Shrek 2

05/18/04

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Shrek 2
The Masked Reviewer

Who's big, green-skinned, and suffers from chronic flatulence?  That's right, it's Julie Andrews!  And she's featured as a voice in the new Shrek film, called (oddly enough) Shrek 2.

Do you like pop culture references?  If so, Shrek 2 is for you.  It's chock full 'o references.  Almost everything  is parodied or referenced, including "COPS", "Hawaii 5-0", "Sanford and Son", Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, Alien, Joan Rivers, Ricky Martin, and many others. 

Because of the Masked Reviewer's "no spoiler" policy, nothing will be given away about the plot.  In fact, the Masked Reviewer won't even mention all of the voices, just in case you like to guess.  Well, the Masked Reviewer already mentioned Julie Andrews, but other than that, you're on your own.  Suffice it to say that almost all of the original voices have returned for the sequel.  That is, of course, except for John Lithgow, who played Lord Farquaad.  He's not in Shrek 2, which is too bad.  The Masked Reviewer will miss his awful fake British accent, last heard in Cliffhanger.  "WALKER!"

The jokes in this movie try to reach people at every level, from hip insider references to fart jokes.  Parents who don't want their kids exposed to burping and farting (who would want to expose kids to that?  THINK OF THE CHILDREN!) might find Shrek 2 in bad taste, but farting and burping seem to be cutting edge humor for kids these days.  In the Masked Reviewer's day, burp and fart jokes were taboo, but thanks to controversial children's show pioneers, farts and burps are now mainstream in family entertainment.  Or, maybe the thanks should go to high fiber diets.  Either way.

There are some greatly funny lines in the movie, and some excellent visuals.  The image of Puss in Boots trying to look sad and cute is hilarious.  It's not often that a sight gag in a kid's movie makes the Masked Reviewer laugh, but this film had several good moments.  (By the way, has anyone made a porno yet called "Puss N' Butts"?  Please send royalty checks to the Masked Reviewer)

The music is almost all pop, or pop-past.  Children and adults will both recognize much of the music, none of it is pop right now, but it was pop.  Popped?  Who knows.  There should be terms for these things.  Any way, depending on your musical tastes, you're likely to enjoy (or remember fondly) at least a few of the tunes used in the movie.  And, the film features musical numbers, and how could you not like that?

Before the film was a preview for Shark Tale, another upcoming animated feature.  The quality of the graphics and  animation in Shrek 2 are far superior, and better than the first Shrek.  Animation fans (computer generated...the animation, not the fans) will definitely want to check it out.

The voice acting is good across the board, though Eddie Murphy tries the hardest and has the most energy.  Strangely, the character that had the least going on of anyone was Shrek himself.  Mike Meyers wasn't bad, but he didn't have very many funny lines.  He wound up being the straight-man (or, straight-ogre).  That's okay, though, the supporting characters were super and farted less.

Speaking of voice acting, make sure you check out the credits to see who voiced the Ugly Stepsister.  Good casting.  And, not only that, you'll want to see the end credits; many people left immediately and missed an extra 30 seconds of epilogue.  It wasn't the biggest joke in the movie, but you should get your ten bucks' worth.

It's a kids' movie, sure, but it's good fun with plenty of entertainment for adults, too.  If you have to take a kid to a movie, this is the clear choice.  Everyone will be happy.  By the way, in addition to the original Shrek, there's a Shrek 3D available on DVD.

 

Expectation from the Title: The sequel to the horror knock-off of Scream that was supposed to be called Shriek, but the filmmakers didn't turn on their spell check.

Mother's Rule (Always Say Something Good About Everything):  Shrek looks good in green.

The Pros: Funny, nice sight gags and pop culture references,, good for kids and adults, great animation.

The Cons: The theater will be full of screaming kids.  At times, the pop culture references seem a bit too heavy handed.

 

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