World Baseball Classic news! Salvy and Maikel are going to be teammates
:Garcia was named Thursday to Team Venezuela ahead of the upcoming tournament. He is the second Royals player on the team — catcher/first baseman Salvador Perez will captain the Venezuelan squad when the WBC begins in early March…
Now, Garcia will display his talent on a global scale. He joins a Venezuelan team that includes MLB stars Ronald Acuña Jr., Jackson Chourio and Wilyer Abreu, among others.
Four other Royals are taking
part in the World Baseball Classic. Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. will represent the United States; first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and outfielder Jac Caglianone will play for Italy; and pitcher Seth Lugo will suit up for Puerto Rico.
MLB.com has not picked up the story yet, but the official Twitter account of Team Dominican Republic announced another Royal addition yesterday afternoon:
Guess who has two thumbs and tickets to a Team Italy game featuring Vinnie and Jac? They’ll be playing Team Brazil, which has on its coaching staff – you guessed it: Frank Stallone!
Wait, that would be silly. Of course, it’s the “first Brazilian-born player to win a World Series”. He’s the author of many triples and a notable walk-off grand slam: it’s Paulo Orlando!
Speaking of Salvy, he’s reminding everyone to come to Royals Rally on Saturday:
ICYMI, the Royals signed Eli Morgan to a minor league deal yesterday. Max has you covered.
It’s only a quick mention, but Dan Szymborski (Szymborski! Szymborski!) updated ZIPS. Guess who is currently projected to have 83 wins and end up in 2nd-ish in the AL Central?
The AL Central is a fairly low-ceiling environment, so each team has some realistic chance to prevail. The Tigers are good, but their lineup is short on actual stars, and the natural risk of pitcher injury means that they don’t get 100% Tarik Skubal in a lot of their simulations. And without 100% Skubal, this team looks a lot less intimidating. The Royals have some holes, but the left side of the infield is crazy-good and the pitching is on relatively safe ground. The Guardians have lineup concerns and a rather low-impact, though stable, starting rotation, and ZiPS doesn’t believe the Twins are anywhere near as bad as much of baseball thinks.
The division is weak enough that there’s even a chance that the White Sox steal the thing. The team isn’t actually good at the moment, but unlike last season, they haven’t larded the April lineup with a bunch of older retreads. Every starting hitter, with the probable exception of Andrew Benintendi, has some cognizable breakout potential. Taking a risk like signing Munetaka Murakami is exactly what the White Sox should be doing, and I don’t often say the White Sox are doing exactly what the White Sox should be doing.
The Coun— Blog’s Number of the Day is three! Ah-ah-ah!
- Michael Coyle at Royals Keep: A Look At Three Relievers The Royals Could Add Before Spring Training Opens
- Caleb Moody at KOK: 3 remaining free agents who could address Royals’ lingering outfield needs
- Mike Gillespie at KOK: 3 Royals with most to gain from hot 2026 spring training performances
One of the local schools is doing a musical version of Shrek for their spring play. I didn’t realize there were six movies in the franchise, with a seventh, Shrek 5, set to come out in 2027. So, with my trusty library card, I set out to watch the entire Shrek oeuvre (or at least the feature film portion of it). If you’ve missed the 2000-word Friday Rumblings screeds or movie reviews: we’re back, baby!
Shrek (2001) – The original still holds up. If you had asked me for the best animated movies of the first decade of the 2000s, the list would have basically been films from the legendary Pixar Eleven and Shrek. And it still feels almost as fresh as when it came out. It was still creative to subvert expectations, rather than cliché, and this movie starts it in the opening sequence. The movie does this with humor, mixing timeless comedy tropes like the odd couple with amazing jokes like the Muffin Man gag or Disney shade. It’s immature, but not too gross, most of the time. And it works on multiple levels with tons of jokes that go right over kids’ heads. The plot starts out as a buddy pic that is deftly turned on its head when Fiona enters the picture, adding an unexpected romance plot. Even the heart of the movie, a moral about acceptance, is askew from what you expect. Setting more trends, it mixed modern and classic music in a way that Disney was not doing at the time, and it’s the first credit sequence sing-along I can remember. I guess if you wanted to make a complaint, the animation looks a little dated. But it’s not bad – it’s just limited, a lot like the original Toy Story. There are scenes where it leans into a hand-drawn animation style to make up for the lack of polygons that computers could push back then – you can see the textures are lacking if you compare it to future movies, but that almost feels like complaining that The Ten Commandments doesn’t look as sharp when viewed in 4K. While Dreamworks had the critically acclaimed The Prince of Egypt in its early years, this was the runaway hit they needed to compete with Disney and Pixar and it won the Animated Feature Film Oscar over Pixar’s Monsters, Inc.
Shrek 2 (2004) – I remember thinking at the time that this movie had one of the biggest cases of sequelitis that I can remember. Upon rewatch, I may have been over the top of that assessment, but the sequelitis is definitely there. It’s just not as fresh: there are a lot of parodies in the opening – cheap jokes but not creative, original ones. Our main duo falls into and out of character. Meanwhile, the plot smashes together the cliches of “meet the parents” and “swamp (farm) boy goes to the California big city”. I don’t care for cringey humor, where we drag our characters through awkward or embarrassing situations for laughs. There was very little in the first movie, but the sequel is swimming in it, particularly in Act 2. Similarly, we had the tired trope of a communication misunderstanding between Donkey and Shrek for 10 minutes before things were sorted out. It’s just wasted screen time. That said, the movie still has its charms. There are a number of creative scenes like the parent dinner, the Fairy Godmother reveal, and the introduction of a character worthy of spinoffs: Puss in Boots. The movie takes a while to get out of the gate, but it mostly comes together in the second half. Sure, there are missteps like the “Hero” gingerbread scene going on too long, but it starts to feel more like the freshness and heart of the first one.
