Tries to cram a 2 hour movie into 90 minutes

Rating: 6/10 (23 May 2007)

I love Shrek. My daughter and I saw the first one in the theater 5 times. And it took me a while to come around, but I really like the second one. This installment had so much potential, but its biggest failure is the attempt to do way too much in too little time.
Is it funny? Mostly. Are there lovable characters, old and new? Yes. But the writers decided to split up Fiona and Shrek, devoting about 45 minutes to Shrek, 35 to Fiona, and 10 to the bad guys. The plot felt very rushed. I know kids have a short attention span and it's time consuming to animate a CGI movie, but the movie would have certainly benefited from more time - about 30 minutes more. And they could have cut the entire high school scene. It was stupid and pointless.
That being said, the babies - ogre and dragon/donkey - were adorable. Snow White - brilliant. The disclosure of where Fiona got her fighting skills was hilarious. Eric Idle and John Cleese were terrific, as were Antonio Banderas and Eddie Murphy. The movie is worth seeing, just not 5 times.