This movie shocked me. First of all, I didn't like the first one. Burping, farting and other crude behavior doesn't make me laugh. Secondly, why on earth would people choose to be ogres when they could be prince and princesses? I understand the point of the story, but why such extremes?

Shrek 2 went beyond crude. Were my eyes playing tricks on me or was Pinochio in a pink G string? Was there a transvestite bartender? Was the cat licking himself provacatively? Not to mention a slue of other shockers that were completely unsuitable for a young audience.

I realize the movie was rated PG. However when you put out an animated movie, all the children are going to want to see it. They are all marketed toward young children. There was no reason for a lot of the content in that movie. If you have little ones, skip this one.

I expected nothing more from this movie than a lame attempt at lenghtening great movie in order to make more money, but I was surprised by the quality of this movie! The story is not a repeat attempt at the original story but an actual continuation of the plot. It was definitely as funny, if not more, than the original. It's something you'd want with the first Shrek. It kept me laughing throughout the whole movie.

As with the first "Shrek" film in 2001, DreamWorks did another wonderful job of animation and writing for the 2004 sequel "Shrek 2". Beginning where the first film ended, Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) and his new wife Princess Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz) have a wonderful honeymoon. They return to Shrek's home in the swamp, which has been looked after by their often-annoying friend Donkey (voice of Eddie Murphy). Having learned about Fiona's marriage, her parents the King (voice of John Cleese) and Queen (voice of Julie Andrews) invite Fiona and her new husband to visit. Begrudgingly, Shrek agrees and the three of them head off to the Kingdom of Far Far Away. However, upon arriving, the King is not particularly thrilled to see that Fiona has married an ogre, nor is Fiona's Fairy Godmother (voice of Jennifer Saunders) who (with the King) had been planning for Fiona to marry her son, Prince Charming (voice of Rupert Everett) all along. From that point onward, the Fairy Godmother forces the King to help her magically conspire to change Fiona's heart.

With superb animation, engaging characters and a wonderful story, "Shrek 2" is indeed a very wonderful film and I rate it with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars. The received two Oscar nominations for Best Animated Film and Best Original Song, but each of these Oscars were won instead by "The Incredibles (2004) and "Diarios de motocicleta" (2004) respectively. Overall, this a wonderful film that anyone of any age will more than likely enjoy. Other actors who contributed their voices to the film include Antonio Banderas as a swashbuckling cat, Cody Cameron as Pinocchio & the three pigs, Conrad Vernon and Mark Moseley.

I had high hopes that "Shrek 2" would equal if not surpass the originality of the first film. I always have such hopes whenever tuning in to a sequel of a film I enjoyed immensely. No one goes into a sequel hoping it will fail, at least I don't. But we all know that movie sequels far too often fall prey to the dreaded law of diminishing returns. No matter what genre, no matter the size of the talent, no matter who sits behind the camera--we all realize that most sequels just can't capitalize on the success of the first film. There are exceptions, of course, but they exist only to prove the rule. I'm not saying that "Shrek 2" is a bad film. Far from it. It's quite good in its own way, full of funny jokes, double entendres, interesting characters, and great CGI animation. The problem is "Shrek 2" seems a little shrill. It's as though the filmmakers discovered what people liked about the first movie and then ran those themes into the ground here. They wouldn't be the first filmmakers to do something idiotic like that. If Hollywood is good at one thing, it's coming up with a fresh idea and then promptly sucking the life right out of it.

"Shrek 2" begins by showing us the titular ogre and his lovely green bride Fiona living it up in the swamp. Alas, a new problem soon rears its ugly head in the form of a trip Fiona and Shrek must take to see her royal parents. Yikes. While her parents knew all about their daughter's particular curse, they have yet to learn exactly where she ended up. Needless to say, they aren't happy at all to see her strolling into the castle arm in arm with Shrek. As if problems with the 'rents isn't enough, Shrek and Fiona have to contend with Prince Charming and his driven mother, the Fairy Godmother. Charming was on his way to the castle to rescue Fiona when Shrek barged onto the scene, and he isn't happy about losing his bride to be and his entrée into high society. His mother isn't happy, either, because her magic installed Fiona's father as monarch. They had an agreement, you could say, and now that this agreement is in jeopardy the Fairy Godmother calls in her debts. The union of Shrek and Fiona is in grave jeopardy until a few friends old and new arrive on the scene to stave off impending disaster.

Our favorite characters from the first film--Donkey (Eddie Murphy), Fiona (Cameron Diaz), and Shrek (Mike Myers)--reappear here in fine, wisecracking form. Donkey still obsesses over becoming a steed, Shrek still has his bad habits, and Fiona continues to dream of romance. On this outing, however, a few new characters jump into the fray to liven things up. The most important addition is Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), a greatly feared feline assassin who accepts a contract to rub Shrek out but who eventually joins our heroes in their battle against the Fairy Godmother. He's a great character, a cat capable of wielding a sword to great effect while at the same disarming his opponents by looking cute as only cats can. The rest of the cast holds down the fort quite well, with saucy Brit Jennifer Saunders voicing the malevolent Fairy Godmother, Rupert Everett as the narcissistic Prince Charming, John Cleese hamming it up as Fiona's dad, and none other than Julie Andrews as the understanding Queen. They even got talk show hack Larry King to throw out a few lines as an ugly stepsister and Joan Rivers to play, predictably, Joan Rivers. Wow!

