Seriously, how many sequels have been as good as the original or better...Hum T2, Spiderman2 were better than original. Godfather, Die Hard were good if not better. Well, Shrek 2 also belongs to the 2nd group i.e. it is as good as the original. This is a very high praise indeed as the first was a masterpiece anyway!
After making a ton of money (& still continues to do so) in USA. Shrek was released in India last weekend. I saw it on the Friday itself (& Saturday went for Sholay, it was GRAND experience to watch Sholay again with the houseful crowd...AMAZING!!!!). I think Shrek2 will also be highly popular in India too. It is a worthy successor & I am curious if it will match Finding Nemo with respect to the box office.
The story develops really well when the Price Charming fails & his mother trying to use the king & her powers to manipulate him & the Princess. Initial few scenes display princess & shrek’s honeymoon in a quirky, likable fashion & then the donkey takes over! :)
Mike Myers & Eddie Murphy (again) make magic with their voice & Cameron (the ’hotty’) also performs perfectly for the princess. The sequel is really a sequel in the sense the couple finishes their honeymoon & are invited by the ’Far Far Away’ kingdom.
Apart from these 3, Antonio bandares dubbed for the cat & the new M from Bond(forgot name, he was also in ’A fish called Wanda’) for the king, Julie Andrews (actress from sound of music) dubbed for the queen.
The movie continues with the same funny donkey making all sorts of annoying but cute things! :) His ’Are we there’ is a classic & pleases the 2nd time around too. His making of noise while traveling is also awesome. His initial dialog about the dragon ’she has been really moody & stuff now a days’ was also a good one. When they reach the kingdom & everybody is awestruck to see them he says ’You guys go ahead, I will park the car & come back!’ :-)
The animation is just cool & the surprise new package is the cat. The way the cat makes impression of being innocent little cat is the highlight of the movie & the animation as such. It is just too good to describe.Similarly, the dinner session is highly entertaining. The kingdom itself is based on Hollywood & several shops resemble the Burger King, Starbuck etc etc. The animations after they take the ’Happily ever after’ drink are also really good.
Some of the dialogs are ’chatpata’ like ’we are from the union...see they don’t have even the dental (insurance)’ The scene where the shrek’s crew rescues them is just awesome. The use of mission impossible tune is a master-stroke. Similarly Charles Jr, Justin Timberlake (Prince Jr) are good pinches. They have also used some of the small things like the hat (of the cat) from Indiana Jones, Fiona kissing Shrek (like Spiderman1), Also Red Carpet welcome was also based on the famous TV hostess & many more.
You have the right to remain silent; what you lack is the capacity! is one dialog I liked the most. It was just too good. I couldn’t just stop laughing & was was bursting into laugh once in while for almost next 10 minutes! (Same thing had happened when I went for XXX (Vin Diesel) when he says ’2 years were you trying to kill them of old-age?’)
The soundtrack is a good one this time with 2 songs in the movie compared to the ’I’m a believer’ from first part. Here I liked the first one better, it had much better animation & dance sequence with the Donkey & the dragon making the most fun.
Overall 2 Thumbs-up for this one. It is really a good one to watch with your family. Age is no bar for this movie. Any type of audience can enjoy this movie. I know I did! Just go for a pure entertainment & you will be served perfectly.
~Milind