Scared Shrekless

Sorry, Scared Shrekless. You have nothing on It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Sometimes, you shouldn’t mess with the classics in order to try and cash in, but the Shrek crew is trying its best. Scared Shrekless airs tonight at 8 pm, and features three mini-episodes packed into one half-hour.

That’s the first problem: you can’t force greatness with that type of setup. If you can’t provide a full story line like It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, then it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Although Scared Shrekless has a big cast of stars -- Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas, it doesn’t have the heart of It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Case in point -- Eddie Murphy declined to voice Donkey for the special.

The three mini episodes in Scared Shrekless are “The Bride of Gingy,” “The Boots Motel,” and “The Shrekxorcist.” Neat ideas, but the target audience probably won’t even understand the reference for the last one.