At first glance it might seem like a terrible idea to go to the cinema with a four year old. They’re loud; they talk during movies, have no attention span and cheerfully demand the rather icky sweets that the Odeon has taken to selling at atrocious prices. So at first glance, bad idea, but no, going to see Shrek 2 with my ickle cousins was fantastic, just confirming the sheer brilliance of this film and pointing out bits of the movie that weren’t immediately funny to me, but the four year old got them straight away. Typical.
Anyway, at the end of Shrek our hero and heroine had gotten married and were off on their honey moon; Shrek was a bit happier, the beautiful Princess Fiona had become a gorgeous green ogre, and Donkey was, um, still Donkey (and if you were lucky enough to be at the Universal Studios Theme Park, you might have caught Shrek 4D, a coda to this movie as our heroes engage in a quick after-marriage adventure with an undead Lord Farquad.) So all is well, and we’re treated to a fantastic honeymoon sequence full of parodies of other movies - my favourite was the One Ring replica being engraved with ‘I love you’ - before Shrek and Fiona head back to married bliss in the swamp.
Unfortunately the in-laws want to meet their daughter’s new husband, so it’s off to Far Far Away (looking astonishingly like a medieval-style Beverly Hills) where we meet a rather vindictive Fairy Godmother,
who was planning for Fiona to marry her own son, Prince Charming. So the in-laws aren’t too impressed with their son-in-law; the Fairy Godmother wants to replace Shrek with her own son, and Donkey finds himself with sex appeal. Are Shrek and Fiona ever going to find their happy ending? Probably, and it’s a darn good ride getting there.
Like all good fairy-tales, Shrek has a moral. It isn’t subtle or groundbreaking, but the moviemakers aren’t bashing it over your head either, which is always nice: love before vanity, and beauty is only skin-deep...gosh, that sounds a bit serious, doesn’t it? Oops. Just move along to the next paragraph, it’s a funny movie, I tell you! Funny!
Right, so superbly reprising their roles from the previous movie are Mike Myers (Shrek), Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona) and Eddie Murphy (Donkey), and this time out they are joined by the utterly marvellous John Cleese (King Harold), Jennifer Saunders (Fairy Godmother), Julie Andrews (Queen Lillian), Rupert Everett (Prince Charming) and the scene stealing Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots). Of the newcomers, it’s Puss in Boots who makes the greatest impression, a somewhat inept assassin, he can be utterly adorable when he wants to - look out for the moments when he makes his eyes all big. He’s rather like Zorro...if Zorro were a talking animal in an animated movie. The bickering between Puss in Boot and Donkey creates many of the movie’s highlights, and, for me at least, its biggest laughs.
My own favourite character though was the Fairy Godmother, as the writers completely subvert her traditional role, resulting in me jumping in my seat and trying to explain to a four year old in a hushed voice why it was so darn clever. She’s like Saruman in a way – at least that’s what I thought when I got my first look at her ‘cottage in the woods,’ and Jennifer Saunders is great in the role, delivering her lines with a steely vindictiveness.
Moving on, the laughs are many. Some greater than others, but there’s something on screen worth a smile virtually the whole time – actually, the level of detail is quite astonishing, with many of the jokes flashing by so quickly that it’d be easy to miss them (The Prince Charles one lasted perhaps half a second and had me missing whatever came after it as I was so amused. Ahem.) There are dozens of movie parodies liberally sprinkled throughout, but the best is the Mission Impossible one as Pinocchio, the Gingerbread Man and Three Blind Mice rescue Shrek and co. The biggest laugh, that of the puppet’s underwear habits is somewhat undermined though by the fact that it was mercilessly used in the trailers for the movie.
And then there’s the music. One of the great scenes in the first movie is Shrek battling Lord Farquad’s guards when he first enters the castle, accompanied by...oh, I forget the song, but it’s a great scene. And the maker’s obviously realised this as they use the same technique several times in this movie and each one is an absolute joy. The escape from the Fairy Godmother’s cottage is gorgeous, featuring some fantastic action sequences and truly imaginative use of the magical potions that have flooded the place. The finale is a stunning musical set piece, featuring the Fairy Godmother’s rendition of “I’m Holding out for a Hero” as Shrek tries to make it to the ball in time to save Fiona, accompanied by a homage to Ghostbusters 2 in the form of a truly giant Gingerbread Man (and I confess, there was a moment here where there was a tear in my eye. Yes, I am that sappy. Sorry.) And as everyone took to the stage for the close of the movie, I would have sung along, if that had not meant admitting I knew the words to the song (that would be the Ricky Martin’s Livin' La Vida Loca ).
On the more technical side of things, there’s the animation, um, I mean CGI, which I was thoroughly impressed by. It’s a huge step up from the last movie, and at times it’s difficult to believe that, no, those aren’t real houses, or real clothes, or real talking rats. The facial expressions in particular are a massive improvement over the original, allowing a real subtlety of expression on the characters’ faces.
Can I say anything bad about this movie? I suppose my greatest criticism is that a lot of the humour goes over younger children’s heads, though that certainly doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy it. Indeed, my cousins (who are four, seven and nine) were incredibly eager to see it again, which was how I ended up getting dragged along in the first place. Oh, and I think I liked the relationship between Shrek and Donkey better in the first movie, here it was a little too cosy, though the presence of Puss in Boots negated the worst of that.
So overall, utterly fabulous. And the best movie I’ve seen this summer. Everything about it is just gorgeous. In fact, writing about it has reminded me of how much I enjoyed it, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just be off to check the showing times at my local cinema.
And don’t forget to stay until the end of the credits!
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Production Year: 2002 - Family - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Marisa Tomei, Lacey Chabert, Lynn Redgrave, Flea, Tim Curry, Rupert Everett
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![Shrek [DVD] [2001]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78533830.jpg "Shrek [DVD] [2001]")
Jul 13th, 2004
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