The Summer of Threequels: Three Movies as I See Them

As far as the entertainment department goes, J.R. and I have seen all three of the big "thirds" (Spiderman, Shrek, and Pirates of the Caribbean) that came out this month. Before this month, it had been at least a couple of months since I had seen a movie at the theater. Perhaps J.R. and I are enjoying this last round of "freedom" before the baby arrives and we cannot go out for an evening so easily as we have been able to up to this point in time. Maybe we wanted to see how the eagerly-anticipated (and possibly last installments) of the
movies played out. Quite likely, J.R. follows movies a little more closely than is healthful and I am along for the ride. Point of proof: the Part III that I am looking most forward to is The Bourne Ultimatum, which is not scheduled to come out until August 3, when I should have a brand new baby and may or may not actually be able to view said movie in the theater (though I have hope since I have seen tiny, well-behaved babies in car seats at the last couple of movies that I have attended, and there is always the chance that some kind soul may offer to babysit).

For what it is worth, my reviews of the aforementioned movies, without spoilers:

Spiderman III: I'll be honest, I may or may not have gone to see this movie if it was not for J.R.'s (and some other friends')
enthusiasm about the movie in general. Yes, I had seen the other two Spiderman movies, but only one time each at the theater when they were released originally, meaning that my comparison of the quality of any of the Spiderman movies to one another could be seriously flawed due to my lack of memory pertaining to them. Unlike J.R., however, I felt that this Spiderman was about the same level of quality as the other two (perhaps one who has not read the comic books can better enjoy the movies). I will admit that the Sandman was not essential to the plot of the movie, but it had
satisfactory plot unveiling and conflict resolution, so I thought that it was pretty good, as long as you enjoy that sort of movie.

Shrek the Third: While it had its cute and funny parts, again, I thought that the quality of this movie was about the same as its predecessors. This was the movie that I saw the most children attending of the three, but I would question its appropriateness for children. Yes, the movie is animated and for this reason appeals to children, but it is done in such a way that adults are supposed to "get" some parts of the movie that children would presumably not notice. This movie was fairly straightforward, I did not notice any unnecessary plot points, and there were no real surprises. Overall, pretty good - I liked it
better than Spiderman III.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: Like the Spiderman movies, I have only seen the Pirates of the Caribbean movies one time each, but I believe that my memory serves me better in regards to these movies since I watched the first two last summer. I have heard three main complaints about this movie: 1. Too many plot points; 2. Jack Sparrow does not appear until about 40 minutes into the movie; 3. The movie is too long (over two and a half hours). As for the too many plot points issue, neither J.R. nor I had a problem following what was going on in the movie, and we both agreed that all things pretty much "worked out" in the end. As for Sparrow's delayed appearance, again, it worked out. Based on the ending of the second movie, I expected some of this movie to be spent tracking him down. And as for the movie length, I did not even know when I went to watch the movie that it was so long, and it was not a movie that "dragged on and on," so I was surprised actually to look at the clock when I came out of the movie and discover that it had been almost three hours since the movie had started. Again, a good movie, I would say that it was as good as the second movie, though I think that I liked the first one the best.

Of the three movies, I would say that Pirates of the
Caribbean was my favorite. Our baby had the best reaction to At World's End (or at least its soundtrack) as well. Throughout the main/final fight scene, the baby "danced" around rhythmically to the music. J.R.'s favorite movie was Shrek the Third, we both agreed that Spiderman III was our least favorite. So there you have it, a brief synopsis of the three threequels according to me (with a little input from J.R.).