Review of "Shrek 2"

If you love “Shrek” for what it is, and not just for the sake of loving “Shrek,” then this sequel will feel like coming home. The swamp, the leeches, the little house, the Three Little Pigs, the Gingerbread Man, and that lazy Donkey sprawled on the couch, while the green ogre and his ogre wife are on their honeymoon, slathering themselves in mud and doing karate with skinhead thugs. It’s green overload! But all good things must come to an end, and upon returning from their honeymoon, the newlyweds receive a letter from Fiona’s parents. They invite Fiona to their kingdom for a pre-wedding inspection – with the real prince she was betrothed to since childhood.

Now, while the “meeting the parents” plot might seem more mundane than the classic first installment, some might find the sequel disappointing. Even the rescue of Fiona from the dragon’s tower, which the first movie used to showcase its paradoxes, is casually dismissed in the sequel. Turns out, there was a real prince, brave and handsome, who spent his whole life crossing mountains and valleys to save her. He was just a little late because he wasn’t green and was a complete idiot to boot. And so goes “Shrek 2” – not a cohesive narrative, but a series of asides, a celebration of context. “Shrek 2” will charm you to the extent that the context resonates, because the essence has been digested.

Children will be thrilled by the twists and turns involving the greedy Fairy Godmother, her princely son, the hypocritical king, and a multitude of transformations. “Shrek 2” adds to these the transformation of a good fairy into an evil one, and a wise king into a frog. In this light, parents will greatly appreciate the purely fairytale-esque expansion of the dark humor from the first film. To the flattened birds are added the charmingly swept-away Thumbelina and Tom Thumb. They were holding hands so touchingly. Others will find even more endearing the mockery of American life, TV commercials, and Hollywood in particular. The Far Far Away kingdom is now a film set for some costume-historical drama, where, as usual, the sandwiches for the extras haven’t arrived, and the cameraman’s boot keeps getting into the frame. The entire population, which isn’t sniffing, boozing, or working as drug dealers, is obsessed with beauty secrets and rejuvenating treatments. Moreover, every detail is a hidden quote from “The Blues Brothers” and “Spider-Man.” But beyond competition for everyone, without exception, is Puss in Boots. It just worked out so well when he became the third member of Shrek and Donkey’s company. And even if compositionally he doesn’t streamline the plot, but rather smears it – we wish everyone could smear like that. When we watched it, we just died laughing. It’s a miracle in itself – technically, observationally, and naturally.

Of course, much of the humor is lost on us due to dubbing. For our compatriots, “Shrek 2” offers separate jokes, such as Banderas voicing Puss in Boots, Rupert Everett voicing the prince, Larry King voicing the bartender, and Joan Rivers, a real-life social chronicler, voicing the gossip. In general, many jokes are tied to local American realities, which we can only guess at. But, on the other hand, when such remarks have made their way into a classic fairy tale about happiness and love, it means the essence is of very high quality. The essence is that life is diverse, but everyone has hordes of cockroaches, and they now dominate life to its very fairytale foundation. Only if you’re green, big-eared, and a complete idiot, why should their dominance prevent you from enjoying your mud baths, your dilapidated hut, and your beloved, plump wife? The swamp is separate, the cockroaches are separate.

In modern times, this difference really requires magic, and directors Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon have fully embraced its diverse perspectives. The perspectives are so rich that they even spurred on the technology (male characters “have an Adam’s apple that moves when swallowing,” and furry characters have “a complete look of cat fur that clumps together under the weight of water and can stand against the natural growth of hair”).
But the directors should have enough imagination on the fairytale subject of how stereotypes of all green, red-haired, bald, and mustachioed people who know a thing or two about happiness and love have been exhausted, to last for the upcoming “Shrek 3.”
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