Should be called "Prince Charming, part 1"

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2009)

Shrek 2 is not an animated movie in any common sense one would or could expect. It is a real movie disguised in an animated form. If you look at it that way, you can much better understand the 'subtle' layer under-laying below the surface which is rude, arrogant and shallow.
Durring the film I was a bit disappointed about direction story went on, the intro was great, but afterwords turned into a modern typical Hollywood sitcom with every bunch of trash you can imagine about it. No Pixar's deep emotional screen writing here, sorry. Instead, you get a parody to it's limit about human nature that needs to be 'explored'.
This movie (Part I, as I call it) is not about Shrek. The main character here, you wan't believe it, is Prince Charming (and his mother). They portray human greed, weakness about controlling their pre-programmed lives, unable to cope with reality, living in their own factory of dreams. By no coincidence, Prince Charming is at moments emotional (crying), and angry in its extreme, swinging between those two feelings. Society not accepting his behavior shows cruelty (laughing) that evokes an emotion of abandoned, loneliness, disappointment and despair. A natural response to this is a defensive mechanism imprinted in every living soul as an anger and wish for a revenge. Unfortunately, he is just 'a human' unable to cope with his loss, with his anger and turns into a cold creature seeking the revenge. Does anyone recognize yourself in here? By contrast, an 'ugly' (by today's marketing & human standards, at least) Ogr is eventually well accepted despite his origin, since he shows common human being qualities.
This is the reason I think the main character is not only Shrek (and Fiona), who are slightly pushed aside in 2nd and 3rd sequel, respectively. The leak of subtlness in the story is what makes this sequel weaker than the first one (altought the chosen story is by no means weak and uninteresting); the way it was realized does.