Shrek 2 (2004)
What happens when you put Mike Myers on a leash? When you constrain him with the limitations of animation? You get an excellent movie! Yay! Sorry, that's my smart ass answer, 'cause I'm sure Myers isn't the only reason why Shrek 2 is excellent. He's part of the excellent ensemble cast that performs on the voice tracks of Shrek 2.
Shrek 2 picks up pretty much where Shrek left off. Shrek (Myers) & Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are just back from their honeymoon, & Donkey (Eddie Murphy) is continuing his tradition of being an annoying talking animal. I don't know how Shrek has crushed Donkey & eaten his bones yet, being that he's an ogre & all. He's really not that lovable.
Whatever you think about Donkey or Eddie Murphy is immaterial to me. Personally, I hate the character. But that's just me. Moving on. When the .... Shreks (for some reason I think of Sara Undertaker right now), come back from their honeymoon, they're greeted with an invitation from Fiona's parents to come back home to celebrate. See, Fiona's parents (voiced excellenty by John Cleese & Julie Andrews) are under the incorrect assumption that Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) has won Fiona's heart. Guess who's coming to dinner?
I'm sorry, this review leads to ricockulousness. It's unavoidable when you're mocking the fairy tales of our youth. These so-called "sacred cows" of Disney's all fall by the wayside, one by one. I don't think it's in a mocking fashion either. Personally, I love Pinnochio & The Gingerbread Man (I won't call him ... Gingy... thank you very much). They're probably my favourite characters in the Shrek franchise, which I'm sure will have at least one more installment.
Being that it's been, what, five years or so since the first Shrek was released, there have been many new franchises started (& some completed). The opening musical montage (set to the Counting Crows, my favourite fucking band, not their best song though) shows the ... Shreks paying homage or parody to some (by now) famous movie scenes. The animation throughout the movie is absofuckinglutely gorgeous. When the Giant Gingerbread Man falls into the moat, my mouth dropped at how perfect the water looked.
While it is an excellent movie & laugh out loud funny at some parts, I can't go the full 5 for it. There were some scenes that seemed included merely for the shilling of the Shrek 2 Soundtrack (call it Love Actually Syndrome if you will). After those couple minutes, you feel a little used, dirty maybe. Does the rest of the movie make up for it? Pretty much, but obviously not enough if I'm mentioning it. When art takes a back seat to commercialism, my rating goes down. Unless it's mocking that practice, ala Wayne's World. 4.5 outta 5.
Roger Ebert's review of Shrek 2 (2004)