Shrek 2

Stars: Voices: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett, Jennifer Saunders

Director: Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon

An inspired sequel to a good original, this should have become only the second animated feature to be nominated for a Best Film Academy Award. Shame on the Academy for ignoring it.

Story? Shrek the ogre and his bride, Princess Fiona, seemingly permanently transformed into her nighttime ogre form, journey to visit her parents in the Land of Far Away - travelling in a giant horse-drawn onion, accompanied by their garrulous companion Donkey, who complains that 'There ain't no in-flight movie or nuttin'.

Shrek's forebodings about the whole trip are soon proved to be right: you can take the ogre out of the swamp, but you can't take the swamp out of the ogre. Not only are the King and Queen horrified by Shrek, but the country's evil Fairy Godmother plans to transfer Fiona to her own son, the smarmy Prince Charming.

Enough story already. There are verbal and visual jokes going on all over the place, and the whole shebang is almost stolen by Puss in Boots, a marmalade-coloured assassin who switches sides after being hired to dispatch poor old Shrek.

Puss is slyly voiced by Banderas, a stylish addition to a quality voice cast that includes Myers as Shrek, Murphy as Donkey and Diaz as Fiona, with Cleese and Andrews - Basil Fawlty reined in by Mary Poppins - as King and Queen, and Saunders as the fiendish fairy.

This glorious romp's only problem is that it's difficult to stop laughing before the next joke arrives. Roll on Shrek the Third.

David Quinlan

USA 2004. UK Distributor: UIP (DreamWorks). Technicolor.
92 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: PG.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 02 Dec 2006