Snappy, wholesome and very funny in a number of places; Shrek 2 extends the invigorating politics of the first into a finer and more rewarding second showing.

Rating: 7/10 (11 May 2011)

This first Shrek sequel loses none of that high and mighty but exceedingly mirth-inducing attitude with which it has in regards to fairy tales; nursery rhymes and mythical tales. Indeed, the film opens in the vein of the first as if beginning with a fanciful fairytale we've all heard before when it establishes one character: "Rode. For days and nights on end. Through scorching deserts and across mountain ranges. To a far off locale, and all in the name of true love".......but then at the end of it all, complains about the blisters he got in doing it after having been more than disgruntled at what awaited him in the bed housing his damsel. When we begin, the titular Shrek (Myers) and his new wife Fiona (Diaz) are living the dream; the uppity old ogre from the first film has found somebody he doesn't mind within the radius of about fifty miles of the locale that is his secluded swamp, whereas Fiona has, in her own mind, found that true love-cum-happiness she always wished for - albeit under a differing guise to what she first presumed. Their co-existence is established via an array of popular movie moments, one romantic instance of which calls to mind that of 2004's other seasonal blockbuster Spider-Man 2; a semiotically driven instance bringing to mind the intense ties those predominant characters shared in said film and utilising that to act as an extension to where Shrek and Fiona are in relation to each other here. As was in the first film, Eddie Murhpy's character Donkey is still knocking about and as was in the first film, he's remains both overstaying his welcome in the company of the protagonists and annoying them with his chatter.
This domestic bliss is broken by the arrival of a royal troupe of trumpeters and their messenger, a statement of which arrives with him informing Fiona that she must, at once, report home to her parents in a place known as The Kingdom of Far Far Away which they rule. Gripes aside, the threesome push off; once there, the kingdom being a very different locale to that of what a sheltered existence in a tower for most of one's life or the living in a swamp off of the land is like. Arriving to a track entitled "Funky Town", instilling a sense of niche, corporate credibility about proceedings, the trio uncover a place steeped in materialism; capitalism; supply; demand and a place which actually contains streets, roads, laws and an order - Shrek and the crew have their work cut out. The fact these fish are out of their proverbial waters are the least of their worries, Shrek's clashing with the John Cleese voiced King Harold, Fiona's father, the result of initial coming-togethers going awry; the expansive first dinner they all have together seeing Shrek positioned in front of a stuffed hawk mounted on the wall up and behind him as the proverbial vultures circle. Harold and Shrek's clashing carries with it an amusing undercurrent of class distinction, the fact Harold et al. are humans and Shrek is an ogre (running on how we all know human's react to such) are surface binary oppositions to that of Shrek's humble, essentially farm based background, up against that of the king and queen's rich, expansive and affluent lifestyle in this consumerist driven Dystopia.
Things are complicated further when a hideous creation in the form of The Fairy Godmother (Saunders) arrives, a sort of grotesque extension of this world's ideologies; a celebrity in these parts whom whips crowds into frenzies and plays up to a kindred, spirited surface persona but is internally morally decrepit. Here is a creature whose idea of happiness is in the form of a tonic designed to gloss over all of life's problems, before quick-marching to a designated point in one's existence which encompasses artificially photogenic partners; lots of clothes and labels on top of rich, faux-rewarding surroundings â€“ much rather than a conclusion someone may have reached naturally with somebody else for what it is they are.
The film gleefully covers Shrek's exposure to such a world, threatening to contaminate his own beliefs and question his own position on such things in relation to Fiona, with whom his life was perfect before any of this even arrived. Oddly, however, it is Harold's own sub-plot which is arguably more affecting; a trip to a dingy tavern in a disguise the bouncer easily sees through not only implies a prior history of turning to these means to sort out a problem, but allows somewhat of a show-stealing turn to arrive in the form of a mercenary named Puss (spoofed from the centuries old Perrault "Booted Cat" novel) and voiced by Antonio Banderas in a send up of his Zorro role long enough after 1998's The Mask of Zorro but too prematurely in regards to said film's 2005 sequel.
If anything, Shrek 2 is better than the first; a more involving effort, a film taking the politics and overall study with which was imbued in the first and advancing it a step further in what is a more exciting and substantial piece. Its narrative is additionally far more interesting; it makes better use of its antagonist on top of the film just having more of an immediacy to it and its attention to character is not limited to that of its leads, thus resulting in a better and more rounded piece. Some of Shrek 2's scenes of great drama hinge on instances such as an internal conflict of morals an elderly king has regarding his daughter's future; in the first, needlessly extended scene of an escape tidbit from a dragon's lair or sub-Graduate "must stop the wedding" sequences were utilised as more spectacle driven incidences of drama and peril. Smart, wry and devilishly funny, Shrek 2 is a more than substantial animation.