Anyone who knows the work of the late William Steig knows it's heresy to even consider a sequel to Shrek.
Heresy being a non-starter in Hollywood, however, Shrek 2 opens in theatres today and is likely to delight the family units eager to see that lovable ogre again.
In this sequel (and there will be more), Shrek and his bride, Princess Fiona must travel to Far, Far Away -- Fiona's home town -- to meet her parents.
Their sidekick, Donkey, comes along.
(Shrek and Fiona are once again voiced by Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz, and Donkey, who steals the movie, is Eddie Murphy in fine form.)
Once in Far, Far Away, our loving ogre couple face parental disapproval as well as the open hostility of Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders), who always assumed her son, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), would one day marry Fiona.
Godmother puts a hit on Shrek, which is to be carried out by the fierce Puss In Boots, known from fairy tales as a wise ogre killer.
Much running around ensues.
Shrek 2 has several advantages -- fantastic and highly detailed animation, the brilliant comedic turn from Antonio Banderas as the voice of Puss In Boots and pop-culture jokes that send up current movies, reality TV shows and just about all of Hollywood. The town of Far, Far Away, for example, is really Hollywood itself (or Beverly Hills, to be exact) with the town name posted up in the hills and such posh stores as Saxon Fifth Avenue.
The first 10 or 15 minutes of the movie are a tad slow, but the thing really starts to get moving once Fiona and Shrek arrive in Far, Far Away.
The first family dinner, in which Shrek and Fiona's father fight with food items, is an animation masterpiece.
Shrek 2 is strewn with fast and furious visual jokes -- the louche Captain Hook playing piano in a dive, a reality show for the middle ages called Knights, one of the three blind mice trying to find his cane, Pinocchio becoming a real boy for about a second. There are some moments (such as Puss In Boots coughing up a furball) that are just plain gross, bound to annoy adults and amuse children.
Shrek 2 is funny and forgettable, a sort of junk food outing at the movies.
On a moral level, the rich, powerful and beautiful are revealed to be something other than what they appear, and Shrek and Fiona, though briefly transformed into attractive humans, end up as their good-hearted, ogre selves.
So you can't tell a book by its cover. So not everybody is a handsome prince or beautiful princess.
So Shrek 2 is a kind of anti-Disney animated movie, with that message.
Pretty funny, coming from Hollywood.
(This film is rated G)
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