Shrek 2

Shrek 2; CGI animated fantasy comedy, USA, 2004; D: Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon, S: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Cleese, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, Tom Waits

Shrek and princess Fiona, who herself became an ogre, enjoy in their honeymoon in a swamp. But one day the servants of the king and queen appear and inform Fiona that she must return to her country, "Fae Far Away". Shrek, Fiona and the talking Donkey arrive to the castle and shock the king and the queen who don't like ogres. The king is especially against the marriage because the evil Fairy Godmother forced him to promise Fiona's hand to her son. Since Shrek and the Donkey drank a magic potion and transformed into a human and a stallion, Fiona doesn't recognize them. Still, they save her from the evil Fairy and attend a party.

After the big success of the first film, the audience didn't have to wait too long for a sequel that was almost equally critically acclaimed. Despite a differently structured story, "Shrek 2" managed to manifest funny jokes, though both films have the same flaw: they lose all ideas in the last third, which is why the sequence of Shrek's rescue of Fiona from the arranged marriage towards the finale is also the most boring part of the film. Still, the exposition is appropriately opulent: Shrek and Fiona are romantically running through the meadow towards one another, until the camera slowly reveals angry villagers throwing pitchforks at them. For a romantic dinner, they have captured fairies glowing in bottles. The land "Far Far Away" is an obvious spoof of Hollywood whereas particularly humorous is the grand welcoming committee, where the king and the queen slowly realize their daughter turned into an ogre, yet still try to be polite. The most hilarious joke is the one where the protagonists are in a dungeon and trying to make Pinocchio tell a lie so that his nose would become longer: "Quick! Tell a lie!" - "What should I say?" - "Anything, but quick!" - "Say something crazy like"I'm wearing ladies' underwear!" - "I am wearing ladies' underwear." But his nose doesn't become longer. After a pause, they ask him: "Are you?" and his nose starts growing only after he replies with: "I most certainly am not!" Still, there is less sophistication in their spoofing of various film, which didn't sparkle in full light.

Grade:++