Review 55: Shrek 2

 

Shrek 2 is an amazing sequel and possibly the best instalment in the Shrek franchise.

Shrek (Mike Meyers) has rescued Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), got married, and now is time to meet the parents. Shrek, Fiona and Donkey set off to Far, Far Away to meet Fiona's mother Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) and father King Harold (John Cleese). But not everyone is happy. Shrek and the King find it hard to get along, and there's tension in the marriage. It's not just the family who are unhappy. Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) returns from a failed attempt at rescuing Fiona, and works alongside his mother, the Fairy Godmother (Jenifer Saunders), to try and find a way to get Shrek away from Fiona.

The plot is (to quote Roger Ebert) bright, lively, quick-paced and highly entertaining.
If the moral of the first film was Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover, then the moral of Shrek 2 is most defiantly: People will love and appriciate you for who you are and with.
Shrek desperately wants to get Fiona's parents blessing

Shrek thinks that by drinking the potion and turning him and Fiona into beautiful peopel will make things better, whereas the Fairy Godmother wants to Fiona to be with the "charming" Prince Charming and for Shrek to be on his own and for everything to be perfect, but Shrek and Fiona in the end realise that they are happy just as they are. And it does a great job parodying family relationships: when Shrek and Fiona's dad first meet they don't exactly get along very well and that's what leads to (even though he is reluctant) to join forces with the Fairy Godmother and to hire Puss in Boots to kill Shrek but eventually he too accepts Fiona as She is but I'm not gonna say anymore.

Returning Director Andrew Adamson's animation direction is top notch, the animation is colourful and way better than the first film, the score by Harry Gregson-Williams is fantastic, the scenery is breathtaking, the production design is gorgeous particularly for Far Far Away, the character design is tremendous (the human and stallion versions of Shrek and Donkey respectively look brilliant), the sound effects are great, there are some really witty pop culture references (the Fairy Godmother cottage is molded on the cottage from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Shrek refers to Finoa's parents messengers as Sargent Pompus and the fancy pants club band is a reference to the Beatles final album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), there are some great scenes of intensity, there are some great moments of laughter (I adore the scene were Shrek, Fiona and Donkey are at Far Far Away yet and Shrek and Fiona keep telling him "No") and the ending was superb.

The whole voice cast was wonderful, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz give possibly their best performances of the franchise  Shrek doesn't feel he's good enough for Fiona

Antonio Banderas is estupendo addition to the series voicing Puss in Boots, a character loosely based the titular character of the fairy tale "Puss in Boots". Sauve, charasmatic,  

John Cleese and Julie Andrews are fabulous as King Harold and Queen Lillian, Fiona's parents. Harold is a man with a prejudice, who looks down on Shrek because he's an Ogre and is upset at him for runining a deal that he made with the Fairy Godmother that Fiona would marry Prince Charming.  But deep down, he does love Fiona and only wants what he thinks is best for her. Lillian, on the other hand, is more open-minded of the two.

Rupert Everett and Jennifer Saunders make for a simply inspired villains playing Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother respectively. They bring so much charm and charisma to their characters that it makes them oddly likeable in way.

Shrek 2 is a truly awspiring sequel and for me a benchmark for other sequels in general, 5/5.

The Anonymous Critic