Franchise Reviews - Shrek 2

Released in 2004, Shrek 2 is another one of those sequels which ended up being superior to the first film. And it's probably the strongest film in the series.

When the last film ended, Shrek married Fiona, who has now permanently taken the form of an ogre, while Donkey hooked up with Dragon (who ate Lord Farquaad). Now that Katzenberg has vented enough about Disney, it's time for a new story.

Shrek and Fiona return from their honeymoon, when they receive an invitation from Fiona's parents to the Hollywood-style Kingdom of Far Far Away, who wish to give Fiona's new husband their blessing. With Donkey in tow, the newlyweds travel to Far Far Away and meet King Harold and Queen Lillian, voiced respectively by John Cleese and Julie Andrews. Naturally, they're taken aback to have an ogre in the family, especially Harold. To make matters worse, Harold is indebted to The Fairy Godmother, voiced by Jennifer Saunders. He'd secretly arranged for Fiona to marry The Fairy Godmother's son Prince Charming, voiced by Rupert Everett. In desperation, Harold recruits Puss in Boots, a feline assassin voiced by Antonio Banderas, to kill Shrek. After failing, Puss has a change of heart and helps Shrek foil The Fairy Godmother's plans and save his marriage.

I think one of the reasons this film worked is because it explores a question often overlooked by fairy tales; what's life like after living happily ever after? It also adds its own twist on traditional fairy tales by depicting The Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming as villains. Antonio Banderas steals the show as Puss in Boots, making him a Zorro-style swashbuckler. He also adds an element to Shrek and Donkey's dynamic by laughing at Shrek's unfunny jokes while sharing a mutual animosity with Donkey.

Something I found interesting is that the film seems to convey a more adult them. While the first film is about not judging people before you got to know them, this one is about change and how much one should change for those they care about, particularly in relationships. Fiona reminds Shrek that she changed for him, by taking the form of an ogre. This comes into play when Shrek and his friends steal a "Happily Ever After" potion from The Fairy Godmother. When Shrek drinks it, he and Fiona both turn into humans, while Donkey is turned into a stallion, with the effect becoming permanent if they kiss before midnight. When The Fairy Godmother finds out, she has Prince Charming impersonate Shrek while telling the real Shrek to let Fiona go. It's actually quite poignant, because Shrek genuinely believes it's for the best. But when he learns that The Fairy Godmother plans to use a potion to make Fiona fall in love with Charming, he has to stop it, leading to a bigger climax than the first one.

The film still uses a lot of pop culture references, but they don't do as much of the zeitgeist the previous film did, so it aged a little better. In fact, there's one scene which is unfortunately timeless when Shrek and his friends are arrested by the city guards: some of the minor characters from the first film (Pinocchio, The Gingerbread Man, the Three Little Pigs, and the Three Blind Mice) see the arrest through the Magic Mirror while watching a fantasy version of Cops. Donkey is shouting about police brutality while Puss calls one of the officers a "capitalist pig". Recent news events do make the scene harsher in hindsight.

Overall, it's a far superior sequel that took plenty of opportunities for improvement.