Shrek the Third
***1/2
Far Far Away’s king needs an heir and looks to son-in-law Shrek. As if that weren’t weight enough for one ogre’s sloped green shoulders, beloved Fiona is pregnant. As Shrek, Donkey and Puss in Boots trek to find the other candidate for king (a young-un named Arthur), Prince Charming enlists a pack of storybook baddies to take back Far Far Away. Such is the set-up for the third in the most successful animated franchise in all moviedom, starring Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas. The animated gang’s all here, with the Gingerbread Man and Pinocchio delivering side-splitting moments.-Lisa Kennedy
Ocean’s Thirteen
*** 1/2
George Clooney, Brad Pitt and their eminently likable crew return under Steven Soderbergh’s direction for more frolicking with the stars. This time, Al Pacino is added to the mix as the insufferable owner of a Vegas casino that Danny Ocean’s boys would love to take down. And Matt Damon’s hapless thief, Linus, falls for aging femme fatale Ellen Barkin. Big stars having fun has always been the recipe for “Ocean’s” success, and after a slow opening, Soderbergh makes it work at least one more time. Michael Booth
La Vie En Rose
**
This biopic feels more like an ordeal than a cele- bration. Edith Piaf’s life was a series of train wrecks occasionally interrupted by layovers at the popular biopic stations of Drunk, Bereaved, Addicted and Scorned. The trademark melancholy enriching her voice throughout a 25-year singing career came through experience, not imagination. But we get a lot more of the backstage screeching, seemingly countless episodes of the diminutive, consumptive Piaf in a dressing room, demanding more champagne, more love or more father figures. She had one of the distinctive voices of the 20th century, certainly, but “La Vie en Rose” often gives more pain than pleasure. Michael Booth
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