Shrek 2 (2004)

Shrek 2

Rental

Fe Fi Ho Hum. As with all visceral disappointments, Shrek 2 stymied

my ability to write for well over a week (or two- gulp). Long(ish)

time readers may recall that I found the first Shrek to be funny, but

hardly an enduring classic like Pixar's Monster's Inc of the same

year. It should be noted, too, that Pixar lost the first-ever

Animated Feature Oscar to Shrek despite Monsters Inc. having all

those qualities that are truly Oscar worthy. I would put at the top

of this list (much the same list that qualifies a Classic) is a lack

of reliance on pop culture ephemera to make a weak joke that does not

drive the plot. But Shrek the first, for all its easy jokes, pop

culture anachronisms, and hit singles, was, at least, funny. Shrek

2:  Not So Much.

Yes, yes, yes, Antonio Banderas voicing Puss in Boots is funny for

the scant 10 minutes of screen time he gets. But when the best humor

is from his line delivery and not the lines itself, you have to

wonderŠ Another two examples of better casting than writing: Rupert

Everett and Jennifer Saunders in the roles of Prince Charming and

Fairy Godmother. And John Cleese with the King, to be sure. Divine

casting, but given little to do. Even our leads seem like they

didn't do much - the movie is all little asides and visual product

placement gags, it feels like nothing happened at all. The animation

is, I must admit, superb. But my word, the spaces between even the

easy laughs were unbearable. When I did find mirth, I felt almost as

if I had betrayed the spirit of the film.

Shrek 2 returns us to Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey only moments after we

left them, newly wedded and going to meet her parents. The Hollywood

references for the princess' homeland (Far Far Away) are all too

easy, too obvious. Genuinely good ideas get glimpsed and shunted off

in favor of another Starbucks dig. Abundant product placement jokes,

would could have been punny fun, fell flat and sour. You see the

too-familiar corporate logos out of focus, but you recognize the logo

because of its irritating ubiquitousness anyway, but what you can't

see, because it is out of focus, is that it is a joke product, such

as Tower of London Records. So, the joke is blurred, and your mind

only registers "Tower Records" and "Starbucks," even though they want

to make a funny. Devious. Ditto Burger King, Subway, more - they

were so fast and/or blurry that we couldn't even mine them for the

cheap laughs they could have been. The list of sponsors is as

embarrassingly long as the product tie ins for (gulp) Cat in the Hat.

To be fair, I will admit that Starbucks (I forget the joke name for

it, Farbucks?) provided one of the biggest laughs for meŠthink

Stay-Puft Gingerbread Man.

Come to think of it, Mike Myers' love for product placement humor

goes all the way back to 1992's Wayne's World. When will he let it

go? Sure, we can say it's the filmmakers or the studio, the

animators or the writers. But Myers is a brand unto himself, and no

one can possibly be left who is so naïve as to think these things

aren't interrelated.

The marketing push has been a huge turnof. Selling Shrek as this

long lost beloved character who kids have been writing Santa to

resuscitate has lent the whole enterprise a flavor of ick that the

film itself just couldn't shake. Not that Shrek 1 wasn't funny. But

come on. And on top of that, my pet peeve: the best moments were all

ruined by the previews.

Shrek 2 feels less like a comedy and even more like a shilling

hootenanny than before. The clever jokes (there are some) and the

aforementioned great comic vocal performances save the movie from

being a total bore, but god help you if you pay more than Rental

price. People I know and even respect enjoyed it, but maybe they

just don't see enough good movies to know what should have been. How

arrogant of me. But I was so, so very disappointed.

I didn't expect a classic, but I did hope to come out reasonably glad

I went in.

-- 

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These reviews (c) 2004 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to

forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can

check out previous reviews at:

http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the

Online Film Critics Society

http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock

Exchange Brokerage Resource

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X-RT-RatingText: 3/5