I love Shrek 2.
If ever I were asked to describe the perfect  sequel -
a film that not only sustains the phosphorescence of its predecessor,  
but one that takes hold of its  brilliance and momentum, and, making use of
every frame that precedes it as a Trebuchet would its  counterweight,
propels itself far, far above its anterior peaks, traversing more grandios
summits and more daunting valleys than its forebear ever could -
I would say to look no further than Shrek 2, without skipping a beat.
Following through in its precursor's rebellious but loving swings at
the fairytales of our past, it is a film that both reaffirms its audience that
a happily ever after can be attained by anyone,  no matter their eminence or
elegence, and retaliates against the notion that "happily ever after" means
an "ever after"  without  - unhappiness. Its penetrating focus on the clumsy and at
times antagonizing growing pains of someone who is convinced they are
undesirable and unlovable transitioning out of their solitude and into
the warm embrace of another(?), offers a more gripping story of betrayals,
defeats, comedy noises, and musical numbers  than saving a  princess from a castle...
ever could. Rather than simply playing off of the mountainous range of kingdoms and the many romances lived out within them that had been  weaved into place by the  giants  of our past - ones with names like Anderson, Perrault, de Villeneuve, Lang, and Grimm - Andrew Adamson and his co-writers offer an exubrant and climactic exploration of a quip that is as old as the fairytales that the Shrek films so routinely reference.
"What happens next?"
Shrek's predicated paranoia of the classism and other prejudices he'll have
to face at the hands of Fiona's family and kingdom, largely inspired by
Stanley Kramer's "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", give rise to a streak of
selfish and one-sided decision making as his knee-jerk reactions  clash against  King Harold's insecurity,  projected from atop the ramparts of insulation and condescension that half a life time of oppulence(?)  has slowly  built around him. And,  although this series of misapprehensions and emotional missteps  leads to Shrek trying to become  human, this vulnerability to error and the sincere  willingness to grow from it  that permeates through every character of the film  succeeds in allowing not just its protagonist, but  its entire cast(!),  to become  remarkably...truly...human. With its boundlessly more charming antagonist, its infinitely more bombastic comedic crashes, its exceedingly more grand in scale and rich in detail sets, as well as its bordering-on-being-a-book-musical soundtrack accompanying every beat in its story - filling it with more life and thematic presence than its predecesor and both of its successors combined, Shrek 2 not only out-steps and out-paces
the film it was made as a sequel to, but it sets a benchmark for what a truly great sequel can  be(!).  With every presupposed preference projected onto another and each emotional misunderstanding between its cast, it both  galvanizes and reiterates  
its  answer to what might be(?) the most asked question in story-telling  history.
What happens next...is growth. Or at least the opportunity for it.
It was Stanley Kubrick, who once said of the Myth of Icarus,
"I've never been certain whether the moral of the story should only be, as generally accepted, 'Don't try to fly too high,' or whether it might also be thought of as
'Forget the wax and feathers, and do a better job on the wings.'"
And that(?)  is exactly what Shrek 2 does. It defies expectations and reaches higher
peaks than any other Dreamworks film I've seen  - because of it.
It's magic, and I love it.
Thanks Andrew.