Shrek 2, released in the United States on 19 May 2004, is the 2004 Academy Award nominated sequel to the 2001 computer-animated DreamWorks Pictures film Shrek in the Shrek series. In April 2004 the film was selected for competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Shrek 2 scored the fourth largest three day opening weekend in US history,^[1] as well as the largest opening for an animated movie until 18 May 2007, when it was eclipsed by its sequel Shrek the Third.^[2] As of 2008, it is the 10th highest-grossing film of all time.http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm It went on to be the most successful film in 2004.^[3] The associated soundtrack reached the top ten of the Billboard 200. It is also the seventh highest ticket selling animated film of all time^[4]. It is, as well, the highest-grossing fully-animated movie of all time^[5].

This second movie was shown on the Shrek 2/The Ballad of Little Joe DVD edition.

Plot

Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) return from their honeymoon to find they have been invited by Fiona's parents to a royal ball to celebrate their marriage, an event Shrek is reluctant to participate in. Fiona talks him into it, and along with Donkey (Eddie Murphy), they travel to Far Far Away. They meet Fiona's parents, King Harold and Queen Lillian (John Cleese and Julie Andrews), the former of which is repulsed by Shrek being an ogre. At a shared meal, Shrek and King Harold get into a heated argument over how Shrek and Fiona will raise their family, and Fiona, disgusted at Shrek's behavior, locks herself away in her room that evening. Shrek worries that he has lost his true love, particularly after seeing her diary that showed she was infatuated with Prince Charming (Rupert Everett).

As everyone goes their separate ways, the King is accosted by the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) and her son, Prince Charming, remanding the King for breaking his promise that Charming would be able to marry Fiona, and demanding he find a way to get rid of Shrek. King Harold arranges for Shrek and Donkey to join him on a fictitious hunting trip, which really is a trap to lure the two into the hands of an assassin, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas). However, Puss is unable to defeat Shrek, and when he reveals he was paid by the King to kill them, asks to come along as a way to repay them. The three come across the Fairy Godmother's potion factory, and Shrek finds a Happily Ever After potion that he believes will restore Fiona's love for him. The three steal it, and both Shrek and Donkey drink the potion, quickly succumbing to its effects; Fiona is also affected by the potion's magic and falls asleep. The next day, Shrek and Fiona, separately, find they have become attractive humans, while Donkey has become a white stallion; according to the potion's instructions, if Shrek can kiss Fiona before the day's end while transformed, he will win her love and they will both stay human forever. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss quickly make for the castle. The Fairy Godmother discovers the potion's theft and puts a new plan in place, by having Prince Charming pose as the now human Shrek to Fiona to win her heart instead, insuring that her love will be won by having King Harold dose her with a love potion. She also convinces King Harold to order the arrest of Shrek to insure her plan succeeds.

As the wedding reception ball starts, Shrek, Donkey, and Puss are saved by Shrek's friends, the Big Bad Wolf, the Three Little Pigs, the Three Blind Mice, Pinocchio, and the Gingerbread Man, and the group makes their way to the castle. They discover the drawbridge is up and have no way across, but they bake a giant Gingerbread Man who sacrifices himself to make sure Shrek, Donkey, and Puss can get inside. Puss lures the guards away allowing Shrek to reach the ball, just as Charming is about to kiss Fiona. However, the kiss fails to make Fiona love Charming, the King revealing he would not use the love potion on Fiona. The Fairy Godmother attempts to destroy Shrek with a spell, but King Harold steps in front of spell, taking it full force, while some of it is reflected back to the Fairy Godmother, causing her to disappear. As everyone regroups, they find that King Harold is actually the Frog Prince and had used the Happily Ever After potion many years earlier to be with the Queen. Queen Lillian admits her love to Harold regardless of his form while Shrek and Fiona meet and apologize for their behavior. They both decide to want to return to their original form, and wait until the potion's effects have worn off, reverting them back to normal, before sharing a kiss. King Harold apologizes to Shrek as well, and blesses the couple's marriage as the reception returns to full swing.

After the credits, The Dragoness appears and reveals to Donkey he is now the father of several dragon-donkey hybrids

Cast

Special guest stars

• Simon Cowell as himself (in the extended DVD version only)
• Joan Rivers as herself (in the US version)
• Kate Thornton as herself (in the UK version only)
• Jonathan Ross as Doris, the ugly stepsister (in the UK version only)

Production

Another unusual item was Joan Rivers' cameo - this marked the first time that a real person had been represented on screen by the Shrek animation team. The DVD version of the film includes a second real-life cameo with an appearance by Simon Cowell in the "Far Far Away Idol" bonus feature.

