"Shrek 2"

Like the first "Shrek," "Shrek 2" mixes and matches a panoply of fairy-tale characters: Pinocchio appears in a daring rescue mission -- he's lowered by his strings into a dark hole, to the strains of the "Mission: Impossible" theme. There are three blind mice who do little more than run around and bump into things, but they're still hilarious in an admittedly Three Stooges kind of way. The best character of all is the orange tabby Puss in Boots (played with impeccable timing by Antonio Banderas), who sashays and saunters through the picture as if he owns it -- but who also looks suitably embarrassed when, at an inconvenient moment, he hacks up a large fur ball.

There's only one thing wrong with "Shrek 2," and it's a pretty major thing: Its hyperrealistic animation threatens to hold us apart from the intensity of the story, instead of drawing us into it. I had the same problem with the first "Shrek": While I can tolerate the animal characters, the animated human figures, with their airbrushy skin tones and glassy-looking eyes, give me the willies. The look-at-me technique of "Shrek 2" detracts from, instead of enhancing, the buoyancy of the direction and the writing.

Still, I gave in to "Shrek 2", perhaps partly because this time around I at least knew what to expect. Computer animation still leaves me cold, but the sensibility behind "Shrek 2" doesn't. For a "children's" picture, "Shrek 2" delves into some pretty complicated ideas about parental relationships: While many kids' movies pit the cluelessness of parents against the simple wisdom of children, "Shrek 2" is the first kids' movie I can think of that recognizes that even after we're grown up, our parents don't always behave as we'd like them to (or as they should). Their age, or ours, has nothing to do with what we like to call maturity.

And then there's the scene that defines the nature of the bond between Shrek and Fiona. It's not giving too much away to tell you that Fiona has a chance to become as "attractive" as Prince Charming is "handsome," and to trade her beloved green fatso for this tall, thin, movie-star-like fellow. But when Prince Charming tries to kiss her, she literally recoils from him. It's her Shrek she's longing for, the guy who woke up on the other side of her bed not so long ago, scratching his bulbous stomach and shuffling along in his undershorts and socks.

There's no explaining why we fall for, or stick with, the people we do. "Shrek 2" isn't one of those thinly veiled conservative sermons, the kind of thing that stresses how grown-ups should stick together for the sake of the children, or for God, or for the good of society at large. It's about grown-ups sticking together for the sake of themselves. It's a movie about both the selflessness and the selfishness of love. It's about how we want whom we want -- even if he's fat and green.

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