"Be Yourself"

Rating: 4/10 (18 May 2005)

I am reminded of an old Disney TV special, in which Donald Duck tries to be a singer, a dancer, a juggler, lots of things he simply is not. Walt sticks him to some very sage advice: "Be yourself." I bring this up because this two word homily is but one of the thousands of lessons Dreamworks could learn from the House of Mouse.
"Shrek 2," the annoyingly popular sequel to the irritatingly successful "Shrek" is a prime example of the serious condition that plagues all Dreamworks Animated Films: DERIVATIVITIS!!! The story of S2 is quite good. No, really, it is. Shrek and Fiona are newlyweds, and when they visit the Princess's parents, they are, to put it lightly, shocked to discover their daughter is an ogre. Their taunts get under Shrek's skin and he starts to think maybe Fiona would be better off with a prince. So he, Donkey and a newcomer, Puss (in Boots!) travel the countryside to make what they assume to be Fiona's dream come true. In the end, of course, they learn the importance of being yourself and that love conquers all, two very useful lessons, I think you'll find.
And if that was what the movie was, it'd be great and I'd gladly show it to my hypothetical kids any day of the week. But the plot is incidental to the main reason they made this picture, which is to cram as many jokes, spoofs, takeoffs, lampoons, references and anti-Disney propaganda gags as they possibly can into 86 minutes of celluloid. And, frankly, it gets old!! Someone needs to tell these people that they don't need all this! They don't need "Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin" jokes. They don't need pop culture references. They don't need poorly cast celebrity voices. They don't need popular singles to sell the soundtrack album. They don't need to over-market their movies. Just make movies! Tell your story. The occasional homage to one of your predecessors is understandable in animated film, but don't make that the point of the movie.
Spielberg...Geffen...Katzenberg...just be yourselves! DONALD: "Be yourself"...think it'll work? WALT: It ALWAYS works, Donald.