My favourite in the 'Shrek' franchise

Rating: 10/10 (31 March 2014)

I remember seeing this in the cinema 10 years ago after having already enjoyed the first. When I finished watching this, I found it even better than the first one. At university today while myself and my fellow classmates were getting on with our own work, one of them put on this film as some background noise and we all laughed at it so hard.
The animation here is just as good as that in the original while the backgrounds and human character designs are realistic. I also liked the usual designs on Shrek (as well as his transformation into a human), Fiona (who temporarily turns into human form) and Donkey while Puss in Boots was an amusing new supporting character that also looked realistic. The dialogue has a similar formula to that in the original and some similar lines but it is still engaging and hilarious. I liked how the script paid homage not only to various fairy tales some films ('Lord of the Rings' and 'The Wizard of Oz)' and a couple of nursery rhymes ('Jack and Jill' and 'Do You Know the Muffin Man') but also modern culture such as one of the musicians playing the 'Hawaii Five-O' theme on the trumpet (that really cracked me up today), Far, Far Away being based on Hollywood and 'Knights' being a spoof of 'Cops.' This film uses a similar technique to 'The Flintstones' (that combined the 1960s with the Stone Age) by combining the Middle Ages with the early 21st century. Moving onto the voice acting, Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy did as solid a job as voicing their characters in the first while Antonio Banderas as Puss, Julie Andrews as the Queen, John Cleese as the King, Rupert Everett as Prince Charming and Jennifer Saunders as the Fairy Godmother were equally entertaining. The soundtrack is also very good. It consists of a fantastical musical score plus original pop songs such as 'Accidentally In Love' by Counting Crows, 'Funkytown' by Lipps Inc, the Fairy Godmother's song she performs when she is first introduced plus also her rendition of Bonnie Tyler's 'Holding Out For A Hero' and Puss and Donkey's rendition of Ricky Martin's 'Livin' La Vida Loca.'
Overall this is a funny and charming second instalment in the 'Shrek' franchise with a cracking soundtrack and great new characters. 10/10.