90% awesome, 10% groan gags

Rating: 9/10 (9 July 2004)

I missed this on opening weekend because I was out of town, but the wife and kids raved after seeing it and I loved the first, so off I went.
The bad news is that Far Far Away is a lengthy, often lame in-joke about LA and Pop Culture. IMHO: it could have been scrapped. Where Du Loc's barbs at Disney were sharp (and quickly over) in the first, the second movie goes on and on (and on...) about the LA lifestyle or something. Yeah, the Farbucks joke was funny, and some of the signs were worth a chuckle, but the red carpet gags and endless "LA is shallow" bit was boring. It just all went over the kids' heads, and it didn't sink the film.
OK, that out of the way, the rest of the movie was everything that it needed to be to live up to the first while continuing on with the tale. Puss in Boots wasn't as awesome to me as he was to everyone else, apparently, but different tastes and all that. The story was sweet without being sugary. The "villians" weren't the crazy "take-over-the-world" sort, they had motivations and character. The good guys were good, the action was fun and even Eddie Murphy (who's act has really started to wear thin for yours truly) was worth having along. The CGI is definitely a notch up, the jokes (outside of the above) were funny. I laughed quite a bit and I know there were bits in the background that I missed (especially in the Poison Apple Bar). You can see the effort that went in to making the world of Shrek more than just background for the plot.
9 out of 10. I'll be first in line for the DVD.