Shrek 2

The first Shrek film released in 2001 was a huge hit for DreamWorks animation and was extremely popular with children for its naughtier tone and actual warrant of a PG-13 rating, giving it an edge over other animated movies at the time and arguably even shaped the way many animated movies try to present themselves nowadays. There is a lot of contention to be made as to whether or not the first film is as fantastic as many claim it to be as it does house its fair share of flaws, it is an unquestionable fact that Shrek 2, which was released in 2004, is nothing short of an animated comedic masterpiece and is easily one of the best DreamWorks films ever created. Newlywed ogres Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) and Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz) are enjoying married life together, but their peaceful life in the swamp is interrupted by a message sent inviting them both to visit Far Far Away to reunite Fiona with her parents, the King and Queen (voiced by John Cleese and Julie Andrews). Upon arriving, Shrek finds it hard to bond with Fiona’s parents, especially her father, who are quite disturbed to find their daughter now is permanently an ogre (as well as married one) and it gets even more stressful when Fiona’s Fairy Godmother (voiced by Jennifer Saunders) plots to get her son Prince Charming (voiced by Rupert Everett) to marry Fiona, seize control of the kingdom, and get rid of Shrek by any possible means, even sending a mercenary cat by the name of Puss in Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas) to kill him off. Now with the threat of losing his wife for good, Shrek along with his companion Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) try to find some way to give Fiona the ”happily ever after” life she deserves, before the Fairy Godmother takes it all away. Shrek 2 performed on the same level as its predecessor and then some, garnering very positive reviews, was nominated for two Academy Awards, and grossed $953.3 million at the box office, making it the highest-grossing film of 2004 and is still the highest-grossing DreamWorks animated film to this day. It is a pure marvel of comedy and removes everything that didn’t work about the last film and replaces it with great visuals, characters, story, and such great writing. It’s hard to see anything else topping it.

The first movie had a good set-up, a fantastic handling of its message, and a few appropriately messed-up jokes that helped it stand out, but it also suffered from featuring elements of the time, not very well-defined characters, a script that thought it was much funnier than it actually was, and an awful third act that felt straight of a generic rom-com. This film, created by screenwriter Andrew Adamson (who is also one of the directors on the film alongside Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon), does still act as a nice continuation from the first film and still features the same vibe and satirical edge, but the length it goes to expanding upon every aspect of this world, its possibilities, its characters and its style of humor makes it so much more inviting and entertaining. There was a false and even experimental feeling in the first, where the writers felt like they were testing the waters with certain elements and padding out the remainder of the plot with generic ideas to make it more balanced, whilst in this one, the dilemmas and overall narrative is far more interesting, takes advantage of its disturbed fairy tale atmosphere by being both creative but also cynically dark, and the script by Adamson, Joe Stillman, J. David Stem, and David N. Weiss is leagues better from both a dramatic and a comedic standpoint. The film’s rapid pacing matches its fast humor and goofy tone, but it never feels too rushed either as it gives each scene the perfect amount of time and knows when to slow down on an emotional moment and let it be played straight. The plot itself, while creative, is pretty easy to grasp from the outset (much like a traditional fairy), so it focuses less on the specifics and details and more on the emotional state of the characters, the surreal and imaginative world, and its humor, which are all handled fantastically. It feels like it has a much better understanding of its world, characters, and overall presentation to the point where they know when to break the mold in ways that match the spirit of the story and the fairy tale atmosphere without it feeling out of place or cliched. Ideas like having both the leads as humans feels like a pretty risky move, but it all works great in how the film tells its story and it doesn’t feel too much like a shark-jump. The climax is an amazing rush and might actually be one of the climax of any animated film period; it’s a wonderful combination of both great humor but also legitimate suspense and action, its allusion to the climax of Ghostbusters works surprisingly well (given they have very similar tones) and it features one heck of an amazing song number, it’s a treat to end on that will keep the audience invested and laughing all at once.

