Outstanding Film

Rating: Null/10 (1 June 2004)

MINOR SPOILERS -
I always find it interesting in reading reviews of sequels. If the sequel is a carbon copy of the original people complain that it's lame and had no originality. When sequels DO move the characters forward people claim that it wasn't similar enough to the original.
This movie was hysterically funny. I laughed non-stop and totally enjoyed it.
Were Shrek and Donkey's characters identical to the first film - absolutely not. Is this good or bad?
Well - if you're looking for it to be identical then I guess it's bad.
If you're looking to see characters evolve as characters often do in serial stories then I guess it's good.
Shrek was not nearly as "Ogre-ish" as he was in the first - but then again he had now fallen in love and was married.
"Is an Ogre grumpy because no one likes him or does no one like an Ogre because he's grumpy?"
I think in the first movie it was brought out that the former was partly true and that once he found love and someone who accepted him for what he was he would mellow a bit. Clearly that was the case here.
Some folks have suggested that Donkey was less annoying than in the first movie - well those folks didn't see the same movie that I did. From the opening sequence where he refused to allow the newlyweds to be alone, to the "Are we there yet?" and on and on I think he was the same character. The writers DID seem to scale back Donkey's part a bit and I think that was a mistake.
Puss 'n Boots was everything that it boasted from all the pre-movie hype. The animation as well as Antonio's acting were super.
There was even more of the great satire in this one than the original.
So many quick little shots of various clips that I think it might take a few viewings to catch them all. My favorite was the big Gingerbread man as a shot at the big Marshmallow guy in Ghostbusters. There was just so much stuff in there.
I hope they do a Shrek 3.