"Shrek the Third"

"A Good King Is Hard to Find" is a short adaptation of the third installment in the Shrek cartoon trilogy. The king of Far Far Away Land has fallen ill and is trying to find a successor to his thrown. Shrek, his son-in-law, is the next in line, but he does not want to do it. Shrek and his friends Donkey and Puss In Boots set out to find Fiona's cousin, Arthur Pendragon, to take over the throne. While away on the journey, the evil Prince Charming plots to take over the throne himself. When Shrek first encounters Artie, the boy is not ready to be a king. He is cowardly and not mature enough for the position. Once they return to Far Far Away Land, Artie ends up saving the captured Shrek, defeating Prince Charming, and successfully takes over the throne. By the end of the book, Artie is mentally and emotionally prepared to become king.

First off, I just want to note that the title of this book is taken from Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." The two stories have almost nothing in common except for the similar titles. The one thing that I really like about the Shrek universe is that there are fairy tale characters present. It makes the characters more familiar because the children already know a lot about them from watching Disney movies. Some of the familiar fairy tale characters are Puss In Boots, Pinnochio, Prince Charming, Arthur Pendragon (King Arthur), and the typical characters of an ogre, a princess, and a dragon. The characters are a little different than the usual fairy tale characters though. For example, the princess is also an ogress, the usually evil ogre is the hero, and the usually heroic Prince Charming is evil.

The character development of the future king of Far Far Away Land, Artie, is a common element in some of the fairy tales that we read and discussed in class. At first, Artie is reluctant to take over as king because he is scared of being poisoned or disliked. The only reason he even makes it to Far Far Away is because Shrek makes him. Once Artie gets there and sees how bad the city has become and how evil Prince Charming is, then he realizes he needs to become a hero and save the kingdom. By the end of the novel, he has gone from being a reluctant coward to a heroic, mature king.