December 11, 2004
Shrek 2
A little while ago Shrek 2 was released on DVD. Instead of renting it, we purchased it, with the understanding that it was the "#1 comedy of all time". We own the original Shrek, and have watched it many times as it was at one time the boy's favorite. (He had a thing for red heads and loved the part where Princess Fiona sang and made the bird blow up). Anyway, we figured that it would be cheaper in the long run to just buy it than to have to rent it several times.
Well, I can't understand why that movie was so popular. The constant referencing other movies seemed to fragment the movie, the silly puns with the "Burger Prince" and "Versarchery" signs, and the original characters were too set. My favorite character, "Donkey", voiced by Eddie Murphy, was hilarious in the first movie but just kind of tepid in the second. Perhaps the producers didn't want to offend anyone so they couldn't take the characters anywhere near danger. The part of the movie that most people seemed to really enjoy was the "Mission Impossible" scene where Pinnochio is attempting to rescue Shrek, Donkey, and the not so lovable Puss in Boots. In attempting to make him lie to have his nose grows, we discover that he wears women's underpants. I don't know, but I just don't find that particularly funny.
It seems to me that in an effort to take jabs at Disney, Shrek 2 lost much of the humour that the original movie did so well. If formulaic ever described a movie, this is the one. No big surprises, just a bunch of characters going through the motions, earning $800 million dollars worldwide. It's not surprising that the studio has already "green lighted" Shrek 3 and 4, any savvy business person would. I just hope they take some of those millions earned and invest them in a good story, with a good script. Because, at the end of the day, the animation alone doesn't make the movie.
The expression "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" certainly applies here. I'm not saying I won't see Shrek 3 when it comes out on video, I just won't be buying it, sight unseen.
RATING : 2 out of 5
P.S. The weirdest thing just happened as I was attempting to type in my rating. Suddenly, letters started disappearing from my posting, as if someone was hitting the backspace key. I panicked and managed to hit the escape key before I'd lost too much. Perhaps this is a bug of MarsEdit.