Never quite as good as its predecessor, but also never claims to be.

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2018)

'Shrek 2 (2004)' doesn't manage to recreate the lighting in a bottle that came before it, but is still a competent sequel that carries a certain charm since it still seems to have been made with complete care. It starts to slightly pander to its genre and lose some of its satire, however (although this is replaced with a more cultural lampooning perspective that works well for its humour). Its never a bad film, and is in fact an extremely enjoyable one throughout, but it lacks that element that made the first stand out. Still, a unique story, funny writing, enthusiastic performances and some great pop culture references (which outweigh the not so great ones) make this an entertaining animation. It's never quite as good as its predecessor, but also never claims to be. 7/10