving the witches; the cook proposing serving food during battle; the meet between fat cat and donkey
- the early scenes in which Shrek harks back to the early, freedom-filled, days
update:
Movie revisits can be real strange. The first time I watched this one, I deemed it a masterpiece, but a revisit proved it not much better than the others in the Shrek franchise. It makes me wonder... maybe my mood was different. It's not as bad as the worst in the series (Shrek 3), but it doesn't seem as good as the 2nd (Shrek 2).
Technically, it's a little disappointing (the human faces are really bad, not much better than the original Toy Story (1995). None of the visuals are any impressive either, well other than Donkey's fur, which sometimes look photo-realistic. Luckily the new ogres are interesting, far more interesting than Shrek himself, my most favorite being the cook. And of the previous elements I watched, Fiona was no longer interesting, and villain not as much fun nor is the story.