Shrek 2

Starring: The voices of: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, John Cleese, Julie Andrews and Jennifer Saunders

Bluntly speaking? Shrek 2 serves up a heapin' helping of merriment and mayhem within a spectacular concoction of animated brilliance!

Story goes...Picking up on the continuing fable of the ogre Shrek, we join him and his new bride Princess Fiona. They've just returned from their honeymoon to their humble shack in the swamp.

Donkey is awaiting them - as obnoxious as ever. He immediately tries to hone in on the happy duo. But before Shrek can get the ass to vacate the place, a royal messenger (and band) comes-a-callin'.

Fiona's parents, the King and Queen of Far Far Away, want to have a big shindig in the happy couple's honor.

Shrek just knows something will go wrong (so do we) as they venture forth.

Faster then you can hum a bar of "Down by the river, and out through the woods, to granmot ..." we learn Fiona was to have been wed not to a eight foot five hundred pound Orge, but to Charming. This piece of work, Charming, is a smarmy character who is more into mastering his hair flip approach and a perfect red carpet strut. He also happens to be already smitten...not with Fiona, but the idea of adding the infamous "Prince" to the front of his moniker - thus working his way into the fable world of words, happy ever after.

Oh dearie me, seems Fiona's padre, the King himself, has a hair across his buttocks about Shrek from the get-go and wouldn't so much mind if Charming stepped in as number one son-in-law...

If a truth be uttered, this noble toad of a man has actually promised Fiona's royal hand in wedlock to this Charming character - years ago - in a seeded sinister situation of his own career-choice ladder leaping.

Let ye olde shenanigans begin!

Will Shrek be 86'd by the conceited Charming? Can Fiona convince her parents of Shrek's loving inner-man? What's with the snarling pussy cat with oozing attitude dressed up in Musketeer boots? And is that a 700 foot Gingerbread Man terrorizing the villagers??

This delightful sequel was well worth the wait. The scene stealing Donkey (Eddie Murphy) is still a laughterfest of kinetic verbal brouhaha. But, this time around it's a leedle kitty that truly steals the scenes. This leedle cat known as Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) is a tough character with a heart of Cortez's gold. The addition of the swashbuckling tabby to Shrek's motley crew of Grimm misfits, makes me alert you to a safety precaution needed for viewing! You' best be packing your protective head gear for when your cranium is catapulted forward from a hardy uncontrollable guffawing thusly smacking against the seat before you! Just a friendly advisory kids.

Also for the wee'r ones, there's a bit of Fairy Godmorther bashing - lest you want the young' in therapy in the later years, be warned.

The animation is superb - every strand of hair shimmy's and the characters (an odd Bichon Frise aside) look as human as a cartoon ever could - it's astonishing how far the art has come. Shrek 2 is also a gargantuan gigglefest for all ages; filled with subtle references sure to get a smirk-or-two and riddled with literary laughs for the 'high-brow' crowd. The filmmakers knew what we wanted to see and delivered it in a gleeming carriage pulled by fairydusted steeds.
Buy it

Snack recommendation: Farbuck's Frappichino's and Muffin Man pie

SUPPORT BLUNT REVIEW