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Shrek 2 picks up right were the fist one ended, right after Shrek and Fiona get married. Soon they receive a singing telegram from Fiona’s estranged parents inviting them to attend a wedding celebration in their honor at a kingdom called Far Far Away. Far Far Away strangely resembles Hollywood with upscale boutique shops, gated mansions, and even its own Hollywood type sign. Fiona’s parents are overjoyed to see their daughter and her new husband; however things turn for the worse when they see that her husband is a big green ogre. In order to get rid of Shrek Fiona’s father hires Puss in Boots, a sword wielding cat assassin. Meanwhile, Fiona’s Fairy Godmother is attempting to make Fiona fall in love with her son Prince Charming once Shrek is out of the picture.

Shrek 2 has all the characters of the first including Mike Myers as Shrek, Eddie Murphy as Donkey, and Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona, as well as a bunch of new characters like Antonio Banderas as Puss In Boots and Jennifer Saunders as Fairy Godmother. Myers and Murphy are astounding comedians and play their roles beautifully in this movie. I am also surprised at the quality of work done by Banderas and Cameron Diaz. Both of them do a superb job bringing the character’s voices to the screen. I would also like to give a round of applause to the animators who brought all these characters to life on screen. It’s not easy to make computer graphics look so realistic and have the characters display such a range of emotion.

Animated movies have gone a long way since I was a kid. Back then the characters looked cold and stiff because of lack of motion and facial expressions; however the characters of Shrek are extremely lifelike. Even such complex textures as skin and fur are made to look very realistic in the movie. The other effect that was really impressive was the lighting of interiors in the movie. The rooms of the castle and the tavern were dark yet extremely detailed which requires a fine balance of light and shadow to pull off such an effect.

There are a lot of adults who refuse to watch animated movies because they believe that they are only for kids. In a way they are right because movie studios like Disney and Pixar make movies that primarily the target the child audience. However DreamWorks’ Shrek is a movie that can be enjoyed by all age groups. The humor in this movie is broad and most importantly it’s clever. While Shrek 2 has its amusing spoofs and slapstick humor, it also poses more intellectual jokes which requires an understanding of fairy tales, famous movies, TV shows, as well as some current events; so that it has comedy on many different levels. In my opinion Shrek 2 is just as good and funny as the first, if not better. It has a great cast of characters, an exciting story, and hilarious comedy. This is a movie that both you and the kids will love and watch over and over again.