IN his dreams, Prince Charming is sweeping all before him, all fey, plummy English vowels courtesy of Rupert Everett and American beach-bum good looks, courtesy of Academy Award-winning computer animation.

In reality, his would-be bride, the beautiful Princess Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz), is already on her globe-trotting honeymoon with the jolly green giant otherwise known as Shrek, the ogre with a dubious track record in hygiene.

They are as happy as pigs in pungent paradise, settling back into the old forest routine, being wound up by Shrek's slack-jawed sidekick, Donkey (Eddie Murphy), whose delusions of grandeur have only been enhanced by his house-sitting duty.

However, when the newlyweds are summoned reluctantly to a celebration ball by Fiona's parents, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) are shocked to learn she has married an ogre with a Scottish accent and a wind problem.

Harold conspires to replace Shrek with Prince Charming, with the aid of the dark arts of the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders, disappointingly continuing the decline of her latter-day Absolutely Fabulous episodes).

Enter hired Hispanic assassin Puss In Boots (Antonio Banderas), so dashing with his Mask Of Zorro swordplay, so unfortunate with his hairball (the peachiest comic moment of all, as poor Puss loses his sang froid, much to the amusement no doubt of all those who reckon cats rate themselves far too highly).

Puss will change sides, Shrek will turn into a Gordon Brown lookalike (strange but true) and the Shrek animation will continue to dazzle with its palette of colours and vibrant detail.

The fairytale story ticks over to engage children but, as with the first Shrek, there are passages where the plot lulls and screenwriters Andrew Adamson, Joel Stillman, J David Stem and David N Weiss seem a little too pleased with themselves. The irascible Fairy Godmother and smarmy Prince Charming, lipgloss application aside, are dullards.

Where the Shrek magic works best is in the comic interplay of Shrek, Donkey and the new addition to their double act, Puss. The movie spoofs and pop culture jokes come so thick and fast, Shrek 2 will need more than one viewing, but for starters Mission Impossible, Spider-Man, Alien, ET and Terminator 2 are all the butt of inspired send-ups.

Look out too for a Justin Timberlake poster, and yes, that is Jonathan Ross voicing the Ugly Stepsister during Unhappy Hour in The Poison Apple public house.

Where Murphy did the glorious Donkey work in Shrek, now Banderas's Puss steals the show, ensuring that while Shrek 2 is not better than the original - contrary to the rumours - it is nevertheless another avenue of joy for lovers of animation and fairytales and film buffs alike.

Updated: 15:24 Thursday, July 01, 2004