Shrek 2

A full fairytale
Shrek 2


Stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Saunders, Rupert Everett, Julie Andrews and John Cleese.

Rating: 4 stars.

Reviewer: LT Simone Heyer

Want a fairytale fix? They’ve been talking it up for months, and if you enjoyed the first one, you’ll have been waiting for Mark II for a while. At last, Shrek 2 is out.

You’ll remember from the first movie that the surly, gruff Shrek (Myers) fell in love with Princess Fiona (Diaz), who he was tricked into rescuing. They married and the princess took true love’s form – her night persona – of an ogre.

Roll Shrek 2. After their honeymoon, the couple is invited to visit Fiona’s parents, the King and Queen of Far Far Away.

Shrek’s not interested in visiting – the whole in-laws/ogre thing does not sit well with him. His arm is twisted and before long Fiona, Shrek and Donkey start the far, far away trip.

They receive a shocked reception, and King Harold (Cleese) puts into plan a devious way to ease his daughter’s problems.

He’s also being muscled by heavy woman Fairy Godmother (Saunders), who is like the worst kind of televangelist, complete with a devout following and movie star status. She has an empire reliant on people’s suffering and inadequacies and is only a tear drop away.

King Harold has a dark secret he wants kept from his kingdom, and Fairy Godmother wants her son, Prince Charming (Everett), on the throne.

A dark stranger is hired to hit Shrek and give everyone but the big green man a fairytale ending. I thought all the Shrek 2 secrets had been revealed with the copious advertising and general drumming-up of business.

Not so. There were enough twists, extra characters and hilarity to make the whole film fresh and new.

Puss-in-boots (Banderas) was a wonderful surprise – 10 points to the Shrek crew for tracking down nearly every last fairytale critter. He’s a cheeky, whiskery delight, with a suave Spanish accent, carefully structured goatee and tiny little boots.

He plays up the lost-kitty look, then bam, draws in his prey.

Donkey is just as endearing as Shrek’s faithful friend until the end. The greasy Prince Charming is perfectly cast with Rupert Everett. He played the smooth seducer so well in the telemovie Dangerous Liaisons that he was the ideal choice for the role.

All the other fairytale favourites – Gingerbread Man, the three blind mice, the German-accented three little pigs and the crossdressing wolf – help Shrek in his quest to keep his true love.

The makers managed to squeeze every popular culture reference and fairytale reference that was possible. Keep an eye out for Knights keeping the streets safe.