Shrek 2 (2004)

Like I told you last week, Shrek was one of my favourite films when I was a kid because it was fun and made fun of fairy tales. It's pretty much the same with Shrek 2. And I don't know how people feel about this one, but for me it's one of those times the sequel is better than the original. 

Picking up when the first film left, Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are now happily married and live in his swamp with the annoying Donkey (Eddie Murphy) who is having some marital problems with the dragon. But then a letter from Fiona's parents (John Cleese and Julie Andrews) arrives, inviting them to dinner to celebrate her marriage which brings a lot of unhappiness in their lives because, as if Shrek and Fiona's father not getting along wasn't enough, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), the guy who was supposed to marry Fiona, returns from a failed attempt at rescuing her and works alongside his mother, the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders), to separate Shrek and Fiona.

Although it lacks the originality and freshness of the first film, the story once again uses a lot of characters and aspects of famous fairy tales to entertaining and the twist of having the Fairy Godmother as the main villain makes it a lot interesting.

What I really liked about the first film was the humour, working both for kids and adults. And it's the same in this one. Only instead of relying on a lot of one-liners to make adults laugh, this one relies on parodying things that could appeal to adults such as The Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones and Mission: Impossible. And it also makes fun of Hollywood - the land of Far Far Away is indeed a quite brilliant parody of Hollywood. 

However, what makes Shrek 2 so good are the characters. Shrek is pretty much the same angry but kind ogre, Fiona is sweet as usual and Donkey, well, he's annoying as only he could be, but the new characters are a very good addition to the film. The two villains, the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming, are a lot of fun, both evil and charismatic. Then there's Puss in Boots who steals the scene and brings a lot of energy (and Antonio Banderas's accent) to the film. The performances from the new cast members are also noteworthy. Jennifer Saunders is excellent as the Fairy Godmother, and John Cleese and Julie Andrews are both wonderful as Fiona's parents.