This review really makes me want to see the movie just so I can see the cat.

'2' sly, sweet - with a swashbuckling cat

By Leslie Gray Streeter, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 22, 2004

Most sequels are unnecessary, transparently money-grubbing exercises in
exploitation, rehashing an idea that's only fresh once (Stakeout II; Shanghai
Knights; Another 48 Hours), or beating a creatively dead horse that wasn't
looking too perky the first time around (2 Fast, 2 Furious; Dumb and Dumberer).
Sometimes sequels are just annoying. But very often, they're stinky, shoddy
insults to whatever wit the original had. In a bad way.

Shrek 2, the follow-up to the unexpectedly brilliant and twisted fairy tale
Shrek, avoids the usual sequelitis pitfalls. For one, it's a fairy tale, which
creates loads of possible adventures for formerly testy ogre Shrek (voiced by
Mike Myers), his equally ogre-y bride Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and their
blabby sidekick donkey (Eddie Murphy).

And while Shrek 2 occasionally copies the original pretty much verbatim (the
final musical number will give you a major case of déjà vu), it feels familiar
enough to make sense to old fans, and adventurous enough to answer questions
Shrek proposed but didn't answer, namely: What happens when a princess leaves
her kingdom a beautiful redhead and returns a beautiful redheaded green ogre,
complete with big ogre hubby?

Answer: All kinds of unpleasant, shady things. Fiona, you see, hails from a
hifalutin, Beverly Hills-esque kingdom complete with a Rodeo Drive-ish shopping
area and designer carriages. And her parents, the King (John Cleese) and the
Queen (Julie Andrews), are none too pleased at the change in their daughter and
her choice in a life partner.

So while the Queen tries to adjust to her green, belching son-in-law, the King
decides to lobby for a permanent separation... very, very permanent. He hires a
hit man, the preening, purring Puss in Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas in all
his fabulously self-referential and suave-cool glory.

I know he's merely a third-banana sidekick, but Puss in Boots pretty much stole
the movie from Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and the various other storybook critters,
because he's brilliant.

He's not the first shady cat in motion-picture history (see this week's Quick
List), but he's closer than most to the vain, prickly but oddly personable
double personality most cats possess. Non-cat people think they're evil. We cat
owners know they're evil. But we love them anyway.

Puss is an ace marksman who, when he appears to be outnumbered, drops his hat
and lulls opponents into submission by pulling out the big-eyes sad kitty face.
This makes said opponent gush about how cute he is, allowing him to claw the
mess out of their legs.

This reminds me of Buckeye, my friend Chris' late cat, a deceptively cute kitty
who once walked into a room, crossed over to me and promptly bit me on the leg,
and then turned around and walked right back out, like "OK, my work in here is
done. Back to the Times crossword."

Anyway, like most cats, Puss can be persuaded to be genuinely friendly if it's
in his best interest, so when Shrek and Donkey overpower him, he clues them in
on the King's deception and offers to help the friends outwit the King.

The three allies have more problems than the King, however; The Fairy Godmother
(Jennifer Saunders of Absolutely Fabulous and French and Saunders fame) has her
eye on taking the throne, and she isn't above using her dimwitted Mama's-boy
son Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) to do it.

So here's why I loved Shrek 2 so much: It's funny. And funny is hard to pull
off, particularly in the sequel to a really funny original. It's sweet -- the
way Myers and Diaz make you believe in the never-ending love between animated
ogres is a testament not only to their vocal talent but also to the fact that
most romantic comedies are chemistry-deficient. And it's ridiculously clever,
name-checking everything from The Gap to Cops to E! Entertainment Television's
red-carpet Oscar coverage.

Shrek 2 isn't as fresh and stunning as Shrek, because it can't be: You can't
duplicate the first-time shock of the animation, the wry, sweetly sarcastic
tone and the wacky storylines. But it doesn't really try to be. It's sort of
laid-back, because it assumes that you already love these characters -- fake
and green though they may be -- and want them to live happily ever after.

Do they? I don't wanna spoil anything for you but... what do you think?