Shrek the Third is more of the same silly, self-reflexive, campy, sophisticated and adult-friendly fun that has earned the Shrek franchise about $1.4 billion in worldwide box office receipts. Grown-ups will like this movie just as much as, if not more than, kids. As with the first 2 films, Shrek the Third takes the fairy tale world and spins it on its head in a way that is far smarter than the average animated film. How can anybody dislike a movie that casts the voices of Larry King and Regis Philbin as Cinderella's two ugly stepsisters?

Co-directors Chris Miller and Raman Hui, along with a team of writers, have crafted a story in which Shrek (Mike Myers) must deal with his discomfort with the duties of being a king followed by the not-so-sudden and hilarious death of frog King Harold (voiced by Monty Python's John Cleese). Shrek  wants to take his ogre bride, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), back to their swamp, but he is the logical heir. Fiona's long-lost cousin Artie (voiced by pop superstar Justin Timberlake) could also take the crown, but Shrek must go find him before that can happen. So he and the funny-as-hell duo of Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) set sail from the kingdom of Far Far Away. Only, before they've quite sailed out of earshot, Fiona tells Shrek that she is "with ogre" -- something else that's sure to weigh on his mind.

While Shrek and the fellas search for Artie, the boy who would be king, Prince Charming plans a coup. The preening, obnoxious Charming (still a perfect role for Rupert Everett) rallies all of the fairy tale losers, from Captain Hook (from Peter Pan) to Rumpelstiltskin, and they take over the kingdom. Fiona and her best girlfriends, including Snow White (Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler), Cinderella (Amy Sedaris) and Sleeping Beauty (SNL alum Cheri Oteri), along with Queen Lillian (the legendary Julie Andrews) are thrown behind bars.

What makes the story feel fresh is that instead of Shrek and his lads coming home to save the day, these girls are doing it for themselves. In fact, Cameron Diaz gets to call on some of her Charlie's Angels experience. The feminist streak is both unexpected and positive for all of the little girls who will see Shrek the Third. Continuing the franchise hallmark of reinventing and modernizing old fairy tales, these women don't sit around and wait for their prince to come (although they almost do, until hard-headed Queen Lillian sets a stunning example). You could even call this posse of fierce femininity "Shrek's Angels."

There are plenty of bits of business that will fly right over kids' heads. As the story begins, Prince Charming is relegated to performing in dinner theater productions. The addition of Merlin the magician (perfectly played by Cleese's former Monty Python cohort Eric Idle), who has been reimagined as something of a Deepak Chopra-style new age guru. He has an Iron John-style campfire chat with the boys at one point, and fires up the opening bars of Burt Bacharach's "That's What Friends Are For" during an especially touchy-feely conversation. Plus, there are a litany of jokes and puns at Artie's medieval high school, like the school's campaign to have its students "Just Say Nay" to drugs.

It may have fewer belly laughs than the first two chapters, but Shrek the Third is funny, cheerful, pleasant, smart and a little old-fashioned. In Shrek, we met this genial green giant and watched him learn to love -- both Fiona and himself. In Shrek 2, it was about meeting the in-laws and trusting that creatures outside their swamp would accept them for who they are. This movie is about finding happiness, accepting your own limitations (not everyone can be a king) and, ultimately, the joys of parenthood.

Our Shrek is all growed up and, much to the dismay of the ink-stained newspaper movie critics from coast-to-coast, I'm fairly sure that we'll get another chapter on the challenges of raising a tree-full of ogre children in about 2 years. Those critics will be the only guys disappointed about that.

FantasyMoguls.com Lowdown on Shrek the ThirdOriginal FantasyMoguls.com Projections for Shrek the Third were for a 7.6 IMDb User Rating, $390 million is total domestic box office, 18 Top 5 points and 8 PTA points. Steve Mason's revised projections based on seeing the film and reviewing its tracking and updated release plan are as follows:
Box Office: $400 million
IMDb User Rating: 7.0
Top 5: 18 points
PTA: 7 points