Shrek 2

On a whim I went to see this. I had planned to, but wasn't in a great hurry to do so. I felt a bit hyped out.

It's a good film. Funny, witty and heart-warming it presents most of the first film did. That is it's problem. I didn't feel like I was being taken somewhere new. Obviously there was lots of new things and places but nothing that I felt extended the first. Enough on that for now.

The character designs and animation of the worlds are still stunning. Puss and Donkey are wonderfully realised. The human characters are equally good. I find that I get distracted by the lipsyncing and mouth shapes in animation, notably in computer animation. Final Fantasy is a good example of not precise enough movement.

For a title character I found Shrek to be a little irritating. I don't know what or why. I felt dissatisfied with him, which left me dissatisfied overall at first. I think it may be that he wasn't off doing anything original. It feels awful to say that because an ogre wishing to become human to make his love happy should be a good story. So it also made Fiona more of a moping and complaining wife rather than the kick ass woman she was.

The saviour of the film was the voice casting. John Cleese brings his comic genius to the King, Julie Andrews can't go wrong as the Queen, and Rupert Everett as the spoilt Charming was dripping with greasy charm, Jennifer Saunders shines as the scheming Fairy Godmother, and Antonio Banderas is by far the funniest character in the film. It is these last two who become the true stars of the film leaving the established characters for dead.

IMDB says that there is a Shrek 3 on the way in 2006. So there's no doubt we have a franchise that will keep pumping out products.