Release

Shrek 2 was originally going to release in June 2004. A day before the movie went to theaters, the first five minutes were shown on Nickelodeon's U-Pick Live.

There are more Shrek movies to follow according to Jeffrey Katzenberg. 'We didn't have the guts to tell anybody when we started out, (but) we have two more chapters to tell. Not unlike Peter Jackson did with The Lord of the Rings. The difference is they did have the guts to make all three of them back to back to back.'^[6]

It was the first film with over 4,000 theaters in overall count; over 3,700 theaters was its count for an opening day. Spider-Man 2 was the first film with over 4,000 theaters for an opening day and second for overall counts.

When the film was released on DVD on November 5, 2004, it was the second Shrek film to be presented in its original ratio of 1.85:1 on the Region 1 anamorphic widescreen DVD.

Previews

Before the theatrical release, the previews are for the following films:

• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
• The Cat in the Hat
• Thunderbirds

TV releases

• This film had its US network television premiere on November 24, 2006], airing on ABC at 8 PM/7 PM ET/CT. It premiered on British terrestrial television on Christmas Day (25th December) 2007 on BBC1.
• The film aired for the first time on free to air television in Australia on June 3, 2007. It was broadcast on the Nine Network and its regional affiliates at 8:30PM AEST.
• The film appeared on FOX Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, etc.) on February 4, 2007, after intensive publicity since the TV broadcast of Garfield on December 31, 2006
• The film was aired on TVN in Poland on March 2, 2007
• The film was aired on ProSieben in Germany on April 6, 2007
• The film was aired on Canale 5 in Italy for the first time on May 23, 2007
• The film was aired on Kanal 5 in Sweden for the first time on August 25, 2007
• The film was aired on bTV in Bulgaria for the first time on December 25, 2007
• The film was aired on Telecinco in Spain for the first time at 2007. Will be repeated again this year, says "Coming Soon" His first film was premiered in Spain in 2004 and has been issued once a year every year.

Home media releases

This film has been released on VHS, Gameboy Game Paks, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc. The discs have "Far Far Away Idol", a parody of the wildly popular FOX talent show American Idol.

Reaction

Box office performance

The film spent a total of 149 days in theaters (roughly 21 weeks), closing on November 25, 2004. It grossed $441,226,247^[7] domestically (US and Canada), and $478,612,511 in foreign markets, making a total of $919.8 million worldwide. This puts the movie at fourth on the all-time domestic box-office list and tenth on the worldwide box-office list. It was also the number one grossing movie of 2004. With DVD sales and Shrek 2 merchandise are estimated to total almost $800 million, the film (which was produced with a budget of $150 million^[7]) is DreamWorks' most profitable film to date.

Critical reception

The film was well received by a number of critics, many rating it as good as its predecessor, and some rated it even better. Metacritic has developed a weighted average rating of 75 out of 100 based on 39 professional reviews published in newspapers, magazines and in highly regarded Internet sites, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".^[8] Rotten Tomatoes gave Shrek 2 a "Certified Fresh" rating of 89%, almost the same as the original's 90% rating

Far Far Away Idol

Far Far Away Idol is a bonus feature that can be seen on the DVD of Shrek 2. It has Shrek, Princess Fiona, Queen Lillian, King Harold and Simon Cowell (the judges) trying to decide who the next Far Far Away Idol should be. Below are the contestants and their songs. If the letter V is beside one, that means it has the judges' possible vote and the winner or loser will do an encore.

Donkey: "Disco Inferno" V

Pinocchio: "Mr. Roboto"

Doris the Ugly Stepsister: "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"

The Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs: "Hungry Like the Wolf"

Prince Charming: "I'm Too Sexy"

Three Blind Mice: "I Can See Clearly Now"

Gingy: "Honey Honey"

Captain Hook: "Hooked on a Feeling"

Puss in Boots: "These Boots Are Made For Walking" V

Shrek and Princess Fiona: "What I Like About You" V

King Harold and Queen Lillian: "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea" V

See also

• List of animated feature-length films
• List of computer-animated films
• Shrek 2 (video game)
• Shrek Super Slam the video game
• Shrek 2: Motion Picture Soundtrack, the lyrical soundtrack by various artists
• Shrek 2: Original Motion Picture Score, the instrumental score, composed by Harry Gregson-Williams

References

External links

• Official website
• ''Shrek 2'' Allmovie entry

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