One of the great things about the first "Shrek" film, at least in my eyes, was how the movie blended contemporary culture with traditional fairytale fodder. We got music by Smashmouth and pop culture references mixed in with a theme about the importance of acknowledging inner beauty. Unfortunately, "Shrek 2" doesn't offer us anything new. The theme here is still inner beauty and its importance as Shrek decides to take some steps that could fundamentally change his relationship with Fiona. Didn't he learn the lesson in the first film? Apparently not. Perhaps sensing that they were covering the same old ground, the filmmakers went over the top with the references and jokes. While most of them are clever and funny--I loved the riff on "Ghostbusters" towards the end of the film--the jokes start to grate by the time the movie grinds to a halt. Even worse, they threw in a few musical numbers that I didn't care for that much. I'm probably making "Shrek 2" sound worse than it is, however. The movie offers up plenty of material that will likely soar over kids' heads while making the adults in the room laugh out loud. I enjoyed the film immensely and am looking forward to watching part three in a few years. Who wants to bet Fiona and Shrek will have a few little ogres running around the swamp in "Shrek 3"?

Once again, the DVD offers up a slew of supplements that will keep you busy long after the end of the film. A commentary track, flubs, interviews, games, and a bunch of other stuff graces the disc. While multiple viewings are probably necessary to catch all the subtle references, I would rather watch the original Shrek a few more times than this film. The first movie is a truly magical experience, lightening in a bottle type magic, which the sequel cannot recapture. Nonetheless, you could do much worse on movie night than giving this platter a whirl.

I didn't get to see Shrek 2 at the theaters, but when it came out on DVD I had a five dollar off coupon to buy it, and did so, hoping my daughter would enjoy it.

I've watched the whole movie and I must say I like it just as much as the original Shrek. It's not quite as action packed, but it's has a very good plot. (Shrek & Fiona, after enjoying their honeymoon, get summoned to a land called Far Far Away, by Fiona's parents, the King and Queen of that town. After Dad is very disappointed in seeing his daughter has married an ogre, he and Fiona's Fairy Godmother set into motion a plan to get rid of Shrek and have Fiona fall in love with their planned suitor, Prince Charming, who happens to be the Fairy Godmother's son. The plan, of course, goes awry. Shrek is told by his would-be assassin, Puss In Boots, about this, and he tries to find a way to become attractive like Prince Charming. Meanwhile, the Fairy Godmother and Fiona's father, who soon regrets putting the plan in motion, try to thwart Shrek's plans to become more attractive and pleasing to Fiona.) Neither I, nor my daughter, thought it was boring in the least, and we loved all the characters. My favorite was the adorable Puss In Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas, though I also like the giant gingerbread man Mungo (I was laughing all the way through his entire scene.) There is the mandatory jab at Disney, (this time using the Little Mermaid) and also a few laughs at Hollywood's expense (the town Far, Far Away is basically a quasi-medieval Hollywood). The computer graphics were excellent, maybe a little bit better than the original Shrek, since the human characters seemed more realistically drawn, and all the voices were perfect for the characters (even that of Larry King, who plays a barmaid called The Ugly Stepsister). The humor is a little on the raunchy and off-color side and like the original Shrek movie there is some unintentional cruelty to animals. This might be offensive to some adults. It probably should have gotten a PG-13, but still, I think kids would enjoy it. The only thing I don't like about the movie is the music. I thought most of it was bad, the songs ill-timed and it did take away from the movie.

About the DVD--OMG, is it horrible! First, unlike most DVD's which allow you to press 'Main Menu' and bypass the previews, with this DVD you can't do this--you have to sit through two very long previews. I haven't timed them, but I'm guessing watching both previews take about five to eight minutes. I found, at least with my DVD player, that I can fast forward through the previews to the main menu, but I still find doing this irritiating, especially when I know that I don't have to with other DVD's.

Also, I haven't looked at all the bonus material, but that's because the ones that I have viewed are awkward and inconvenient. I've viewed some of the endings from "Far Far Away Idol". Most seem cute, but unfortunately, with each of the many choices for the winner you have to sit through a long list of credits and I haven't as yet found a way to easily get back to the "Far Far Away Idol" menu. Also, many I've seen were exactly the same with Simon Cowell saying "That's Rubbish" and singing "My Way". (That is not his actual singing voice by the way.) I wished they all had original endings. I would have liked to have seen all the various character reactions to winning. The rigamerole that they put you through to get back to this menu doesn't make this 'fun feature' worth it.

I've also tried the various 'Jukeboxes' with the selection of songs from the movie. They are as much of a pain as 'Far Far Away Idol' is. When you pick a song, instead of just playing the video for the song, or the scene from the movie with the song, it starts the movie from the point the song was played and continues it. I also haven't found a way to get back to the Jukebox menu without a lot of hassle.

I've heard a lot of people have returned this DVD and I'm not surprised. If all Dreamworks DVD's are as incompetent and backward as this one, I'm not getting another one by them again. If you like this movie and your entertainment center or media storage unit doesn't have magnetic closures and child locks (mine does, unfortunately) I would just get the VHS tape instead of the DVD. The hassles the 'special features' put you through doesn't make the DVD worth it.