Shrek The Third 3D

When his frog-in-law suddenly croaks, Shrek (Myers) finds himself The Third in line for his throne (or is it first?). Mortified at the thought of having to rule Far Far Away, Shrek, along with his pals Donkey (Murphy) and Puss In Boots (Banderas), embark on an adventure to find the rightful heir to the throne, Arthur (Timberlake). Will Shrek be able to seat the awkward Arthur on the King's Throne or will he be forced into a role as Ogre King? Based upon the book by William Steig. (Stacey Pendry)

There are no special features.

Reviewed in Issue 127 as both an anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 DVD and an HD DVD, the picture showed bold, vibrant colors combined with very good shadow delineation, making for a realistically dimensional-looking animated picture. The 1.78:1 1080p AVC Blu-ray Disc™ picture reviewed in Issue 153 exhibited nicely balanced contrast and deep, solid black levels. Details were rendered very well, from the sheen of horses' coats to the wood grain of trees. There were times throughout the presentation, though, where the images could still look soft. The VC-1-encoded HD DVD featured fantastic resolution and color fidelity, with solid blacks and a great sense of depth. This AVC encoding delivered no discernable difference in performance. The picture showed wonderful detail and was quite impressive. The same attributes of the previous Blu-ray are presented in the 1.78:1 1080p MVC 3-D version, but here the visuals are even more stunning and satisfying, with impressive depth perception. Numerous scenes, such as the dungeon below the palace, the ship at sea, and the play production setting, are wonderfully dimensional. As with the previous two Shreks originated in 2D, the 3-D conversion glows with quality. And as before, DreamWorks used Legend3D's conversion technology. There is no out-of-screen imaging, as the 3-D effect is focused inward. No double image ghosting is evident to distract. The result is a whole new entertaining experience that will thrill the entire family. (Gary Reber)

The previous DVD's Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack and the HD DVD Dolby Digital Plus encoding featured an exciting mix that used each of the available channels well. The new Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel rendering, which appeared on the previous Blu-ray and on this 3-D version, is properly mixed with the two added channels positioned to the 90-degree side channels. The Dolby TrueHD encoding has an added level of realism, with slightly improved fidelity over the previous encodings. The result is an effectively enhanced sense of seamless holosonic® soundfield envelopment. Deep bass is delivered through each of the full-range channels, and the .1 LFE channel is not incorporated very often. Dialogue is mixed into the soundtrack nicely, with good fidelity and a natural presence. There are times when the dialogue can be masked by the music and effects, which are delivered through the front full-range channels at levels very close to that of the center channel. At times, surround imaging is limited, which can leave a gaping hole in the mix directly behind the listening position, but imaging across the three other stereo walls and side walls are crafted well. Whether attributable to the 3-D viewing experience, the perception of holosonic envelopment is enhanced because the soundtrack is definitely more engaging when the movie is experienced in 3D. As was the case for the previous Blu-ray release, this is an enjoyable soundtrack. (Gary Reber)