Shrek 2

Because I was serving a mission in the Philippines, I missed seeing "Shrek 2" in theaters when it came out. Thanks to a family screening however, I have seen this movie on the big screen. There was so much potential for a sequel to "Shrek" because for the original film, the filmmakers created a fairytale world that resembles the modern day. There was room for more satire. We get plenty of pop culture references in this movie but the filmmakers did not sacrifice story for laughs. Shrek undertakes a fun but dramatic new adventure with this friends. I am happy the plot thickens just like other successful sequels. Story risks were taken and new characters were introduced to great affect.

The film's storybook opening mirrors the first movie's and it is a great indication that the sequel has not lost the sincerity of the original film. I like the "home movie" shot that reintroduces Shrek and Fiona. The opening sequence that showcases the honeymoon is fun with references to "From Here to Eternity", "The Little Mermaid", "The Lord of the Rings" and "Spider-Man" but the montage is important story-wise because we need to be reminded of the unique love that Shrek and Fiona have for each other. "Shrek 2" explores a relatable concern for any newly married man: fitting in with the in-laws. Considering the fact that Shrek's in-laws are royals, there is inherent conflict that awaits our hero in the kingdom of Far Far Away. I didn't get the "Sergeant Pompous and the Fancy Pants Club Band" joke until years after the film came out. As a Beatles fan, that is a funny one. Far Far Away is an obvious reference to Beverly Hills. There is some great editing as King Harold and Queen Lillian walk out to meet Shrek and Fiona. I love how Shrek and Fiona pass by the angry mob characters as Shrek mentions torch burning. That taxidermy hawk behind Shrek during dinner is genius. This particular scene is very relatable for any father/son in law. I also enjoy the small mention to a major part of the story of the first film that Shrek owns his own land. We get some great animation when Shrek is choking on his spoon. Because of the Fairy Godmother's introductory song, which reminds me of the Robin Hood scene from the first movie, we see her as a diva. She appears to be still "under contract" in helping the King and Queen with Fiona's well being so it is not surprising that she astonished to meet Shrek. The arguments between Shrek and Fiona at the start of the movie do feel a little negative but there must be conflict for the sake of the story. The relationship between Shrek and Fiona takes on a sense of realism because a marriage requires work. Shrek and Fiona may have similarities but they are still from two very different worlds. Seeing as how Shrek and Fiona are going to be away from each other for the middle part of the movie, having their last talk be an argument is important to the story. At first, King Harold comes across as an antagonist but we shouldn't be so hard on him. Everyone misjudges Shrek when they first meet him. King Harold is a hypocrite though as we learn at the end of the movie. Then comes the revelation that Godmother has more to do with the story that we thought. We pity King Harold now because Godmother is blackmailing him. I love the Medieval Meal gag by the way. I am grateful that the filmmakers expanded the plot from the original film. We knew that Fiona was locked in that tower because of her curse but throughout this movie we get more details. At first though, we don't know exactly what Godmother did to help King Harold and that is saved for the climax although there are a few hints. The Justin Timberlake reference is interesting because he is in the next Shrek movie. As Shrek reads Fiona's childhood diary, he fully realizes that if he doesn't get along with his in-laws that he could lose her. After finding out that Puss is a "hitcat" hired by the king, Shrek feels it is proof that his in-laws will never accept him and that is why he seeks out Godmother's help. If he can't fit in Far Far Away as an ogre, he is willing to take on radical changes in order to make Fiona happy. One of my favorite lines in "Shrek 2" is "Join the club. We got jackets." I would think that DreamWorks would introduce such a jacket as merchandise: "I misjudged Shrek". I like the irony in this show that Shrek is getting used of people accepting him. That is quite funny considering how much he wanted that in the last show. As we see in the fourth film though, DreamWorks went too far with this.

