Shrek 2
reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
and Brian "The Naked Gun" Felts
"Shrek 2" follows the title character and Princess Fiona to the land of "Far, Far Away," humorously
designed to look like Hollywood, as they accept an invitation by her parents, the king and queen
of the land, to be presented in a royal ball. However, Fiona's fairy godmother has other plans
as her son Prince Charming was to be Fiona's intended. So the plot moves quickly and in nothing
we've seen before, but the story gets interesting as the king (voice by John Cleese) hires Puss-n-Boots
(voice by Antonio Banderas) to assassinate Shrek.
The assasination goes pitifully wrong and "Boots" soon helps Shrek in his objectives. From that moment
on, the picture becomes one of the most legitimately out-loud funny animated pictures I've seen in a
while. I truly enjoyed the second and third acts and smiled greatly through its predictable
ending.
There are several things the movie makers could have done to keep certain information a secret and
make the climax more affective for the audience, but I love the movie so much I won't go into them.
It's great, go see it and laugh your ass off.
In post script, I recently heard Dreamwork's Katzenberg stated two more Shrek movies are in development for
theaters. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
This movie is probably one of the best movies I have seen this year. The writing is excellent
and the graphics are second to none. It returns all of the other characters from the first
movie except for Lord Faaquad and the Dragon. There are so many things to laugh at that I am
sure I missed a few while laughing at other stuff. This is a very nice follow up to the
original.
The movie picks up basically where the last one leaves off with Shrek (Mike Myers) and Princess
Fiona (Cameron Diaz) living together with donkey (Eddie Murphy) hanging around because the
Dragon threw him out. Enter Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) who is trying to get to Princess
Fiona's castle to rescue Princess Fiona, when he get there he finds in her bed the wolf in
grandma's clothing. So he complains to his mother who happens to be Fairy Godmother (played
wonderfully by Jennifer Saunders of BBC TV Absolutely Fabulous fame.) She complains to Princess
Fiona's father who is the King of Land Far Far Away (done wonderfully by John Cleese.) So he
sends his chariot to go bring Fiona and Shrek home and the craziness ensues.
The incredibly funny aspect of this movie is the way Far Far Away resembles Hollywood, on
purpose. It adds a wonderful touch to a wonderful movie. The writing is once again
superb (screenplay by J. David Stem, who has done Shrek and Rugrats movies, William
Steig who wrote the book Shrek, passed away in 2003 at the tender age of 95.) But the best
aspect of the movie is the graphics, which I imagine that we will in the not to distant
future see these graphics completely replace the cartoon on the big screen. My only fear
as a movie goer will be that I will get used to this animation, and it is something as an
audience we should all never get used to. Anyway go see the move, its just as good as the
first one. Brian - The Naked Gun
I really enjoyed "Shrek," and I am amazed to say I love "Shrek 2" far more for the sole reason
their is more "Family" humor in it than its preceding film. Much of the picture's humor is
directed towards adults and very intelligently executed. However, Dreamworks still makes
their quota of fart jokes in it.