Musings in Search of a Muse

Just finished watching Shrek 2 on DVD. I still like the first film better. The plot was quite a bit more clever, the gags were less forced, and there seemed to be a bit more -- hmm -- more magic. Sequels often seem to go out of their way to top the original and this one was no exception. The idea is to go bigger, faster, and more colorful.

In attempting that latter goal I would have to say that the sequel does seem to be better animation in some respects, though the hyper-realism makes many of the characters look matted together and not fully interactive. Of course, this is how it is done, but it should have been much more seamless. Viewing on a TV emphasizes this and that's one of the reasons film will remain King for a while to come. In trying to be bigger and faster the film becomes inferior by trying to cram in too much (particularly the inside jokes and movie parodies) in too little time. It's almost as if they put in every idea that they came up with regardless of quality, flow, and importance. The film felt less cohesive because of this.

The humor was driven by expectations and successes from the first film. For example, the Muffin Man joke is back, but it is far less funny. The first film generated humor by skewering the familiar -- the city as theme park, for example, as a dig at Disney -- whereas Shrek 2 simply uses product placement to try to accomplish the same thing (Farbucks coffee, Old Knavery clothier, etc.). Not nearly as clever without the tiny bit of sarcasm Shrek was brilliant at delivering.

Two truly outstanding parts of the film are, as I would expect them to be, the characters of Puss-in-Boots and the Ugly Stepsister. The cat was superbly animated and truly well voiced by Antonio Banderas. His dialogue reminded me of the clever humor in the first movie. Casting talk show host Larry King was an inspired choice. Every scene with her (him?) was laugh-out-loud good.

Yes, it's a good film. Maybe I expected too much since the first was so brilliant. After all, it's becoming a franchise now and not a true labor of love. But then again, Toy Story 2 was as good as and in many ways was better than Toy Story.