The King Harold plotline does good things for the story because we can tell for example that he feels guilt as he and his wife prepare for the ball. We can sense some goodness in him, which is the love he has for his daughter. I love the chitchat that Shrek has while in disguise on Godmother's factory floor. Later, if you are watching Puss carefully as he volunteers to test the potion they stole, you can tell that he is tricking Donkey into doing it instead. That is some subtle humor that entertains you after multiple viewings of "Shrek 2". The most impressive part about this film is Shrek's human form. It resembles his ogre form a lot and yet he is still handsome. He has the same scruffy jaw and while he has shrunk in size, his body shape is somewhat retained. They didn't make human Shrek skinny in other words. His eyes haven't changed obviously and his ears stick out a tad. The animation on Donkey as a stallion is very impressive also. If you are paying attention, one of the cute farm girls in named Jill and she fetches Shrek a pail of water. We get another comment on fairytale clichés with the line "Why is it always midnight?" The gag of Shrek's tight new clothing isn't funny until Donkey and Puss laugh hysterically. That is a great way to take unoriginal humor and make it original. I love the other gag of Donkey's painful cry as he is "run over". It sounds completely phoney. I like the reaction of the three mob members when they meet Shrek as a human. Things seem to be going just fine for Shrek until Godmother & Charming make an intelligent move. Then, Godmother plays upon Shrek's desire to make Fiona happy. Godmother reminds Shrek that he was sacrificing himself for Fiona and should except her "choice" in a new love. He doesn't know that Charming is pretending to be him and because Fiona's happiness means a lot to Shrek, he quietly leaves. Fiona's childhood diary and how bad things are going with the in-laws are also factors. It is fate however that things be set right because by coincidence, Shrek and the others are at The Poison Apple when King Harold arrives for an emergency meeting of the conspirators. Shrek learns everything the audience knows including the blackmail of the King. We again see that Harold is a father first and cannot bring himself to putting Fiona under another spell. When King Harold gives Fiona the tea, we assume he has given in to Godmother because he stops Fiona from drinking a certain cup. The filmmakers still deceive everyone in the audience by way of perspective. The red carpet sequence for the ball is well done from a cinematography standpoint. The camera work resembles award preshows on TV. Joan Rivers' cameo is great as well. It terms of referencing the modern day world however, the best example in "Shrek 2" is the "Knights" TV show immediately following. We have hilarious gags that parody "Cops", O. J. Simpson and my favorite: pepper spray. What I find really funny is that the pepper grinder actually works in subduing someone. I like how some memorable secondary characters from the first film become important to the story. At first they are humorously housesitting for Shrek until they found out that he is in trouble. Come to think of it, how did Gingy, Pinocchio and the others get to Far Far Away so fast? That is one big plot hole when you think about it. The reference to "Mission: Impossible" and the underwear joke were really good.

The climax of this movie is better than that of the first show. "Holding Out for a Hero" (Jennifer Saunders' version) was so well written to create intensity & suspense and the editing during the song adds to this climatic mood. We pray that Shrek can make it to the party in time. I like the animation of Godmother as she sings because she appears desperate on persuading Fiona to kiss Charming. Just as it looks like Fiona is going to allow a kiss, Shrek dramatically bursts in with "Hey, you! Back away from my wife." This is Mike Myers' best-read line in this whole film and the musical score helps in making it a true challenge. Now that Shrek and his friends are in the castle, they execute phase two of the plan to get the wand from Godmother. Because the audience didn't see this part of the plan coming, the intense feeling of the climax is maintained. I laugh at how the Big Bad Wolf helps in a way we weren't expecting but makes perfect sense. When Charming kisses Fiona, the hearts of most audience members stop but smart people in the audience are also being entertained. During the slow motion shot of King Harold's brave act, I like to watch Shrek's performance. He has heroically pushed Fiona out of the way and just as the bolt of magic is about to hit him, he reacts as if he fully expected to be hit. King Harold later admits his fault in judging Shrek when he himself was also green to begin with and that was needed resolution for the story. Also, Shrek finally gets the chance to offer his sacrifice to Fiona as an expression of his love. He is willing to be human if that is what Fiona wants. The film concludes with a Ricky Martin song. It is so bad of an idea that it worked in my opinion.

