Uh... Tom Waits and Nick Cave? How The Heck Did They Get Invited?

Rating: 7/10 (2 April 2005)

SHREK 2 (3+ outta 5 stars) Not quite as good as the first movie... but still pretty good. I think the main problem is that they tried to squeeze too many characters in from the first movie instead of concentrating on new ones? (Did we really need to see Pinocchio and the Gingerbread Man again?) The highlight of this movie is the introduction of Antonio Banderas as "Puss in Boots" but, PLEASE, IF THERE IS A SHREK 3 YOU DON'T NEED TO SHOE-HORN HIM IN THERE AGAIN! It reminds me of the Saturday Night Live syndrome where they keep doing sketches with the same character but every new sketch is just a little bit less funny than the one before it... until eventually you forget why the character was even funny in the first place. I could have even done without the donkey this time around... but I guess they *had* to put Eddie Murphy back in... even though he served no purpose and wasn't even as funny this time around. On the plus side, there are lots of funny bits... and some touching moments and some decent music (Tom Waits and Nick Cave BOTH contributing to the soundtrack??? Woo hoo! Too bad about that atrocious re-make of The Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen In Love"... couldn't they have just used the original? Why must the children be made to suffer so?) Shrek and Fiona (and Donkey... uh, why is he there again?) take a trip to meet Fiona's folks, whose hoity-toity royal pedigree doesn't quite mesh with their daughter's new-found ogre-ness. There is a new villain this time around (thank goodness they resisted the temptation to bring Farquad back from the dead)... a fairy godmother (played by Jennifer Saunders) who isn't actually as benevolent as she pretends to be. I just wonder if all these modern pop culture references (The Matrix, Americican Idol) are going to make sense to viewers in another 20 years?