The technology continues to be astonishing. The surfaces and textures are eye-poppingly vivid, almost more real than real. The movie has breathtakingly beautiful backgrounds, exquisite detail, and characters so magnificently yet subtly expressive you expect to see them interviewed by James Lipton on Bravo. The voice talent is spectacular and perfectly integrated with the expressions and gestures of the animated characters. It's going to be hard to think of the dashing and brilliantly funny Banderas as anything but a cat from now on.
There is a lot to look at, but there is even more to feel, with characters so tender and charming that you will cheer for a happily-ever-after-ending -- and cheer even louder at the announcement of Shrek the Third.
Families who enjoy this movie may also enjoy the original Shrek and Pixar animated classics like Toy Story and Finding Nemo . Families with younger children will enjoy some of the books by William Steig, who wrote this story, especially Slyvester and the Magic Pebble .
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