Shrek director says 'Shrek Forever After' is series' finale

Mike Mitchell should know whether "Shrek Forever After" really is the last film in the extremely popular series of animated fantasies.

He did direct the movie, after all.

And for those who are wondering, that's a big "yes." It really is the last of the Shrek movies, which have earned more than $1 billion (cumulative) at the box office, as well as garnering an Academy Award — a 2002 Best Animated Feature, given to the first of the films.

"This is it, a real finale to our versions of the Shrek stories, and hopefully a satisfying conclusion that will please everyone," the 39-year-old animator-turned-filmmaker said by telephone from Los Angeles, where he was helping promote the new movie.

Mitchell says the decision to end the Shrek franchise was made not because of a lack of popularity but because of worries about "overstaying our welcome and risk alienating our loyal audiences." And besides, "We had a story we really wanted and needed to tell this time," he said. "Once the story was in place, one we were really happy about, there was no stopping us."

Also, there will be a spin-off film, an already-in-production animated film featuring the Puss in Boots character, voiced by Antonio Banderas. But, as Mitchell notes, "(that movie) is a unique animal, all on its own. It's like our version of 'The Jeffersons' — to Shrek's 'All in the Family,' if you get that television reference."

Getting back to the fourth Shrek movie, "it returns us to where things began — we go back to the very start of things," according to Mitchell.

In the fourth movie, Shrek (again voiced by Mike Myers) is struggling with his new role as father to three and balancing various responsibilities. And he can't get even a minute to himself. So in frustration, he makes an ill-fated pact with evil warlock Rumpelstiltskin, who offers Shrek the opportunity to become a "real ogre" for a day.

Instead, our hero awakens in a reality in which he and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are no longer married or even know each other. She, in fact, is leading an ogre uprising — one fighting the magical forces of Rumpelstiltskin, who is now the ruler of the kingdom of Far Far Away.

There are obvious allusions to the 1946 classic "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Back to the Future" (1985), as well as like-minded fairy tales, which is no surprise.