No Classic, But "Shrek 2" Still a Good Time

But Fiona convinces him to go so he, Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and the formerly human Princess head cross-country to meet the palpitated in-laws. Yet Shrek’s worst fears are realized, Fiona’s father is aghast, not only by his daughter’s choice of husbands, but also by her current pea-green appearance. And while Lillian is more than willing to give their new son-in-law the benefit of the doubt, Harold just won’t have it, obsessed with finding some way to end his daughter’s marriage.

There is more than just fatherly overprotection at work here, however. Unbeknownst to even his wife, Harold struck a deal with The Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) years earlier to set up a scenario where her son Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) would be Fiona’s savior and significant other. Now the twinkle-eyed wish-granter is furious, ready to sever the bonds between the two families and send the frazzled king back to the lily pond she found him in decades earlier.

Afraid for his own two-legged existence, Harold contracts the notorious Puss-in-Boots (Antonio Banderas) to do-in the gregarious ogre and his sarcastic and hairy companion. Instead, Puss ends up joining Shrek and Donkey as a compatriot, assisting the duo find away to help the ogre put things right between Fiona and her family. Unfortunately, Shrek inadvertently takes a potion that turns him into a burly, sexy woodsman and Fiona back into her svelte and sexy human self. This allows The Fairy Godmother to sideline the trio while Charming woos Fiona impersonating Shrek in human form. What’s worse, if Fiona kisses Charming before midnight, due to a potion slipped to her by her fearful father she’ll fall in love with the obnoxious charlatan forgetting Shrek. Will he and his companions be able to save her and their true love in time?

The sequel to the 2001 Oscar-winning computer animated smash hit, “Shrek 2” hits theaters today with all the pomp and circumstance of a second coming by the likes of a Kubrick or Scorsese. To say it doesn’t deserve such hype would be redundant, but that’s better than saying it isn’t any good because, luckily, it is. While the charm and originality of the original cannot be repeated, “Shrek 2” still has a goofball warmth all its own. Its every bit as good as the first in most respects, a perfectly pleasing family adventure that doesn’t tax the patience of its audience and is sure to leave most unassuming moviegoers smiling.

It isn’t high art, however, and neither was the first film. Like the original, this one relies far too heavily on pop music montages more suitable to a warmed-over romantic comedy, and the screenplay by J. David Stern, Joe Stillman and David N. Weiss isn’t half as witty or clever as the writers apparently believe it to be. This is nothing more than a series of skits, brief bits of comedic silliness written as an outline for Myers, Murphy and the other talented vocal actors to strut their stuff. There isn’t a cohesive vision to the madness, a construct to it all that warms the heart just as much as it tickles the funny bone. It is a facet of their features that Pixar always seems to get just right, remembering characters and plotting are just as important to a successful whole as piquant humor and pointed sarcasm are.

When the vignettes work, though, they sizzle with a deft hilarity most comedies would kill for. Shrek and company’s arrival in Far, Far Away is priceless, as is a sublimely uncomfortable dinner where the ogre and his new father-in-law literally go gluttonously overboard in their apparent dislike of one another. Best of all, the standoff between Puss-in-Boots and Shrek. Equal parts Sergio Leone, Blake Edwards and Friz Freleng, this moments has a nonsensical seductiveness that’s as loopy and endearing as any comedic moment I’ve seen this year.

The animation here is superb, not that’s really a surprise. While not up to the deliriously mesmerizing standard set by last year’s “Finding Nemo,” this is still a delightfully imagined film. While I hope hand-drawn animation has not seen its final days, it is without question that computers have forever changed the shape of animated features. There are colors and images and designs here that are beyond splendid. The three-dimensionality of it all is awe-inspiring, sculpted with a texture and richness most live-action motion pictures can only dream of achieving.

So why am I not falling over myself in my enthusiasm for “Shrek 2?” While I loved – adored, really – the performances by Saunders and Banderas (they really do make the film soar), I can’t exactly say I was blown away by the rest of it. There is a warmed-over quality to it all that’s more than a little tired, the film taking forever to get going before finally coming together with a fitfully funny climax. That climax actually saves it, the movie running on pleasant but unexciting fumes for far too much of its running time.