A lot of the returning cast members are treated much better than they were previously, and a lot of the new characters introduced are great fresh additions and work wonderfully in this world. Shrek and Fiona are actually turned into a really solid couple in this film, and they go through real relationship problems and conflicts and aren’t stuck with the dumb rom-com issues that plagued their relationship in the first film. Though the two don’t share a ton of screen time as the film keeps going, it’s very touching to see how both of them are willing to sacrifice part of their own happiness in order for the other to be happy, and the resolution both choose in the end is very sweet as well. Donkey is made much funnier in this film, as Eddie Murphy is actually given funny lines to work with and it results in some really great moments, along with a fun rivalry that is built between him and Puss in Boots, who’s also a really great funny character and Antonio Banderas is perfect as the role (even enough that it got him his own spin-off later down the line). The King and Queen are pretty great characters who thankfully aren’t written as just one-note villains, they have their own genuine conflicts to deal with (especially the King) and getting amazing voice talent like Julie Andrews and John Cleese doesn’t hurt things either. The villain is also really great, as the concept of a Fairy Godmother being the bad guy is already just a great fun idea for this kind of environment, and her plan is actually pretty great diabolic plan and Jennifer Saunders is having a ball in the role, it’s a really great character.

The movie is also really amazing looking, with great looking textures, models and landscapes that felt much more impressive than most 3D animated movies at the time. The first Shrek film had a style that portrayed its fairy tale world in a creative but still slightly ugly sense, which gave it a nice feeling of personality and difference from other fairy tale locations, and that element is still featured here, but it just looks much nicer due to the passage of time and improvement of technology. The colors are vibrant and sparkle really great with the moody lighting, the landscapes feel very much like fairy-tale environments with their choice of design and feel of the sceneries, and even most of the character models still have that kind of basic outline to them, but they have much better textures and feel a lot more alive. The locations that they create have such great ideas and payoffs that feel fresh out of a fairy-tale like environment, but with that extra adage of satire that makes it its own; Far Far Away is an  actual location in this world and having it be a Beverly Hills equivalent for the Fairy Tale royalties is really clever, there’s a rundown bar for the fairy-tale villains called The Poison Apple, these are just great names for great ideas with great execution. The music is also really good in this movie, even though it does still have a lot of pop songs like the first movie but they feel much more relevant and better woven into the story than the first movie, where they were just a gimmick added onto the film (its usage of Holding Out For a Hero is simply iconic), and the score by returning composer Harry Gregson-Williams does still contain a nice soft and atmospheric personality when it’s used in some of the softer moments. The biggest improvement from this film to the previous film is its humor, as this one is just much quicker, smarter, and far more memorable. Almost every single scene has something funny to offer and the brisk pace can sometimes make it hard to even catch it on the first time around. It’s one of those films where despite the multitude of jokes being thrown at you, it never gets tiring or annoying and about 95% of every joke always works every single time, it never gets old regardless of how many times you go through it.

While the first Shrek is praised by the world and cherished as a classic, Shrek 2 is the movie more fitting of that title and appreciation. It takes much more chances with its humor, furthers its ideas and concepts in more interesting ways, develops originally standard characters into much more relatable and endearing ones, and turned a setup that had potential but was overall minimally used, into a more memorable immensely entertaining product. The story is better constructed and doesn’t include any lame rom-com cliches, the voice actors are given more opportunities to show off their great comedic talents, the visuals are more pleasing, the humor is improved, it has amazing speed and timing, it has some great music, some great action moments, its clever without being convoluted, its dumb fun whilst still being emotionally gripping, it’s silly but smart, it’s soft yet still hard and edgy, its romantic whilst still being a little disturbed, it works for kids and adults, its 100% timeless despite how much modern and time-specific jokes are featured, it succeeds on almost every level. Better in every way and certainly worth a watch, it’s a perfect fairy tale of a film with the right amount of updating. This movie was a true hero in execution and magical in delivery, a close to perfect animated comedy.