'Shrek 2'
Enchantment strikes back

AFTER RAKING IN nearly $300 million in theaters (and countless more from DVD sales) and picking up the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, it was pretty much a given that Shrek would return. But no cash-in sequel this: Shrek 2 actually improves on the first tale, exploring what happens when the fairy tale ends and real life (including meeting the in-laws) begins. Newlyweds Shrek the ogre (voiced by Mike Myers) and Fiona the princess turned ogre (Cameron Diaz), along with sidekick Donkey (Eddie Murphy, who gets less screen time this go-round and is therefore, thankfully, less annoying), head to meet Fiona's folks in the suspiciously Hollywood-esque Kingdom of Far, Far Away. Naturally, the Queen (Julie Andrews) and the King (John Cleese) are shocked when they first see their transformed daughter and new son-in-law; equally flummoxed are Fiona's one-time intended, the snooty Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), and his mummy, the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders). AbFab vet Saunders and Antonio Banderas (as lethal cat-sassin Puss in Boots) are the standout supporting players in Shrek 2, which zooms along at breakneck speed incorporating as many eye-blink spoofs, sight gags, and winks to the audience as an entire season of The Simpsons. A soundtrack filled with unexpected selections (watch for Tom Waits, as Captain Hook, banging the ivories in the seedy Poison Apple tavern) is a welcome carry-over from the first film, as is the intricate animation, which somehow makes even a hulking, green ogre capable of facial expressions layered with different emotions. (Cheryl Eddy)