Like a chart, it rises and falls

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2008)

Shrek 2 was one of the promising sequels in 2004 where after the first movie was a box-office hit three years before because it introduced a character full of life and energy.
The whole gang's back, but with a little bit less energy.
After Shrek (Mike Myers) and Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) marry from the first film, they come back from their honeymoon where their old pal Donkey (Eddie Murphy) is waiting for them. They receive a note from Fiona's parents (John Cleese and Julia Andrews) that they are invited to stay with them in Far, Far, Away. There are two problems with this situation: 1.) Fiona is now an ogre, 2.) How will she break the news that she's a monster while her husband is not prince charming? In Shrek 2, we get more characters from The Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) who's ticked off after her son Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) didn't marry Fiona to break the spell and threatens Fiona's father if things don't go well as plan. There's Puss-In-Boots (Antonio Banderas), a cat with a Zorro like attitude who shows his "P" signature as he is hired by Fiona's father to take care of the lovable ogre until the jolly green giant gets his hand on him first.
The sequel carries the tradition of the original film where it plays a satire of every pop culture we've seen from movies, television shows and in music. Some parts of the film work, but it doesn't have the same energy as the first movie where it blended in ethnic jokes with bad language; something between Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein as I mentioned in my review of the first movie. Somehow the film itself is like the first film itself, but then again it's Shrek and I like this film. I don't love this film as much as I do with the classic original, but who can resist the lovable ogre?