Shrek The Third (2007) – This one has the worst ratings of the entire franchise and it earns them. I know I said the last one had sequelitis, but there are moments where this movie felt like it was created by a committee of studio executives. It starts with a reasonable enough premise: Charming wants revenge and gets the villains to join forces, but it doesn’t do much with that. For much of the movie, Shrek, Donkey, and Puss are off on another adventure while Fiona gets sidelined (again), save for some pregnancy jokes. We jump into a college coming-of-age movie that didn’t belong and then shoehorn in a mentoring journey with Arthur to get Shrek over parenting fears. It’s lacking in sincerity so you never really buy Arthur’s turn, and there are just too many other plots going on, none of which feel organic. And a lot of the jokes just go on too long in this movie. There are times when the series tries to remind you that it’s not just a sequel replaying the greatest hits – Shrek slams the door on Puss trying to reuse the eyes joke from the last movie, for instance. Act 3 is decent, between the play-within-a-play and the rescue. The movie made gobs of money – it ended its run as the 3rd highest-grossing animated movie of all time. However, it’s starting to feel like the franchise’s time is almost up.
Shrek Forever After (2010) – After the critical failure but commercial success of its predecessor, the fourth Shrek movie plays it safe. The setup is eminently relatable and well done for any parent: Shrek has a midlife crisis. That leads us to Rumpelstiltskin and a mostly paint-by-numbers “It’s a Wonderful Life” plot. It’s very predictable, eminently safe, and a little more cringe than any of the previous movies. If you look closely, it’s never really resolved, except to pat Shrek on the head and tell him: “be glad for what you have because it could always be worse”. However, even with this worn, formulaic plot, there’s a freshness that comes from putting our characters in a new situation. To the writers’ credit, the characters rarely feel like caricatures – a trap that’s almost impossible to avoid after so many sequels. There were no chances taken to make it as fresh as the first or even second, but it goes down much smoother than the third movie.
Puss in Boots (2011) – A spinoff of a kindof interesting side character of a series that was a bit long in the tooth? Expectations were low. But Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, and Zach Galifanakis treat this as more than a mere payday and really elevate the film. The movie is sharp, fun, and pretty – but this is the first movie in the series that has felt light and airy, almost forgettable. There’s an origin story, betrayal, adventure, more betrayal, romance, more adventure, and exultation. You want the movie to slow down a little and let the scenes breathe, but then it probably loses its wit and charm.
Hey, we’re only at like 1500 words and that includes the Royals stuff. Hmm…
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) – Where. did. this. come. from? Shrek is still the best movie in the franchise, but this is easily the second-best. This was a spinoff of a tired series that had languished for more than a decade. And they came up with something that took a one-note side character through a meaty movie that combines some of the best qualities of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; The Wizard of Oz; and the Spider-Verse? What?
The movie starts with an action set piece that would feel right at home in the Spider-Verse movies* – full of fast action and faster quips. However, the movie quickly leaves behind the airy nothingness of its predecessor for serious reflection. That’s because death arrives, both literally (Puss dies) and… um, literally (the Anton Chigurh-like wolf that chases him thereafter).
*sidebar: Can 2027 get here already? Beyond the Spider-Verse is my most anticipated movie of anything announced. Please, please, please, stick the landing, Lord and Miller.
Reviews remind me just how concise and wordsmithy that professional critics can be. I’m going to let a couple that are cited on Wikipedia do a better job than I could:
IGN’s Rafael Motamayor gave a rating of 9 out of 10 and wrote: “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish mixes stunning animation with a poignant, surprisingly mature story to deliver the Shrek franchise’s answer to Logan we didn’t know we needed.” …Nate Richard of Collider gave the film an A−, saying: “Nothing in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish feels lazy, it more than justifies the long wait. It is not only one of the best animated films of the year, but it’s one of DreamWorks’ best and one that will strike a chord with moviegoers of all ages. It’s equal parts exciting and hilarious as well as earnest, it never feels like it is talking down to anyone.”
It’s a good analogy: Logan for kids, an unexpectedly thoughtful spin-off that’s better than much of the original series. And it doesn’t dumb things down for the kids in the audience. Sure, it meets them with “kid” situations they can relate to, but the ideas are “adult”.
After Puss realizes he is down to his last of his nine lives, the movie asks a lot of big questions. Puss has to deal with a crisis of self. He also has to fight his fear of death, which is a screen-realistic portrayal of crippling anxiety. There’s also a forced reflection on death, legacy, and what you want most out of life, particularly with limited time. He has to face his past mistakes and regrets. And, again, very little of this is simplified or dumbed down for the kiddos.
It’s not perfect. After the fast start, it takes some effort to get out of Act 1. While others praised it, I was distracted by the Spider-Verse animation style. It felt out of place in this franchise, particularly since it was only used for the action sequences. Jack Horner is generically evil and there are little vestigial bits like Ethical Bug that exist only for jokes. Unexpectedly, though, some simple-looking characters fuel the heart of the movie, specifically Perrito and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The end is somewhat predictable, but there are enough surprises and a Pixar-level tug at the heartstrings to make it all work.
I don’t think I could name another franchise where the 6th movie is in the running for best in the series. That just doesn’t happen. It’s funny, it’s smart, it’s thoughtful – it’s just well done. The end even serves as a tease for Shrek 5, and I’m lowkey excited for it now.
Yes, yes, I know “All Star” by Smash Mouth was overplayed, but this was a great character introduction:
