Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
When I reviewed the original SHREK, it was over a month before its release, and it was apparent even at that early screening that Dreamworks Animation had finally found its first audience-pleasing hit. Since then, they have yet to match its impact, but leave it to the inevitable sequel to finally do it again. I’ll be honest... I think both of the SHREK films are pure Teflon. They’re very entertaining in the theater, but there’s almost nothing about them that sticks to you. The biggest problem is that they spend so much of their running time making fun of other movies that they almost turn into a MAD magazine parody instead of telling their own story.
Having said that, I think SHREK 2 is going to be a massive hit, one of the summer’s biggest, and it certainly delivers the goods as far as big laughs are concerned. The story is as simple as possible. Shrek and Fiona return from their honeymoon to learn that they’ve been invited to visit the land of Far, Far Away to visit Fiona’s parents and attend a ball in honor of their marriage. Of course, they take along their “noble steed,” Donkey. There’s some business about the jilted suitor who was supposed to rescue Fiona and break her curse and some direct jabs at the culture of Beverly Hills, but that’s about it as far as story is concerned. All three stars seem more comfortable this time around, and Mike Myers actually seems to be the straight man this time out. Cameron Diaz gets the burden of what little emotional content there is. And, once again, Eddie Murphy gets to cut loose and just be funny without restraint. I don’t know what happens to Murphy when he’s under Rick Baker makeup or animated, but maybe it’s just not worrying about being cool that allows him to be so free and so funny. Whatever the case, he consistently walks that fine line between hilarious and too annoying to watch, and I suspect that Donkey will once again remain an audience favorite.
He’s got competition, though. There are five major new characters introduced this time, to varying degrees of success. Neither Prince Charming (voiced by Rupert Everett) nor the Queen (Julie Andrews) make any sort of impression. They’re both underwritten and blandly designed. Fairy Godmother (ABFAB’s Jennifer Saunders) and the King (the great John Cleese) are given more to do, and they fare much better as a result. Saunders in particular seems to relish her role, and when she sings her two big musical numbers, I’ll admit that I was shocked by how great her voice is. “Fairy Godmother Song,” her introduction, is a pretty canny send-up of all things Disney, right down to the singing and dancing furniture.
But the star of the film, and the one character who could supplant Donkey in terms of audience affection, is the diminuitive Puss In Boots, voiced with sly glee by Antonio Banderas. Dreamworks and PDI would do well to study the way crowds respond to Puss In Boots and apply those lessons to future films. A perfect marriage of design and performance, the character is appealing in every way, and he stopped the film cold several times during our screening by setting off deafening waves of laughter.
The mechanics of the plot hardly seem worth mentioning, but I do think the message of this film is less confused than the message of the first one. I know many people who were put off by the idea that Fiona had to remain “ugly” to be a fit match for Shrek, but I just saw it as a reversal of the classic Beauty and the Beast ending. I don’t think anyone really considered the implications of that ending when they made the first movie. This time, both Fiona and Shrek are given a chance to become beautiful, and the script by director Andrew Adamson, Joe Stillman, J. David Stern and David N. Weiss manages to make its points about acceptance and understanding with a fairly deft touch.
The film’s final act is the best part, frantic and flat-out hilarious at times, and it makes great use of some of the supporting characters from the first film. Pinocchio, the Gingerbread Man, the Three Blind Mice, the cross-dressing Wolf... they all get their moments to shine, and some of the humor is raunchier than I would have expected. The most adult jokes are subtle, though, so parents shouldn’t have to worry about explaining too much. Also, make sure you stay through the closing credits, or you’ll miss some of the funniest stuff in the movie.
I’d like to compliment PDI for creating a better-looking film this time out. It’s hard to compete with the consistent eye candy of Pixar’s movies, and PDI’s efforts so far have been hit or miss. This film manages to be quite lovely at times, with a richer palette and a greater organic quality than in the first film. Also, thank God, there’s no beastly Smash Mouth to deal with on the soundtrack. Actually, I’m surprised by some of the choices here. Any family film that uses Frou Frou, Tom Waits, The Eels, Pete Yorn, Nick Cave, and Bowie’s “Changes” so well can be forgiven the horror of “La Vida Loca.”
Overall, I think Andrew Adamson’s proven himself now as the director of frantic comedy, but he’s going to have to raise his game if he wants to make THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE into the classic it deserves to be. For now, I’m still not sure he can manage heart and soul as well as he can the funny bone.
"Moriarty" out.
