Shrek 2
Rental
Fe Fi Ho Hum. As with all visceral disappointments, Shrek 2 stymied
my ability to write for well over a week (or two- gulp). Long(ish)
time readers may recall that I found the first Shrek to be funny, but
hardly an enduring classic like Pixar's Monster's Inc of the same
year. It should be noted, too, that Pixar lost the first-ever
Animated Feature Oscar to Shrek despite Monsters Inc. having all
those qualities that are truly Oscar worthy. I would put at the top
of this list (much the same list that qualifies a Classic) is a lack
of reliance on pop culture ephemera to make a weak joke that does not
drive the plot. But Shrek the first, for all its easy jokes, pop
culture anachronisms, and hit singles, was, at least, funny. Shrek
2: Not So Much.
Yes, yes, yes, Antonio Banderas voicing Puss in Boots is funny for
the scant 10 minutes of screen time he gets. But when the best humor
is from his line delivery and not the lines itself, you have to
wonderŠ Another two examples of better casting than writing: Rupert
Everett and Jennifer Saunders in the roles of Prince Charming and
Fairy Godmother. And John Cleese with the King, to be sure. Divine
casting, but given little to do. Even our leads seem like they
didn't do much - the movie is all little asides and visual product
placement gags, it feels like nothing happened at all. The animation
is, I must admit, superb. But my word, the spaces between even the
easy laughs were unbearable. When I did find mirth, I felt almost as
if I had betrayed the spirit of the film.
Shrek 2 returns us to Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey only moments after we
left them, newly wedded and going to meet her parents. The Hollywood
references for the princess' homeland (Far Far Away) are all too
easy, too obvious. Genuinely good ideas get glimpsed and shunted off
in favor of another Starbucks dig. Abundant product placement jokes,
would could have been punny fun, fell flat and sour. You see the
too-familiar corporate logos out of focus, but you recognize the logo
because of its irritating ubiquitousness anyway, but what you can't
see, because it is out of focus, is that it is a joke product, such
as Tower of London Records. So, the joke is blurred, and your mind
only registers "Tower Records" and "Starbucks," even though they want
to make a funny. Devious. Ditto Burger King, Subway, more - they
were so fast and/or blurry that we couldn't even mine them for the
cheap laughs they could have been. The list of sponsors is as
embarrassingly long as the product tie ins for (gulp) Cat in the Hat.
To be fair, I will admit that Starbucks (I forget the joke name for
it, Farbucks?) provided one of the biggest laughs for meŠthink
Stay-Puft Gingerbread Man.
Come to think of it, Mike Myers' love for product placement humor
goes all the way back to 1992's Wayne's World. When will he let it
go? Sure, we can say it's the filmmakers or the studio, the
animators or the writers. But Myers is a brand unto himself, and no
one can possibly be left who is so naďve as to think these things
aren't interrelated.
The marketing push has been a huge turnof. Selling Shrek as this
long lost beloved character who kids have been writing Santa to
resuscitate has lent the whole enterprise a flavor of ick that the
film itself just couldn't shake. Not that Shrek 1 wasn't funny. But
come on. And on top of that, my pet peeve: the best moments were all
ruined by the previews.
Shrek 2 feels less like a comedy and even more like a shilling
hootenanny than before. The clever jokes (there are some) and the
aforementioned great comic vocal performances save the movie from
being a total bore, but god help you if you pay more than Rental
price. People I know and even respect enjoyed it, but maybe they
just don't see enough good movies to know what should have been. How
arrogant of me. But I was so, so very disappointed.
I didn't expect a classic, but I did hope to come out reasonably glad
I went in.
--
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These reviews (c) 2004 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to
forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can
check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com
and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com
- the
Online Film Critics Society
http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr
- Hollywood Stock
Exchange Brokerage Resource
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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1289863
X-RT-TitleID: 1132597
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X-RT-AuthorID: 3661
X-RT-RatingText: 3/5
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