Doji Grovesai

Shrek 2 Review

Juli and I went to see Shrek 2 last night. We were both kind of surprised that the theater had a showing every twenty minutes, and our show was pretty crowded. Usually, this makes for a bad experience because there are morons in the audience, or the movie stinks (hence all the marketing which draws people in every twenty minutes).

But the movie was good, and despite some minor flaws, stayed true to its form, making for an enjoyable movie.

Like I said, there were some flaws, but they weren't that bad. One of Shrek's comedic strengths was that it played on fairy tales, twisting them up and such. There was more pop-culture in this one than the first, and that was a little disappointing. They kept, however, the blatant bashing of Disney re-hashings of the brothers Grimm. So while not all diluted, the emphasis on pop-culture was not appreciated. Except for the Street Fighter 2 reference. Priceless.

The cast did well, also. I've heard a lot of complaints about Mike Myers and his re-hash of Fat Bastard (of Austin Powers fame) as for as this movie is concerned. I've decided that they don't know what they're talking about. If anything, Shrek more resembles Stuart Mackenzie ("So I Married an Axe Murderer") than anything else, and even then the resemblance is mostly voice. The characters are very much different in behavior and personality. John Cleese was awesome (when is he not), and Antonio Banderas was a pleasant surprise to see (er...hear?) in the film. You can tell that he doesn't take himself so seriously anymore, and I think that will mean good things for his career.

The writing kept up the same sing-songy pace that the original did, and that helped a lot. It made the gags seem appropriate instead of forced. The other thing about the writing was the path the story took. Shrek 2 could easily have been to Shrek what Final Fantasy X-2 is to FFX. It could have (through story and ending) completely destroyed everything about its predecessor. Shrek 2 remains true to form, though.

All in all, the movie keeps its heart, which is what made the first movie enjoyable. True, it makes for a very predictable and straightforward story. In this case, however, I think that is a strength. It allows the writers (and cast) explore the characters, making Shrek 2 the sequel to Shrek and not Shrek v2.0.