It's Meet The Parents in fairytale trousers! Stinky Shrek (Mike Myers) and his ogre missus, Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), trek off to Far Far Away for a post-nuptial ding-dong at Fiona's folks' place. There the scary fairy godmother (Jennifer Saunders) tries to wreck the romance (boo!). But Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss-In-Boots (Antonio Banderas) help Shrek steal a special potion (yay!) that turns him into Gordon Brown (boo!). Then there's that ace bit with the Gingerbread Man (yay!) and... And... They (mostly) live happily ever after.

There are occasional sphincter-clenchers - - phoned-in turns from Jonathan Ross and the illustrious Kate Thornton; dire, homogenised versions of `Ever Fallen In Love' and `Changes'. But Shrek 2 mainly maintains a nifty tightrope-totter between farty-fruity kids' stuff and sanity-saving parent-friendliness. From four to 40, slap it on that Christmas list now.

DVD Extras:

For once, a package of extras that makes a pleasure of parting with the thick end of 20 quid. There's a perfectly fine, pared-down single-disc edition with sharp commentaries and Making Of docs. But for another fiver you should go for the bumper double-discer, crammed with interactive games that cover most ages. Star of the show on both discs is Far Far Away Idol, an excellent Pop Idol pastiche, with key characters belting out apt numbers before being judged by a blood-chilling Shrekification of Mr Armpit-Pants, Simon Cowell.