Shrek 2

There's a chap in my office who loves Shrek, but says that his five-year-old daughter hates it. "It's all going so well," he says, "until we get to the final scene. I don't know why, but she just gets upset when they have the transformation. I think she was expecting the Disney version."

It's no great secret that the original Shrek spent most of its runtime mocking Uncle Walt's legacy - the fact that the fairy tale characters so strongly resembled their Disney counterparts, Lord Farquaad's cleaner-than-clean kingdom made up like a pastiche of Fantasyland, the It's-A-Small-World dolls, and Farquaad himself looking an awful lot like Michael Eisner. But the biggest reference of all was the final transformation, which is almost identical to that of Beauty and the Beast - but which avoids the Chippendale-style cop-out that we got at the end of that movie and opts instead to give us the ending that we secretly hoped for but didn't dare to expect, while showing everyone watching that true beauty is inside us all. It was, in the words of one reviewer, "a triumph for ugly people everywhere".

Rather than deal with this concept briefly and then move on, the writers of Shrek 2 have decided to re-iterate and even expand upon the theme, asking the simple question of what happened next? It's three years since we last saw Fiona and Shrek, but as far as they're concerned it's only been a couple of weeks: after an amusing opening sequence that parodies From Here To Eternity amongst various others, we find the newlyweds returning from their honeymoon to discover that they have been invited to dinner with Fiona's parents, the obnoxious King Harold (voiced by John Cleese) and his well-meaning spouse Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews), who rule the kingdom of Far Far Away. There's only one problem: they don't know that she's an ogre.

And herein lies the crux of the narrative - that everything that happened in the previous movie was not the way it was supposed to be. The original fairy story, indeed, showed the cursed princess freed from her spell to remain (conventionally) beautiful always - as we get to hear halfway through, "Ogres don't get happy endings", and the fact that Fiona seems to have been rescued by the wrong handsome prince seems to be the cause of most of the problems that follow. The sense of expectation that this is not the way things should have played out is epitomised in the awkward, uncomfortable moment when Fiona's mother and father finally get to meet their new son-in-law. And then things just get worse.

If Disney was the butt of most of the film's satiric jokes, this time it's Hollywood that takes a beating. The plastic kingdom of Far Far Away is, to all intents and purposes, a modern tinseltown - from the enormous hillside sign to the wealth of exotic stores, sporting such names as Versarchery and Tower of London Records. Gigantic moving billboards advertise amazing magical products, and there are Oscars references galore. But the central theme running like a current throughout this intricate synthetic city is the obsession of judging by appearances - that it is how you look that finally counts. I'm not sure how dangerous or accurate it is to suggest that most the population of Hollywood - or L.A. in general - are preoccupied with youthful looks and plastic surgery, but in a world where Alex Kingston has been recently fired from E.R. (at the ripe old age of 42) in what looks like a sure-fire case of age discrimination, you have to admit they have a point.

Thankfully, the moralistic undertones of the film are never allowed to become preachy or overly serious: they have a valuable message to impart but it never gets in the way of the comedy. The jokes fly thicker and faster than the pitchfork-clutching mob racing towards Shrek's cottage, and practically every scene contains a laugh of some description or a name check or reference. The film is chock-full of movie pastiches, some gut-wrenchingly obvious and some of the blink-and-you'll-almost-miss-them variety, and everything from Lord of the Rings to Mission: Impossible is ripped apart by the ogre's burly hands. It's not as simple as throwing in a few Matrix references and hoping that no one wants more, though - the film makers have pulled out all the stops in dropping in a level of detail that's so intricate that a second or third viewing is essential in order to pick up on the things you missed last time round. Everywhere you look there's something else - the lengthy wire that runs from Rapunzel's tower window down to the gate outside, or the fact that the pianist in the dingy bar is a dead ringer for Captain Hook. It's a testament to how much animation has moved on in the past few years, and if the backgrounds look occasionally hazy and unrealistic, this is presumably all part of the fun.

Voiceovers are almost unilaterally good: Myers returns as the cantankerous ogre, while Diaz manages to make Fiona by turns sweet and angry depending on what mood she's in, even though her character seems to be a little less interesting in the second instalment. Murphy is back as the seemingly irrepressible donkey, who is thankfully nowhere near as irritating as he was first time around. Also turning up to join the King and Queen's welcoming party is Jennifer Saunders' matriarchal Fairy Godmother, while Rupert Everett oozes foppish wit as Prince Charming. But the piece de resistance comes courtesy of Antonio Banderas, playing Puss In Boots - a Zorro-inspired Latino heartthrob, who performs dazzling displays of swordplay and then manages to look extremely cute, all in the space of a minute and a half. He's the perfect comic sidekick to complement the partnership of our unconventional heroes, and he manages to silence the exasperating Donkey to a degree that Shrek could never seem to manage.

Guess what? There's no 'but' coming. In a seemingly inexplicable move, Dreamworks really do seem to have got everything right this time: the script is by turns amusing and touching, the characters are (with one or two exceptions) well-rounded and solid, and the structure manages to maintain interest throughout - including a finale that provides far more excitement than the first instalment's mildly disappointing confrontation (which was emotionally satisfying but lacking a certain punch). It looks great and sounds great, with Stephen Barton's excellent score underpinning without becoming intrusive, interspersed with some wonderful choreographed musical numbers (Saunders, in particular, showing that she can really belt out a tune). Bold, brassy, thought-provoking and tremendous fun, Shrek 2 is that rare thing amongst animated movies: a sequel that picks up on the faults of its predecessor and more or less obliterates them completely, creating a solid slice of classic entertainment that will leave a smile imprinted on your face when you leave the cinema. The summer's first must-see - and undoubtedly well worth a second viewing as well. Oh, and make sure you stay for the credits.

(Sunday, 27th June 2004)