Movie Review: Shrek 2

I’m sure we can all agree that nine times out of 10 sequels to popular and great movies are not usually great. Sometimes the original writers don’t come back, actors leave or something happens to make it bad. In the case of the 2004 sequel to the DreamWorks franchise that takes fairy-tales and changes it this was the exact opposite. I think those who watched the Shrek movies can all agree that this is the better sequel. Spoilers ahead as usual. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

After coming back from their honeymoon Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) get an invitation by Fiona’s parents to come and meet them at the kingdom of Far Far Away (designed to look like Hollywood) to celebrate their marriage; Donkey (Eddie Murphy) joins them on their journey. However Fiona’s parents, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) were not aware that Fiona and Shrek are ogres and do not take it well; Harold in particular is angry and he and Shrek get into a huge fight at dinner leaving Fiona in tears and Shrek believing his marriage is in trouble. There are two people who are angrier than Harold and they are The Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) and her son Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) as they made a deal with Harold for Charming to marry Fiona in exchange for his own happy ending. Harold sends Shrek and Donkey on a hunting trip where they come across the assassin he hired, the legendary Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas). Puss cannot kill Shrek and Shrek, believing a potion in Fairy Godmother’s workshop can help him regain Fiona’s love and the king’s blessing, lets Puss tag along with him and Donkey on his quest (much to Donkey’s dismay). However it may do more harm than good when the Fairy Godmother catches on to their plan. Other characters that return are Gingy, Pinocchio, the Big Bad Wolf, the pigs and mice, as well as the debut of characters viewers have come to love including Captain Hook and the ugly stepsister Doris (Larry King).

I believe that this is not only the best of the Shrek sequels, but in my opinion this is one of the best animated sequels of all time. From the writing to the animation to the voice casting; it was spot on amazing. All the characters we loved from the first film came back better than ever. Those who made their debut in this film quickly fit in with the quirky crew, perhaps none more so than Puss in Boots. Antonio Banderas was absolutely perfect as the lovable feline; I do not even want to think about who could have been Puss. John Cleese and Julie Andrews were fabulous as Harold and Lillian with Harold redeeming himself in the end in my eyes. While I firmly believe Lord Farquaad is the best villain in the Shrek franchise the Fairy Godmother came very close to topping him; Jennifer Saunders is fantastic as well. Charming really plays off the spoiled mama’s boy well (hats off to Rupert Everett), but as far as being a villain goes he is not exactly top notch but that is for the next film. Sadly the Shrek films kinda went down after this one, with the departure of Andrew Adamson as the director, but those are for another day. In the meantime if you liked Shrek and haven’t seen Shrek 2 then I would highly recommend it.

Movie Review: Shrek

As I stated in a previous blog DreamWorks Animation has become very close to topping Disney when it comes to animated movies, and this 2001 film arguably is the one that started that talk. Based very loosely on the beloved 1990 fairy tale book, but mostly parodies other stories as well as poke some fun at its competition, Shrek became a big household name and showed that maybe fairy tales have the story just a little wrong. If for some reason you haven’t seen this movie spoiler alert. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

Shrek (Mike Myers) is an ogre living in a swamp and is very content with being alone (he scares off villagers attempting to hunt him just to stay that way.) One day Shrek’s swamp becomes too crowded with fairy tale creatures such as Pinocchio (Cody Cameron), The Three Little Pigs (Cameron as well), the Big Bad Wolf (Aron Warner) and a talking Donkey (Eddie Murphy) after they are forced to leave the kingdom of Duloc by the greedy and short Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) who wants to be rid of the “freaks” in his kingdom. Lord Farquaad decides to become king, but in order to do so he needs to marry a queen. Thanks to the Magic Mirror (Chris Miller) he chooses the seemingly perfect Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), but doesn’t want to actually go and rescue her from her tower guarded by a fire breathing dragon. Angered by the unexpected company Shrek and Donkey (who is the only one willing to go with him) travel to Duloc to speak to Lord Farquaad. He agrees to give Shrek his swamp back, but only if Shrek goes and rescues Princess Fiona. Shrek and Donkey do so, much to Fiona’s chagrin disrupting her perfect fairy tale ending she’s been dreaming off. However as the travel back to Duloc Shrek and Fiona discover they actually have a lot more in common than originally thought. About as far as I should go without spoiling the rest of the movies.

Being a fan of fairy tales when I was a kid, and still sort of am today I loved this movie. It took fairy tales that I knew, but twisted it and changed it. Normally I do not like change when it comes to stories I treasure, but I did not mind this at all. It was nice for the monster, which is not really in this case, to get the happy ending and even to see what goes beyond The End, but those are for another day. The voice acting and writing was so perfect to the point where I could not even imagine anyone else voicing Shrek, Donkey or Fiona other than Myers, Murphy and Diaz. I absolutely love the characters. Shrek is so funny, Donkey is a great friend (even when you want him to shut up) Fiona is not your typical princess which I loved immediately about her and Farquaad in my opinion has yet to be topped as the best villain in the franchise. I would even call Shrek a must see regardless of you love for animation. Three sequels followed Shrek, four if you count a spin off, multiple holiday specials and for a brief period a run on Broadway. I believe you can find the Broadway version on Netflix, but I could be wrong; I’m sure it is available somewhere. Shrek is a fantastic non-Disney animated movie and if you have yet to watch it I highly recommend it.