Shrek
2
is a bright and fun cartoon, but the magic of the first film had begun to wear
off. It has some good laughs and clever new characters but with little of the
excitement or heart of the original. Still, as far as animated sequels go, this
is one of the better ones even though Toy
Story 2 (and 3 for that matter)
set that bar exceedingly high. Shrek 2
takes many plot turns and also involves a zany journey like the first Shrek, but there are too many characters
and not enough attention to the returning stars.
Shrek and Fiona are married but have
still been blessed by her parents, who are still unaware that Fiona has married
an ogre and remained one herself once the spell was broken. The green lovebirds
are summoned to the Kingdom
of Far Far Away
There are many popculture references
along the way, more so than in the first film. In the Far Far Away kingdom,
itself modeled after Beverly Hills, there is a Farbucks coffee shop (and
proving that satire as an intent doesn’t guarantee a free legal pass,
DreamWorks was granted special permission by Starbucks to spoof their logo), a
Baskin Robinhood , and the lettering of Far Far Away is modeled after the
Hollywood sign. These gags are mildly
amusing at first, but the saturation comes quick.
As expected, the King and Queen are
a bit shocked to, but King Harold (John Cleese) is downright hostile to his
daughter and son-in-law. The best thing to come from this bad start is funny
dinner scene with ogre and monarch going at each other, the insults growing
more and more passionate, culminating in the spoiling of the table’s suckling
pig.
From here on the narrative of Shrek 2 branches out. The king strikes a
deal with the conniving Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) to have Shrek
eliminated so that Fiona can marry the fairy’s son, Prince Charming (Rupert
Everett), Fiona’s intended suitor, can marry her. Shrek, meanwhile, steals a
beauty potion from the Fairy Godmother and after swallowing it becomes a
cartoon stud complete with round features and toonish eyes, not unlike that of
Disney’s buffoonish beefcakes like Casey the ballplayer and the love-struck
mountain man from Make Mine Music.
But the potion also has an effect on those the user has close to heart and so,
back in the kingdom, Fiona reverts back to human form, more or less how she
looked when she first met Shrek. If his plan works right, Shrek hopes to now be
good enough for Fiona’s parents and live happily ever after with his princess
bride. But, as he later asks, at what cost? He is an ogre at heart and we want
him to be one. We do miss the swamp for much of this picture. As Shrek looks
back at his beloved swamp as he rides away on the onion cart to the distant
land, his sadness is ours.
Anyway, the Fairy Godmother takes
matters into her own hands and lets her son pass as the humanized Shrek. It’s
convoluted to be sure, but the movie does tie into a neat endpoint.
The appeal of Shrek 2, not to mention its success (it
outdid Pixar’s hit Finding Nemo from
the previous summer at the box-office) relies on our memories of the beloved
characters from the first film. Without that background for context, Shrek 2 would hardly standout among
DreamWorks’ variable oeuvre. The good news is that the familiar faces are still
here and in top form, especially Eddie Murphy as Donkey. Shrek, too, has been
developed to new levels and realizing that the green giant is susceptible to
becoming hen-pecked is fun. Fiona has not only turned into an ogre permanently,
she has even begun to enjoy some of the less hygienic habits of the creatures.
Early in the movie she joins her hubby for a gassy dip in the muddy swamp. And
when a conspicuously familiar looking mermaid makes a move on her husband, the
extent of her jealousy makes for delightfully dark humor. This is,
incidentally, another jab at Disney with a far nastier bite than anything in
the first film. In 2003, Disney had punched DreamWorks back in Finding Nemo with Dory the fish
lampooning Donkey’s “Pick me!” DreamWorks was true playing nice and came back
with a vengeance with a rather unflattering joke on The Little Mermaid.
Paradoxically, the best thing Shrek 2 brings to the table is a new cast
of characters, many of which are wonderful creations. Above them all is Puss in
Boots, a suave assassin hired by King Harold in his original attempt to have
Shrek bumped off, but the feline ends up becoming an ally of the ogre. Puss is
designed and developed with classic cartoon integrity and brought to life by
the cooing voice of Antonio Banderas after plans to make him an English
swordsman were dropped. The cat’s appeal proved to be so strong that he not
only became a regular in the next two Shrek
movies but spun off a film of his own that was surprisingly pretty good.
Fairy Godmother and her rotten son
are just as well vanquished here as few would care to see them again. Both
Julie Andrews and John Cleese are under used and misused as Fiona’s parents,
but the biggest (literally as well as figuratively) surprise in the film goes
almost unmentioned. Mongo, the oversized version of the Gingerbread Man, is a
fantastic surprise. This lumbering cookie, created by Shrek and friends to
defeat the bad guys is a scream throughout and a nod to both the Marshmallow
Man from Ghostbusters and E.T.
Shrek
2 is a pale shadow of its predecessor but the best of its sequels and as
good as many sequels get. Good enough, anyway, to convince the DreamWorks team
to keep the Shrek franchise going.
The third film is the weakest link and may have contributed to the decision to
trim the planned five films down to four. The fourth film was largely ignored,
but then Puss in Boots came out and
brought a smile once more.
No comments:
Post a Comment