Shrek 2 (2004)

SHREK 2

Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten

DreamWorks Pictures

Grade: B

Directed by: Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon

Written by: Andrew Adamson, Joe Stillman, book by William

Steig, story by Andrew Adamson

Cast: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Cleese,

Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas

Screened at: Loews 34th St., NYC, 5/20/04

Have you noticed the increasing number of young urban

professionals whose dogs of choice are mutts, usually adopted

from a pound? These fellows can easily pay $1,000, the

average cost of a purebred with papers, but are good-hearted

enough to rescue the huge population of homeless four-legged

friends and have, in fact, made a style out of this. They realize,

as so many others have not, that external beauty (Afghan

hounds, Irish Wolfhounds, poodles, shih-tzus and other former

signs of prestige) means little. What counts is their friends'

personalities. Deep inside every Heinz 57 lies a heart at least

as true as the souls within the purebreds.

The central conceit of both "Shrek" and its sequel is that we've

all gotta respect, nay love, who we are an excellent lesson that

will not go over the heads of the kids in the audience. The most

amusing part of "Shrek 2" occurs as an animated riff on Stanley

Kramer's 1967 breakthrough pic, "Guess Who's Coming to

Dinner," about a marriage whose point of conflict involves

Katharine Houghton's bringing home her black fianc‚ (Sidney

Poitier) to meet her perplexed parents, an Oscar for screenplay

and story going to William Rose. In this version, when Shrek

(Mike Myers once again) is introduced by his new wife, Princess

Fiona (Cameron Diaz) to an assemblage waiting around a red

carpet, the people (and birds) are stunned so much by the jolly

green giant that one of the newly released doves crashes into a

building and dies. Shrek's horizontally- and vertically-

challenged persona coupled with his ogre-like table manners

does not put him in good stead with his in-laws, which causes

King Harold (John Cleese), without the consent of his more

accepting wife, Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) to take out a

contract on Shrek's life.

Directors Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon

use the opportunity for swordplay to bring in Puss in Boots

(Antonio Banderas) who, when he can't get his way with his

sword transformed himself into the cutest kitty in the land of Far

Far Away.

The pace is lightning fast, Donkey (Eddie Murphy) keeping the

verbiage on track with his patter, some of which is delivered so

rapidly that it's bound to go over the heads of the youngest kids.

This is the sort of pic that the small fry will likely see over and

over until every last sign is clarified. The accents are delightfully

culture-specific: romantic Spanish from Banderas, Scottish from

Mike Myers, elegant English from Cameron Diaz and

pretentious from Rupert Everett.  

Speaking of Mr. Everett, Online critic Keith Ulrich, who writes

for the prominent Slant Magazine, had serious reservations

about "enclosing another openly gay actor within a restrictive

Hollywood box" in that his Prince Charming is a character "who

cruelly exists to not get the girl." His review on

http://slantmagazine.com deserves to be read in its entirety

since Ulrich is one of the few dissenters to the wide praise that

has come in from the critics. He may be reading too much into

a fresh, kids' entertainment, but de gustibus non est

disputandem. My own reservation, however, is that the film

subverts its message about beauty's being only skin deep. In

the concluding moments, when Mr. & Mrs. Shrek have the

opportunity to keep their newly-handsome features made

possible by a potion, they opt to return to their less-than-comely

forms, because, as the young woman states, "It's the ogre that I

married." If external features are not important, why does the

princess insist on becoming green once again, as though

appearance would change anything at all?

Rated PG. 95 minutes. Copyright 2004 by Harvey Karten at

harveycritic@cs.com

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