This sequel was in production even before the first film was released. Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio were going to repeat as screenwriters but did not agree with the direction the film was going. Andrew Adamson's story was just fine in my opinion because there was still a great balance of humor and heart. Because of how well the returning cast members did, we tend forget about them as we watch the movie. Shrek, Donkey and Fiona feel like real characters as opposed to digitally animated models that sound like Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz. A sequel must introduce new characters that fit alongside those of the previous installment and "Shrek 2" did just find. The filmmakers took a risk in turning the Shrek and Donkey duo into a trio with Puss in Boots. Antonio Banderas took his performance from "The Mask of Zorro" and made it even more comedic for the Shrek universe. Puss fits just fine alongside Shrek and Donkey because Shrek is the straight man, Donkey provides the jokes and Puss is a mixture of both. Puss also clashes with Donkey and this creates enjoyment. Personally though, I don't see what is so funny about Puss when he does the eyes thing. It is funny but not that funny. The fight Puss has with Shrek when they first meet is pretty great thanks to the music, cinematography, editing and Myers' performance. One of Puss' favorite lines for me is "I hate Mondays." What is even cooler about this reference to pop culture is that Puss is the same color as Garfield. The Fairy Godmother is based on her counterpart from "Cinderella" and Glinda from "The Wizard of Oz". When we see her factory, she also resembles a Bond villain. Mike Myers has experience battling a Bond-type villain so Godmother is a good arch-villain for Shrek. Her most evil quality is her power of manipulation. To play the king and queen of Far Far Away, DreamWorks enlisted a king of comedy and a queen of musical film. I feel that John Cleese's voice didn't fit perfectly for his character while Julie Andrews was amazing as a voice of reason for King Harold. This isn't the first time that Cleese has voiced a frog prince of sorts because he was Jean-Bob on "The Swan Princess". You can't help but love talk show host Larry King as the Ugly Stepsister, Doris. You get a huge laugh when you first hear his voice because you are not expecting it and Doris' body language hilariously resembles Larry King a lot in that first scene in The Poison Apple. If I were in charge of casting, I would have never thought of this in a million years. I also can't imagine how Larry King was convinced to sing "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" on the Far Far Away Idol contest on the DVD. The character of Doris won by the way on the Internet. Rupert Everett has played villainous and romantic characters before so his performance as Prince Charming was just fine. Jennifer Saunders was also noteworthy. The technology seen on "Shrek 2" is also impressive. The settings were more complex and human characters were improved upon. The most realistic human characters are Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming. Character movements feel less artificial when compared to that of the first movie. Songs are very important to the Shrek films. I would like to mention the Oscar nominated song "Accidentally in Love" as well as "Funkytown", "Ever Fallen in Love", "Changes" and "People Ain't No Good". They all did wonders for the various scenes they accompanied.

I feel "Shrek 2" is better than the original. It is the highest grossing film of 2004 and the most successful DreamWorks film to date. It was also the highest-grossing animated film until "Toy Story 3". At the Oscars, it was also nominated for Best Animated Feature but lost of "The Incredibles". In "Shrek 2", you have a lot of humor but also some serious storytelling. The Shrek universe needed a second movie and it paid off very handsomely. Unfortunately, this led to some negative consequences at DreamWorks Animation. While "Shrek 2" had a lot of potential, the subsequent films in the franchise did not. "Shrek 2" had a lot of resolution while other hit sequels such as "The Empire Strikes Back" or "The Dark Knight" had unfinished business. There was nothing left in terms of conflict for the next Shrek movies. I also feel that the filmmakers didn't work hard enough on the next two Shrek movies, banking on the casting, popularity and adult humor to make the money. They used moderate story ideas and I also feel that Andrew Adamson's departure from the franchise was a factor. Because of the success of "Shrek 2", DreamWorks kept making sequels and using A-list actors. This is not always the best road and this is why DreamWorks is a hit-and-miss company. In contrast, Pixar knows that story comes first and their films become immortal.

4 Stars