A classic

Rating: 8/10 (27 May 2004)

If admitting you were wrong makes you a bigger man, then by the end of this review I should be as big as an ogre.
It all started when I miscalculated the popularity of the Shrek sequel and I showed up to the theatre a mere 20 minutes before show time. The first, second, third and fourth showings were sold out and I was now left with the option of purchasing a ticket for a film that was not starting for almost two hours.
Reluctantly, I purchased a ticket and headed to the concession stand where I waited another 30 minutes before getting served (no complaints, I was in no hurry). So I sauntered to the theatre where screaming children and patient parents were in abundance. Now one hour plus before the start of the film, I was searching for a seat.
My second mistake was thinking that Shrek 2 was going to follow the typical sequel rules and provide me with entertainment that would be just below the standard set by the first film. Rarely are sequels anything but drawn out attempts to try and recapture the energy and success of the first, and Hollywood has rarely seemed to figure this out. By the time Shrek 2 was over my faith had been restored (if only temporarily).
Shrek 2 picks up where Shrek left off. Shrek and Fiona are now married and the movie commences with their honeymoon and an invitation back to Far Far Away Land to meet Fiona's parents. The only problem is that the king and queen think their daughter has been rescued by Prince Charming and not a green, rude, slob of an ogre. Their uncomfortability at the inaugural first meeting was reminiscent of many of my first dinners with previous dating partners' parents without the food stabbing or talking donkey. The movie then follows the king as he tries to scuttle the marriage and Shrek as he tries to atone for his behavior with his new bride.
Shrek 2 does take longer to get its gears in motion than the first, but when Shrek, Donkey and Fiona hit Far Far Away Land, the movie picks up a frantic pace of pop culture references and movie spoofs that will leave your head spinning trying to keep up. Whether it is the city streets that don spoofs of The Gap and Burger King or the hilarious take of Mission Impossible 2 with Pinocchio as Tom Cruise, the film goes for the gusto and doesn't allow you to catch your breath before throwing you another 'where-do-I-know-that-from'.
And if the first Shrek brought us a few familiar fairy tale characters like the Big Bad Wolf and Three Blind Mice, Shrek 2 sees that ante and raises it two-fold. Blink and you might not see the Wicked Witch at the Poison Apple Bar or The Little Mermaid being eaten by a shark. Each cartoon character will remind you of your bedtime stories as a child and you will leave the theatre with cheeks that hurt from the 90-minute grin on your face.
My third and fourth mistakes were thinking that Eddie Murphy had lost his talent to be funny and that Shrek 2 could not replace the interesting evil Lord Farquaad of Duloc. Eddie has not made me laugh in more than 10 years and his with a filmography that includes The Adventures of Pluto Nash and I Spy, his agent should be shot and tossed overboard for securing deals for Mr. Murphy to star in such underachieving vehicles. Donkey (Murphy) provides some of the best lines in the film and his overt jealously over the affection of Shrek with the character voiced by Antonio Bandares made me forget that I was watching computer-generated animals instead of real people.
The villains in Shrek 2 an upgrade from the first film and that says plenty considering the energy and comedic indifference brought to the screen by John Lithgow's Farquaad brought us in 2001. Maybe that is because there are so many evildoers in Shrek 2 that it keeps it more interesting. The Fairy Godmother and her son Prince Charming are the obvious scoundrels in part two, but the king and even the Bandares' Puss In Boots start out as characters out for their own agenda until struck with a sense of responsibility. The combination of these characters all at one time after the misunderstood Shrek ups the ante of the evil quotient, and the audience is better of because of it.
For all my misconceptions before the film even began that were corrected, I will concur that the movie is not perfect. There is a musical number with the Fairy Godmother and talking furniture that was hard to understand and too Disney for a film that tries to be better than anything that Studio has generated over the past decade. And maybe it was just me, but I thought the animation was not as crisp as the first. Maybe we have been spoiled by computer-generated films like Monsters Inc. and Ice Age over the last few years and we don't marvel at the complexity of the images any more. But I remember sitting almost jaw-agape in Shrek while I thought some of the images in Shrek 2 were unclear or lacked detail.
But maybe I am just nitpicking. For Shrek 2 is one of the best films of the year even if we haven't reached the half way mark yet. The finale of the film set to Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero was rousing and the most entertaining sequence I have seen an animated film as yet. As Shrek jumps from the Ghostbusters inspired Gingerbread Man, I almost cheered out loud along with my youthful audience in support of our unexpecting warrior. And anything that can excite me is definitely worth noting.
A classic.