By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Shrek 2 did not win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival last month. That dubious honour, as expected, was reserved for a controversial film with a political message. Shrek 2 did however, make history there the only sequel together with its original Shrek (2000) that were both entered " In Competition " during the Festival's 57 years. Shrek, the first complete animated feature was as hip as it was hilarious. The hero, a fat, ugly, green ogre named Shrek rescues the beautiful Princess Fiona from the evil Prince Farquaad and a horrible dragon before Prince Charming could get to her. But when Shrek plants his kiss on the beautiful princess, she too is transformed into an ugly ogress. They fall in love and set off into the sunset. The film won the first best ever Animated Picture Oscar in 2001 and grossed $267 domestically and $450 million worldwide. Shrek 2 is up to a roaring start, and has outdone the original by far. Following a rapturous reception by a sophisticated viewing public and a hard-to-please bunch of critics at its Cannes screening, Dreamworks decided to expedite its release date to midweek (18 May) instead of the weekend (21 May). The film made $11.8 million on its first day, "a most impressive Wednesday opening since kids are still in school", said a delighted executive producer Jerry Katzenberg, co-founder of Dreamworks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. So far it has passed the $267 million mark grossed entirely by the first Shrek. Katzenberg, who spent a decade with Disney before moving, admits: " Shrek 2 exceeded all our expectations! It may be around throughout the summer." In Shrek 2 Prince Charming (voiced by Rupert Everett) arrives too late to discover not only that the princess has been rescued by another, but also that she has undergone a very dramatic change in appearance. Meanwhile her parents King Harold (John Cleese), Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) await the arrival of their daughter Princess Fiona and her fair Prince in their Far, Far Away Kingdom where the citizens are preparing to hold great celebrations in honour of the newlyweds. With Donkey along for the ride, the newlyweds set off, and now Shrek faces his greatest challenge -- the in-laws. No one could have prepared them for how their daughter had changed, not to mention the sight of her green monster husband. The newlywed's arrival at the castle of Fiona's parents provides big laughs when a basket of doves is released to celebrate the occasion. One of the doves is so astonished at their appearance, it flies bang into the castle wall, and drops dead at King Harold's feet. The king's plans for his daughter have been foiled by her marriage to the green ogre. Now he needs to enlist the help of a Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders), Prince Charming -- her intended, and that famous debonair killer Cat -- Puss 'N Boots (Antonio Banderas). The sinister fairy godmother operates a vast factory manufacturing potions and hexes. Is it possible that her Happily Ever After potion could transform ogres into humans? Not if she can help it! She wants to get rid of Shrek and marry Fiona to Prince Charming according to her original plan. Only a handful of computer-animated features have been made so far, but sharp and funny stories, bright visuals, and talented voice casts have made virtually all of them hits. Last year Disney and Pixar's blockbuster Finding Nemo overtook the number one highest grossing hand-drawn animated Lion King, to become the top-grossing animated movie ever at $340 million domestically and $844 million worldwide. Shrek 2 will soon shatter more records. Although hand-drawn animation continues to thrive outside the US, as in Japan and Europe, computer animated films are rapidly replacing them in the US. With a growing global appetite for more animated features, major film stars are competing for voice-over roles in such outstanding productions. Names like Tom Hanks, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, and Jennifer Lopez, head a list that reads like Who's Who in Hollywood. The original Shrek stars are back again with Mike Myers as the ogre, Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona, and the hilarious talking Donkey played by none other than super comedian Eddie Murphy. An important star power addition in Shrek 2 is the Spanish heartthrob Antonio Banderas as Puss 'N Boots, not to mention the Grand Dame of Song Julie Andrews as Queen Lillian. Computers allow animators to simulated 3-dimensional realities that appeal to a generation raised on video games, with greater visual depth than 2-dimensional hand-drawn cartoons. Great care is lavished on every detail of all characters, primary, secondary, and crowds. "The secondary characters in Shrek 2 are convincing enough to get them SAG (Screen Actors Guild) cards." Banderas is a Shrek fanatic having seen the original 6 times with daughter Stella. He was delighted when he got the casting call for Puss 'N Boots, who is charged with ripping the happy green couple apart. At first Banderas was worried when he discovered it was modelled after the charismatic chevalier d'Artagnan of The Three Musketeers, with a thick French accent. He quickly transformed the Cat into a more Zorro-like persona with a Spanish accent and a Latin flair. "Now my character is very representative of icons of the Spanish culture, with a tremendous sense of pride and honour," and of course a great deal of humour. The directors (Andrew Adamson, Conrad Bernon and Kelly Asbury) were delighted with the transformation and gave Banderas a free hand to improvise. Puss and Donkey start off as rivals but slowly develop a friendship and sing a duet of their own version of "La Vida Loca", which is to say the least -- loca. As for the one and only Ms Andrews who bestows magic on everything she touches, brings her own special warmth and charm to the part of Queen Lillian, mother of Princess Fiona. Doing voice-overs is "like learning a new craft", said Dame Julie about lending her voice to an animated character for the first time. She enjoyed working face to face with the legendary comic actor John Cleese who plays her husband King Harold. "He's funny and quick and we talked non-stop." Shrek, a modern fairy tale written by William Steig, sports a new kind of anti-hero, with lots of familiar characters running around in Fairyland. Why do we need another fairytale in the third millennium? Because they work; they still capture the imagination of young and old, and we still like to believe in them. No one knows how belief in fairy tales began, but it is still with us today despite our incredible scientific advances. Scholars entertain various theories about them, and cultures have different names for them, but whatever we call them, we hang on to them from generation to generation. For centuries authors have written about them in stories, novels, and plays. Grandparents continue to thrill the little ones with their adventures in their imaginary world. French author Charles Perrault published his collection of Tales of Mother Goose in 1697. Some of his stories like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are as popular today as they were then. From the German Grimm Brothers to the Danish Hans Christian Andersen, from the Italian Carlo Collodi to the English James M. Barrie, fairies have been popular figures in adult and children's literature. William Shakespeare used them as major characters in his charming comedy A Midsummer's Night's Dream, and JRR Tolkien based his famous trilogy Lord of the Ring s on fairies, elves and other supernatural spirits that enchanted us. Today a loveable but ugly green ogre and his princess will entrance children and their parents throughout the summer, and it is a foregone conclusion that there will be many more modern fairy tales to come our way. A fantasy world is always more desirable than this one -- any fine day! Who knows? Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you... Why not! It certainly happened to Shrek. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio Than are dreamt of in your philosophy (William Shakespeare, Hamlet 1:5)
