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Story by: Jack Foley
SHREK 2 opened in America on Wednesday (May 19,2004) to almost
universal acclaim, with many placing it with the likes of The
Godfather: Part 2, Toy Story 2 and the Lord
of the Rings sequels, as the finest follow-ups on all-time.
Having played at Cannes to considerable acclaim, and becoming
one of the leading contenders for the prestigious Palme d’Or,
it was little wonder to find that publications such as Variety
were queuing up to sing its praises.
That publication wrote that ‘the appeal of the characters
and the abundance of cleverness in the telling will keep viewers
grinning, if not always laughing, through most of the picture’.
Likewise, the Philadelphia Inquirer, which wrote that
it is ‘a sequel as exhilarating and riotously funny as 2001's
top-grossing original’.
And Rolling Stone, which noted that ‘Shrek 2 brims
with perverse pleasures that show no respect for the rules of
kiddie-cartoon form’.
The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, opined that it ‘again
presents a world of sight gags, puns, anachronisms and satire
within the confines of an off-center fairy tale filled with richly
detailed characters and a vibrant sense of fun’.
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While the Hollywood Report Card raved: "The film
is amusing from start to finish, but one pseudo-video-taped segment
of ‘KNIGHTS’ (a ‘COPS’ spoof) rocks the theater.
It's hands down (or handcuffed) hilarious."
Somewhat more restrained, but still positive, was the Chicago
Sun-Times, which wrote that ‘Shrek 2 is bright, lively
and entertaining, but it's no Shrek’.
While the Chicago Tribune found it ‘a solid if not
groundbreaking yarn’.
Newsday, meanwhile, felt that it’s ‘not quite
as sparkling as the first, but it gets nuttier as it goes along’.
And the New York Times wrote that it is ‘slick and
playful entertainment that remains carefully inoffensive beneath
its veneer of bad manners’.
The final words, however, are glowing.
The Los Angeles Times concluded that ‘its cleverness
and its good heart enable it to overcome a slow start, which is
how all good fairy tales end’, while USA Today felt that
it is ‘as funny, sweet and engaging as the first film’.
Ebert and Roeper, meanwhile, stated that, ‘like Toy
Story 2 and the Lord of the Rings sequels, Shrek 2 is that rare
adventure follow-up that doesn’t let you down’.
And the New York Post declared that it is ‘so gorgeously
animated and so thoroughly entertaining for all ages that only
an ogre would complain it's not quite as fresh as the original’.
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