When we last saw Shrek the ogre and his human-princess-turned-ogre-mate Fiona (respectively voiced by Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz) they were happily married and living in Shrek’s swamp home.
Shrek 2 opens with the ogre couple still together, still living in Shrek’s shack and still putting up with the pestering antics of Donkey (Eddie Murphy).
Then Fiona’s parents, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) from Far Far Away land (AKA Hollywood), ask her princess daughter to come visit them. If you remember in the 2000 prequel Fiona (when she had her human form) was supposed to be kissed by a prince instead of rescued by Shrek and Donkey. Lucky for everyone Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) arrived too late and long after he was supposed to show up. When Fiona, Donkey and Shrek (who reluctantly tags along with his bride) go to Far Far Away they encounter prejudice from the locals and disapproval from Fiona’s parents. Prince Charming’s desire to get the human princess he feels destiny meant for him to both save and marry hasn’t abided though. With the help of a wicked Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) and sidekick Puss-in-Boots (Antonio Banderas) Charming sets out to remove Shrek from the picture and put the moves on Fiona.
Hilarity ensues, the good guys win (you weren’t expecting anything else, were you?), bad guys run with their tails between their legs and Far Far Away land is shown the errors of its perception of anyone other than beautiful human people as attractive. Everyone walks away a better man/woman/ogre/animal, and we know we’ll see them again in two or three year’s time in a new movie. The end! Seriously though, it’s nice to see America’s biggest box office hit of 2004 packing an inordinate number of digs at both Hollywood snobbery, Disney intellectual properties and just about anything the writers came up with. From The Little Mermaid to the appearance of Shrek resembling Disney CEO Michael Eisner a little too much to be a coincidence, Shrek 2 often resembles a comedy sketch show more than a kid’s movie.
The first Shrek’s humor was derived from seeing how it twisted Disney family movie rules into with a devilish streak of mischief. It was also set in a fantasy realm, which is the setting in which Shrek 2 still takes place but everything now feels geared toward the jokes instead of telling an actual story. Shrek himself contributes very little to the movie’s humor other than being annoyed or the straight man… sorry, straight ogre to the madness happening all around him. You could remove Mike Myers’ character from this or any future Shrek sequels and the flicks would still hold up, which couldn’t have been done the way the first Shrek movie set up who the character is and what he is like. Supporting performers really walk away with the movie’s lion share of big laughs, particularly Banderas as the mischievous kitty in boots and Saunders and a Brit-sounding Fairy Godmother from hell (who looks wholesome and nice when she isn’t planning schemes). Cleese and Andrews also make a nice bickering couple, and the mile-long list of celebrity cameos even manages to include a still-breathing Larry King doing his usual laid-back TV interviews.
I laughed hard throughout Shrek 2. The From Here to Eternity/Little Mermaid gag was priceless, but I also miss the pathos and streak of social consciousness that made the surprise ending of the original Shrek such a touching finale. If you have little kids then chances are this DVD has already been bought and re-watched a few dozen times by now. If you’re a casual fan of the green ogre’s predicaments and have managed to sit on the fence all this time then do yourself a favor and rent Shrek 2 before buying. Too much of a good thing (dead-on parodies of just about anything Hollywood and Disney have ever made) can be as dull as not having enough of what made the first Shrek so memorable, IMHO.
The Disc:
The filmmakers behind Shrek 2 get to share their thoughts about the making of this flick with Two Commentary Tracks featuring directors Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon (track #1), producer Aron Warner and editor Mike Andrews (track #2). Why none of the actors bothered to show up for the commentaries is anybody’s guess. None of the speakers are particularly engaging and they all fall in dry spells of silence, but some interesting info can be heard here. Then it’s off to the land of self-promotional featurettes. In ’The Tech of Shrek 2’ and ’The Music of Shrek 2’ the former covers the improved technology used to make CG animation while the latter profiles the artists and songs involved with the movie’s eclectic soundtrack. ’Meet the Cast’ and ’Meet Puss-in-Boots’ are both self-explanatory, and Technical Goofs continues the tradition started by Pixar’s A Bug’s Life of self-made CG mistakes.
Speaking of mistakes, Ben Stiller appears out of nowhere to plug Dreamworks’ 2005 animated project Madagascar. There’s also a Dreamworks Kids section with all sorts of Shrek 2 related games, links to websites related to the film, a music video (’Accidentally in Love’ by Counting Crows) and other children-friendly content. A Previews section offers trailers for an assortment of Dreamworks and Universal projects coming soon to DVD (including the live-action version of The Thunderbirds). Last but not least there’s Far Far Away Land, a section in which in-depth Production Notes and Cast/Filmmaker Biographies share space with such drivel as an American Idol parody (Far Far Away Idol), which comes complete with sellout celebrity judge Simon Cowell and fake newspaper articles. As you can probably tell by my drift I wasn’t too impressed with Shrek 2’s DVD offerings. You’d think the biggest movie of 2004 would at least make a run at trying to be the best DVD of the year, but this one doesn’t even reach contender status!
bottom line:
In its attempt to tear a new you-know-what into every Disney and Hollywood sacred cow ever known Shrek 2’s lead characters lose some of the charm and humanity that made the original such a standout animated feature. Picture and audio quality are as spotless as they were in the first Shrek DVD, but the bonus material is either too childish or not in-depth enough for film buffs. Unless you’re a hardcore fan of Donkey, Fiona and the lovable ogre the series is named after this is a decent buy but an even better rental.
By - J.M. Vargas
