Colorful "Shrek 2"
by Homer Yen
(c) 2004
At the very least, "Shrek 2" is a marvelous work
of 3-d animation. It brims with color,
liveliness, and imagination. Every scene
incorporates just about every color of the
spectrum. It bursts with such eye candy that
you'd do better to sit in one of the last rows of
the theatre to absorb it all.
Meanwhile, the nuances and the texture of the
animation are impressively lifelike. When our
favorite Ogre, Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers)
kisses his princess bride, Fiona (voiced by
Cameron Diaz) a la "From Here to Eternity," we
feel their attraction. When a character displays
his sad-eyed cat face, you have to say 'awww'.
"Shrek 2" is affecting and enchanting. It'll
change the way you think about animation and
you'll find it difficult to go back to the 2-d
variety.
Having said all that, my impression of this film
was positive, but not overwhelmingly positive.
Of course, I would recommend it. And you'd be
doing your children a disservice from keeping
them from a wonderful project like this.
Children will undoubtedly learn that it's not
what's on the outside that counts. After all,
beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
My reservation is that while it is great to look
at and reliably amusing, it just doesn't seem
very original. The premise is more of the "Meet
the Parents" variety as our newlywed couple is
requested to return to her parent's kingdom so
that they can have a proper wedding. Fiona's
parents are the King (voiced by John Cleese) and
Queen (voiced by Julie Andrews) of Far Far Away,
a city with streets that look like Rodeo Drive
and palm trees that remind you of Beverly Hills.
They do not know that Shrek is an ogre and that
Fiona, having fallen in love with Shrek, has
herself been transformed into an ogress. So, you
can imagine that first awkward conversation at
the dinner table as they try to get along and to
sort a few issues out.
Movies about in-laws have never thrilled me, and
luckily there are other sources of laughs.
Particularly, the film is a send up of all things
Hollywood. It stylishly borrows from "Lord of
the Rings," "Alien," "Zorro," "Cops" and a bevy
of other recognizable references to keep the
adults entertained. Particularly funny was an
escape sequence in the style of "Mission:
Impossible". It's entertaining all right, but
all of this heavy sampling makes the film seem
like an endless series of spoofs.
The best laughs come from Shrek's sidekicks. The
wiseacre Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) has
returned to simultaneously annoy and humor us.
But, he's no match for assassin-turned-ally
Puss-in-Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas).
These two grudgingly work together as sort of an
Odd Couple from cartoonland to help Shrek keep
his love from the negative influences of her
father and an evil fairy godmother (voiced by
Jennifer Saunders).
"Shrek 2" is unique moviemaking and this is what
the summer is all about. I suppose that I wished
that there were more going on. The first film
was more of a rousing adventure. This one is
more tepid. It's nonetheless pleasing. But it
would've been nice if the masterminds behind the
story tried a little harder to keep Shrek from
falling into marital complacency.
Grade: B
S: 1 out of 3
L: 0 out of 3
V: 1 out of 3
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X-RAMR-ID: 37837
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1283746
X-RT-TitleID: 1132597
X-RT-AuthorID: 1370
X-RT-RatingText: B
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