Shrek 2

In the sequel to the groundbreaking computer-animated comedy "Shrek", Princess Fiona and her new husband are invited to the kingdom of Far Far Away, where the king and queen want to throw a huge ball in honour of the newlyweds. Shrek is reluctant, as he doubts that his in-laws will welcome him, an ogre, with open arms, but Fiona gets her way all the same. Unfortunately Shrek's misgivings prove right: the enthusiasm is easy to miss. Matters are not helped by the scheming Fairy Godmother being ready to resort to dirty tricks to make sure that her son, the conceited Prince Charming, gets the princess and half the kingdom.

Shrek, however, is not prepared to give up Fiona that easily. Together with Donkey and his little friends from the swamp, he takes up the fight. He gets help from a new character, Puss in Boots, who is an entertaining acquaintance, but otherwise it is hard to spot any originality in this sequel.

Between the terrifically fast-paced opening and the dramatic ending, there is not much momentum in the plot. The film is more quirky than actually funny, and to pad out the flimsy plot it has even been necessary to resort to song and dance, an old Disney trick. The soundtrack panders to the very young, dominated as it is by far too much noisy and vapid pop music.