Shrek 2 is the best of the Shrek series. While the first Shrek was just okay and Shrek the 3rd was "blah", this film manages to improve on the first Shrek in almost every way. I'd almost go so far as to call Shrek 2 a "good movie".

The highlight of Shrek 2 is the animation. They brought in James Baxter to supervise the animation and also brought in quite a few of their 2D crew in to animate. The results are great. The animation on the Shrek character is VASTLY improved. The background and side human characters, while still not perfect, are not as stiff looking. The animation is improved on all around.

The story of Shrek 2 is kind of a "meet the parents" type story and I think it worked rather well. There manages to be some touching moments and a lot of laughs. That combined the expert animation of James Baxter makes for a whopping good time.

The new characters are pretty good as well. Antonio Banderas (parodying his role in the Zorro films) as Puss in Boots is funny, Julie Andrews and John Cleese as the King and Queen are both excellent, Rupert Everett and Jennifer Saunders and Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother are good as well.

Now, it's not all good. The storytelling problems I had with the first Shrek are still there albeit not as abundant as the first Shrek.
I still feel it relies too much on big name actors to sell the film, mean-spirited fairytale/Disney parodies, and "adult" (or rather: frat-boy) humor which is tasteless in my opinion.

So, in conclusion, while it's nowhere near the quality of a Pixar film, it's a fun and enjoyable romp.

Edit: revisited 8/07 and lost half a star.

Nice to look at, but it's really pretty weak compared with the original. The animation, textures and look of the film are often simply amazing - but take that away, and honestly it isn't that great a movie - though it was interesting for a while counting the movie/TV references. Warning though: Dreamworks could be falling into the same pop culture reference schtick that Disney wore out in the 90's.

I enjoyed the first half hour or so pretty well, but after the arrival in Far Far Away Land, the plot with the Fairy Godmother just didn't grab me, and towards the end it really broke down into a weak reprise of the first movie.

Puss in Boots was just an entirely pointless character as far as I could see, who contributed nothing important to the story at all. Aside from which

-*SPOILER* -

what is this whole build-up to him being this incredible, ominous assassin, and then after a brief attempt to carry out his commission he just up and switches sides for no convincing reason. It was too easy to be taken seriously, but not easy enough to be taken humourously.

- * END SPOILER * -

It still had most of the things that made the first movie such fun, but in much lesser amounts - and the storytelling and narrative drive were just nowhere near as enthralling.

It's still worth renting, but if the slip in quality continues, I'll be calling the next one 'Wreck 3'

When I first heard that there was to be a sequal to Shrek I thought how on earth are they going to make it work and keep it interesting? When I saw it I was shocked to see that it was almost as good as the first one. There was plenty of humor and a little emotion tossed in too. I think it's one of the best animated sequals ever made. The animation is even better than it's predecessor, and the cast did an awesome job. The only thing that bugged me was some of the characters didn't have as much depth to them as they could have, but overall this is a great movie.

I absolutely LOVE this film! Antonio Banderras is absolutely perfect for Puss In Boots and Micheal Myers of course is awesome! I saw it once and knew that it would be on my favorite list for years to come. I think it is awesome and that everyone should go see it!

Outstanding! Not only was the content morally advisable, not only was the script intended for consumption by viewers of all ages, not only was the movie beautiful and thought-compelling, but it's a sequel and it was actually GOOD. This impresses me quite a lot.

And the slew of various fairy tale references were delightful.

Very funnny ! better than the first and with a lot of winks ! There are so many that I can't identified all of them !
And Puss'in' Boots is so cute ! lol
I'm very glad to see that it has beaten Finding Nemo !
*Vive DreamWorks !*

Although I thought this one lacked the freshness of the original--not surprising being a sequel--it is a fairly solid outing for the PDI/Dreamworks studio. The story is sweet as Shrek tries to do whatever it takes to prove he's good enough for Fiona--all the way to being willing to give up his 'ogreness' forever. I thought it was a little slow at the start, but the climax of the film is both action-packed and very funny.

Animation--well, stunning. The look of the first film was a jaw-dropper, but this time out, when Shrek and Donkey are walking through the rain... water beading and running down Shrek's face, donkey's fur all damp and clumpy... wow, again, pulling my jaw off the floor.

Biggest complaints... I could've done without the musical numbers with the Fairy Godmother. The obvious jab at Disney (Beauty and the Beast's "Be Our Guest" and possibly Little Mermaid's "Poor Unfortunate Souls" as well) wasn't a big enough pay-off to bring the story to a screeching halt for dancing furntiure.

Antonio Banderas makes a very sexy Puss 'n Boots and he and Donkey do a fair amount of scene stealing... their closing musical number is a definite highlight... however, having said that, I thought they could've done more with the Puss character. His very abrupt side-switching from hired-assassin to Shrek's best bud made me kept wondering if he was going to switch back. Although I suppose that too would've been a fairly obvious plot device.

ANYWAYS... yes, this one's is a worthy successor and worth the time to grab as a matinee.