The original Shrek film started out as a very loose adaptation of a children's book written by William Steig. However, the first film's incredible success spawned a sequel Shrek 2 that was even more popular both critically and commercially than the first.

Now it's without dispute that Shrek has ballooned into an enormous machine with theme park rides, TV specials, and all the trimmings of a successful franchise. As such, it must continue yet again with another film, Shrek The Third, now available on DVD.

Former outcast ogre Shrek (Mike Myers) is now married to fellow ogre, Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and is now the royal heir to the throne of the kingdom of Far, Far Away.

However, Shrek faces the prospect of ruling responsibility sooner than expected when Fiona's father King Harold (John Cleese) has died. Not only that, Fiona discovers she is pregnant and the once-hermetic ogre is about to become a father.

Not wanting the responsibility of ruling a kingdom, Shrek and his pals Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss-In-Boots (Antonio Banderas) seek out a voyage to find Fiona's nerdy cousin Artie (Justin Timberlake) and teach the fairly geeky heir how to be a real king.

Meanwhile, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), still smarting from failing to marry Fiona, plans to steal the throne away from Shrek. His plan involves the help of disgruntled princesses Snow White (Amy Poehler), Cinderella (Amy Sedaris), Sleeping Beauty (Cheri Oteri), Rapunzel (Maya Rudolph) who are steamed about not living happily ever after themselves.

Shrek The Third continues the fun of its predecessors with non-stop funny moments and great characters. The voice cast continues to be exciting, including newcomers like past and present Saturday Night Live female alumni, Eric Idle as a rather eccentric version of Merlin, and particularly Justin Timberlake, who continues to be a surprisingly engaging presence on film as the pathetically whiny Artie.

However, the story itself this time out has lost some considerable weight, feeling rather pointless. Despite the fact that it ends up creating a film that feels more like an extended TV offshoot of the film, the writers still make the film fun enough particularly with its target audience of children, that it's not nearly as much of an issue.

The DVD picture quality is presented in the 1:78:1 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio, with the sound quality in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. The DVD comes packed with plenty of special features.

The first feature "Meet The Cast" goes into the cast of the film doing voiceovers, which shows how engaged they are in the process, including an actual high school band and cheerleaders who provide the background sounds for Artie's classmates. It includes interviews from many of the voice actors, as well as the crew.

In "Three Lost Scenes", it shows three scenes that were later aborted by the time of filming film in rough form. It's presented in a