A sequel fit for an Ogre.

Rating: 9/10 (25 November 2019)

Shrek 2 is the perfect sequel experience.
It works partly because it answers all the questions raised by Shrek 1. it also uses for its premise the very complications and implications that would arise from the conclusions that the first movie gave us.
The first movie was about a hard edged individual marginalized by a prejudiced society rediscovering his own capacity for tenderness and beating some stereotypes in the process.
Now we have the same character desperately trying to aspire to these new pressures placed upon him and worrying he cannot quite measure up without help from a magical source.
Some people felt this movie sacrificed heart in favour of pop-culture gags but I feel this is solid story telling. Shrek 1 (as much as I love it) loses a lot of momentum in the middle, after they've saved Fiona. But here it's a none stop adventure across physical land and the self (mentally AND physically) with all the anarchic humour and epic fight scenes that made us love the original.
One might have thought they were jumping the shark with Puss, but he supplements the action brilliantly, complimenting rather than eclipsing the impeccable chemistry between Shrek and Donkey even if he is really just there for comic relief and with no real substance but then again I suppose his own story really ended with his own prequel spin-off. It's funny because an ogre was the antagonist in Puss's original story... XD
The fairy Godmother makes a delicious villain and J. Walters could not be more impacting as the darker side of class, again, subverting the classical fairy tale with a fresh panache. Prince Charming too could not have been better characterized. It could have came across as a little homophobic but they judged it just right.
The peripheral cast is all there and used to great effect before we all got sick of them.
The textures, the command of music original or otherwise, the plotting and the sheer razzle dazzle of the whole thing makes this a wonderful picture to enjoy again and again no matter what age you are. Its existence is truly justified and the only thing about it I'd object to is its use of lavatorial humour which i'm a buit sensitive about.
But in conclusion, if you're going to see one animated sequel ever you could do little better than this.