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Shrek 2

May 25, 2004 - © James C. Hess

As you may recall, in the first movie, Fiona was cursed: She had been taken captive by a dragon, but could be freed if the dragon were slain and she was kissed by the brave and gallant hero who did the deed. Now ideally, of course, that hero would have been Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) but when he finally shows up in "Shrek 2" he finds, to his great and intense disappointment, that the dragon is dead, the princess is saved, and married. . . to a certain ogre.

And, by the way, the princess has been transformed into a tall, green, broad ogre.

Now. To make matters more complicated a summons comes from the Kingdom of Far Far Away: Fiona's parents want to meet her new husband (who they assume is the prince). To satisfy this summons a long, long journey is undertaken and the fun begins in earnest.

I mentioned a moment ago Donkey who, once more,is a comedic high point to the movie. Eddie Murphy does a wonderful turn again with his rude jokes and comments, and reminds us why Shrek had and has a tendecy to be cranky: The trick, Shrek observed, referencing Donkey, isn't that he talks. The trick is getting him to be quiet.

But why would you want Donkey quiet? If you had silence as desired by Shrek you would be left with a curious creature who does and says little of merit or value.

At a certain point the plot takes us into the surroundings of the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders), a rather unpleasant and sinister figure who runs a massive manufacturing facility, which turns out potions and hexes, one or two of which could possibly turn Shrek into a human.

Not that this would happen, because "Shrek 3" is rumored to be on the way. But it goes to aid the plot, just enough.

A word or two about the screenplay, as credited to J. David Stern, Joe Stillman, and David N. Weiss: While they obviously understand how to make fun within this context I found they did not know how to develop character and plot: I kept expecting Shrek to suddenly turn to the screen, raise his eyebrows and ears to the best of his abilities and comment on those funny looking creatures out there, meaning the audience. Such turns never happen, sadly.

But not to worry: When Shrek stomps out of the house, after a fight

The copyright of the article Shrek 2 in Film & TV Reviews is owned by James C. Hess. Permission to republish Shrek 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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