Princess Fiona's parents invite her and Shrek to dinner to celebrate her marriage. Shrek is reluctant but she insist. The suspense in much as we anticipate the reaction of the Royal house to the ogre's.
This second edition of DreamWorks's Oscar-winning ogre opus may not match the original for, well, originality, but it honors the prime injunction governing sequels: To thine own characters be true.
Donkey, with his endless asides and phenomenally thick skin, is as much of a pleasure as he was in the first film, but he has a challenger: Puss in Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas.
Can an ogre live happily ever after? Can fairy tale characters be content with their fairy tale lives? Can an Oscar-winning animated success generate a successful sequel? To all these questions, Shrek 2 is happy to answer yes, yes and yes.
Like the first movie this is unassailable family entertainment, with a gentle fairy tale for kids and a raft of mildly satirical pop-culture references for parents.
All hail the angriest rebel since James Dean. All right, he's green, pot-bellied, and has the social graces of a slug. But in terms of attitude? Peerless.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not sulking. I liked Shrek 2. Honest. Kids will like Shrek 2. Most mums and dads will like Shrek 2. My problem is this: I didn't love it the way I loved Shrek.
The animation by which it stands or falls is as brilliant as ever and, though it wouldn't really be right to call it totally anti-Disney, it certainly trumps that institution for sharpness of focus, notably as far as the screenplay is concerned.
