Amusing Animation

Normally I consider sequel-itus to be a very painful condition to endure. A studio decides to use a successful formula to emulate a past success; normally resulting in a disappointing rehash of the original that only serves to tarnish its memory. Just think 'The Matrix' and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and Shrek (Mike Myers) return from a romantic ogre-imbued Honeymoon to find Donkey (Eddie Murphy) on a break from Dragon and staying in their house at the swamp. Soon after they receive a summons to visit Princess Fiona's parents in the Hollywood style town of Far Far Away which even has the town's name imprinted on the nearby hills. Fiona's parents (John Cleese and Julie Andrews) are not too happy to see their daughter's unexpected appearance and soon the Godfather style Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) is expecting the King to somehow honour his promise of marrying Fiona to her own son, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett). Puss in Boots - strangely reminiscent of Antonio Banderas' other role as Zorro - is despatched to sort Shrek out, but ends up ruffling Donkey's fur when he feels forced by duty into helping Shrek fight to keep Fiona.

In all honesty the other characters are fun, but they appear more to fulfil a purpose. Diaz doesn't seem to have quite the same opportunity to show the stronger side of Fiona; whilst Myer's Scottish accent still seems to be a bit dodgy at times, but is still distinctive enough to portray the grumpy and love-struck ogre. Jennifer Saunders is sufficiently scheming, Julie Andrews maternal, and John Cleese adequate as the disappointed father. This is probably exactly as it should be, as too many overblown characters would have led to 'Shrek 2' becoming a hyperactive mess.

The animation is, yet again, of an excellent standard. Even the more minor characters appear to have a great deal of time and effort devoted into making them seem as rich and detailed as the rest. Obviously Princess Fiona, Shrek and Donkey all appear similar to their first outing, but even these characters are a tiny bit more detailed. The real genius is in the new characters. The two that particular caught my eye were Puss in Boots and Fairy Godmother. Puss's fur appears to have texture as it ruffles and flattens to show his mood, whilst his eyes are able to open up into large watery pools; whilst the Fairy Godmother seems to have real brightness in her rounded cheeks and twinkling eyes that are able to shift at the slightest moment to show her more threatening side.

Music is also important to the film, and most people will find themselves being carried away by the majority of the tracks in the film. For some reason the choice has been made to replace David Bowie's version of 'Changes' and the Buzzcocks' 'Ever Fallen in Love' with rather tame alternatives that can't help but hit a slightly disappointing note.