One of the better films of the past few years

Rating: Null/10 (30 July 2004)

DreamWorks did the impossible in 2001...it beat Pixar! Andrew Adamson's revolutionary animated film, "Shrek", nabbed the Oscar from under "Monsters, Inc."'s ominous shadow. I couldn't agree with the Academy more (and I mostly don't). "Shrek 2" is a significantly better film than the original, but with competition like "The Incredibles", "Shark Tale" and "Home on the Range", repeating the feat may be hard. "Shrek 2" is the continuing story of two ogres (Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz) who aren't quite living as happily ever after as they expected. After a perfect honeymoon, they are summoned to Fiona's parents' (John Cleese and Julie Andrews) kingdom, along with Donkey (Eddie Murphy) but King Harold isn't too happy with his daughter's choice, as she was supposed to marry the prince *he* had picked for her. This Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) is the son of a Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) who helped the king once, and is using her past good deed to blackmail the ruler into getting rid of Shrek so Charming can marry the princess and be the eventual king. The assassin the king hires is none other than a Zorro spoof, a cute kitty called Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas). The animation of "Shrek" was *revolutionary*, while the animation of "Shrek 2" is *evolutionary*. This doesn't stop it from looking much better than the first film, the humans looking like they are *actually* talking. The story is much more complicated and twists, turns and twists again in a shorter running time than the original. Three dominating factors: 1) Hilarity that never lets up (you can be sure that an emotional moment will be rudely interrupted by a sidesplitting joke); 2) Puss in Boots; 3) Lots and lots of songs. There are a lot of songs borrowed from other films and artists. The songs are excellent, and this time around the characters themselves sing a lot more. The highlights are "Ever Fallen In Love" and the spectacular Eddie Murphy/Antonio Banderas duet, "Livin' La Vida Loca". Speaking of Puss, Donkey has a right to be jealous, as this adorable kitty is a consistent show-stealer, and Banderas' brilliant performance overshadows most of the others most of the time. The film spoofs traditional fairy tales and a lot more modern stuff, like Julie Andrews, "Zorro", "The Lord of the Rings" and "Spider-Man". "Shrek 2" is one film that very few can beat. Magnificent. (9.5/10)