Shrek Forever After Opens May 21st!

A decade ago Dreamworks achieved box office gold with Shrek, the CGI animated feature loosely based on Caldecott Award-winner William Steig's Shrek! With a sardonic sensibility that skewered Disneyfied fairy tales and star voice turns by Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz, the film became a pop culture sensation and spawned three sequels with the third sequel, Shrek Forever After, arriving in theaters on May 21st.

The ogre Shrek has built himself a life with his wife Fiona, his children, and his best friend Donkey, but a deal with Rumpelstiltskin goes wrong and sends Shrek into a world where he never saved Fiona from the dragon in the first film, where she never found that he was her true love, and where the depraved Lord Farquaad, defeated in the first film, continues to rule over the land of Far Far Away with an iron fist.

In the world of comics, The Shrek excitement begins on May 1st, Free Comic Book Day, with Ape Entertainment's FCBD 2010 Kizoic Shrek & Penguins of Madagascar, which introduces the worlds of the Shrek and Madagascar films to comic book readers. This will be followed by Shrek Forever After: The Prequel, a story that explores the background to the upcoming film, then Shrek #1 and Shrek #2 in the months that follow as Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey have all-new adventures in the lands of make-believe.

Playmates offers a number of toys with the characters from the blockbuster films. You can find characters such as Shrek, Donkey, Puss-in-Boots, and many others in the Shrek Forever After Basic Plushes, and the Shrek Forever After Smack Backs are larger squeezable 6" plushes with voice chips.

You can also build an army of Shrek rubber figures with the Shrek Swamp Mini-Figures, which stand 1" tall and come in five-figure bags. The Shrek Swamp Buddies are taller at 2" tall, and they feature a kid-friendly deformed style not unlike the Star Wars Galactic Heroes or Marvel Super Hero Squad figures. With the Shrek Ogre Attack Disco Balls, kids can take their armies of ogres into battle with these cool battle balls. Children (or rude adults) may be interested in the Shrek Kids and Playsets, which recreate Shrek's triplets as dolls that can drink from bottles, belch, and wet!

Finally, anyone can dress up as their favorite ogres with the Shrek Ears, which will give anyone the green ears that mark Shrek and Fiona as loveable ogres.

Check with your local comic shop now for pricing and availability of these green goodies.