Film reviews

Shrek 2, Dir; Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon, Cert; U

Picking up where Andrew Adamson's first installment left off, "The greatest fairy tale ever told" takes the turn following the couple's, Shrek and Princess Fiona's honeymoon. Now it's time to meet the in-laws and Shrek is quite understandably nervous of the prospect and with Fiona now looking nothing like their daughter did on leaving the 'kingdom far, far away', she too has a fair amount to prove.

This is an hilarious journey for both kids and adults alike, where jokes will possess a life untold to the younger members of the audience. The cast has grown since our first visit to this tale with shining moments coming from John Cleese in the guise of 'The King', Rupert Everett as the pampered 'Prince Charming' and Jennifer Saunders as 'The Fairygodmother'. But there was so much more to this script with the incidental character 'The Ugly Sister' voiced by Larry King (or should that be Jonathan Ross? Such was the likeness) and the undoubted star of the show 'Puss In Boots', a ginger tom-cat with attitude, voiced by Antonio Bandaress, a fact that hit me with some surprise as I wouldn't normally consider Antonio as one of my favorite actors.

I found it amazing that unlike previously told sequels where the audience is brought into the story from the point of view of the already constructed characters, 'Shrek 2' brought in its new cast with such confidence that the existing models were just blown away. Although this was an animated tale, both characters and scenes were brought to life in the way in which they where voiced and set, that be it pretend or not, this was in fact 'real'.

It was clear that from the very onset of the 'Shrek' tale, this was an extremely strong model on which to base a script and a squeal was for sure the way to proceed. But where we go from here I can only hope that we've seen the conclusion and to drag it out beyond this point would be a shame, I'm sure we'll all get quite enough of 'Shrek' from the countless product placements and branded merchandise that are already in place. From being unsure that a squeal could ever hope to live up to the magic of the first installment, 'Shrek 2' lived up and more, as this was one squeal that shone beyond its original master. See this film, you won't fail to be impressed. 10/10

Nick James

Odeon Online