Shrek 2 (2004)

Colorful "Shrek 2"

by Homer Yen

(c) 2004

At the very least, "Shrek 2" is a marvelous work

of 3-d animation. It brims with color,

liveliness, and imagination. Every scene

incorporates just about every color of the

spectrum. It bursts with such eye candy that

you'd do better to sit in one of the last rows of

the theatre to absorb it all.  

Meanwhile, the nuances and the texture of the

animation are impressively lifelike. When our

favorite Ogre, Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers)

kisses his princess bride, Fiona (voiced by

Cameron Diaz) a la "From Here to Eternity," we

feel their attraction. When a character displays

his sad-eyed cat face, you have to say 'awww'.

"Shrek 2" is affecting and enchanting. It'll

change the way you think about animation and

you'll find it difficult to go back to the 2-d

variety.  

Having said all that, my impression of this film

was positive, but not overwhelmingly positive.

Of course, I would recommend it. And you'd be

doing your children a disservice from keeping

them from a wonderful project like this.

Children will undoubtedly learn that it's not

what's on the outside that counts. After all,

beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

My reservation is that while it is great to look

at and reliably amusing, it just doesn't seem

very original. The premise is more of the "Meet

the Parents" variety as our newlywed couple is

requested to return to her parent's kingdom so

that they can have a proper wedding. Fiona's

parents are the King (voiced by John Cleese) and

Queen (voiced by Julie Andrews) of Far Far Away,

a city with streets that look like Rodeo Drive

and palm trees that remind you of Beverly Hills.

They do not know that Shrek is an ogre and that

Fiona, having fallen in love with Shrek, has

herself been transformed into an ogress. So, you

can imagine that first awkward conversation at

the dinner table as they try to get along and to

sort a few issues out.

Movies about in-laws have never thrilled me, and

luckily there are other sources of laughs.

Particularly, the film is a send up of all things

Hollywood. It stylishly borrows from "Lord of

the Rings," "Alien," "Zorro," "Cops" and a bevy

of other recognizable references to keep the

adults entertained. Particularly funny was an

escape sequence in the style of "Mission:

Impossible". It's entertaining all right, but

all of this heavy sampling makes the film seem

like an endless series of spoofs.  

The best laughs come from Shrek's sidekicks. The

wiseacre Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) has

returned to simultaneously annoy and humor us.

But, he's no match for assassin-turned-ally

Puss-in-Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas).

These two grudgingly work together as sort of an

Odd Couple from cartoonland to help Shrek keep

his love from the negative influences of her

father and an evil fairy godmother (voiced by

Jennifer Saunders).

"Shrek 2" is unique moviemaking and this is what

the summer is all about. I suppose that I wished

that there were more going on. The first film

was more of a rousing adventure. This one is

more tepid. It's nonetheless pleasing. But it

would've been nice if the masterminds behind the

story tried a little harder to keep Shrek from

falling into marital complacency.

Grade:        B

S:        1 out of 3

L:        0 out of 3

V:        1 out of 3

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X-RAMR-ID: 37837
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1283746
X-RT-TitleID: 1132597
X-RT-AuthorID: 1370
X-RT-RatingText: B