The fourth Shrek movie, and the first in 3D, has the not-so-jolly green ogre (voiced by Mike Myers), Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and their three icky, burping babies living in apparent familial bliss. So far, so dull. But as this descends into domestic routine, a darker hue is revealed: Shrek makes a deal with trickster Rumpelstiltskin to return him to his villager-scaring roots for one day. However, the small print in the contract wipes out the status quo and a dystopian, It's a Wonderful Life-style alternative universe is the cleverly conceived result, with ogres as slaves and witches filling the skies. Alongside nods to King Kong and the Ewok revolt from Return of the Jedi, the story weaves notably grown-up themes of responsibility and regret, and a mangy Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and gone-to-seed Puss (Antonio Banderas) shoulder all the laughs. It's a neat enough way of closing the book - and one hopes it is closed now.

A bored and domesticated Shrek pacts with deal-maker Rumpelstiltskin to get back to feeling like a real ogre again, but when he's duped and sent to a twisted version of Far Far Away—where Rumpelstiltskin is king, ogres are hunted, and he and Fiona have never met—he sets out to restore his world and reclaim his true love.