Making a sequel that lives up to the original is a hard task for any filmmaker, and so often they fail in comparison. There are a few examples of sequels being as good or better than their predecessors, like The Dark Knight and Toy Story 2, but good sequels are kind of few and far between for a reason. A good sequel has to be more than just a good movie on its own. A good sequel needs to expand on the world and the story established in the first film. They also need to use the characters in a way that further develops them, while staying true to what audiences already know.
In the conversation about best sequels of all time, there's one film that often seems to be missing: 2004's Shrek 2. The Shrek franchise has been taken in by internet communities and completely turned into mostly a meme. This is kind of sad because there are a lot of genuinely good things about the series. The first film, 2001's Shrek, even won the first-ever Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Even though Shrek 2 might not be as good of an overall film as Shrek, it does everything it needs to do to be considered a near-perfect sequel. The fact that the series is the butt of so many jokes now, shouldn't take away from that.
Shrek tells the story of an ogre, of course, named Shrek, who along with his talking donkey named Donkey is commissioned by the villainous Lord Farquaad to rescue and retrieve Princess Fiona so he can marry her. Along the way, it is discovered that Princess Fiona has a curse on her, and every night when the sun goes down she also turns into an ogre. Fiona and Shrek fall in love on their journey, defeat Lord Farquaad, and get married. The film is cheeky and packed with a ton of jokes and cultural references. It's also known for its great soundtrack.
Shrek 2 starts almost exactly where Shrek leaves off. It opens with a really fun little music montage of Shrek and Fiona's honeymoon, showing them having a really nice time and being ogres in love. They then are invited to Fiona's hometown of Far Far Away, to stay with her parents in their castle, so they can meet Shrek and have a big ball to celebrate their marriage. However, their bliss is interrupted by the evil Fairy Godmother who wants Fiona to marry her son Prince Charming so he can inherit the crown.
The film isn't as good as Shrek, but it's solid and a fun watch that retains a lot of the original's good quality. Where it excels as a sequel though, is in the expansion into the themes of the original as well as the development of its main characters and world. It does all this, as well as adding new villains and heroes that are actually pretty great.
The themes of the original Shrek very heavily lean into a lesson in self-confidence, accepting yourself for you who are, and also that you are worthy of love no matter what you look like or what your background is. There are also a lot of elements of a "don't judge a book by its cover" kind of lesson, as everyone assumes Shrek is evil and violent because he is an ogre. In Shrek 2, they really expand on this theme and how the character of Shrek deals with this in a really effective way.
Fiona's parents, especially her father, don't really approve of Shrek and that's mostly to do with him being an ogre and that Fiona has chosen to also be an ogre in being with him. The conflict deepens, from Shrek struggling with his own self-worth and being deserving of love, to Shrek struggling to fit into this formal and royal setting as well as eventually fulfilling a leadership role. He also begins to doubt his marriage and how deserving he is of Fiona when he discovers that she used to have dreams of marrying Prince Charming. Charming is stereotypically handsome, and of a similar status to her. He worries about not being good enough, to the point of taking a potion to become handsome.
All of these themes and feelings are aided by the main villain, Fairy Godmother, who puts a lot of these thoughts into Shrek's head. While there's not so much of a new conflict or deepening of themes with Fiona, introducing her parents and her home adds a lot of backstory to her character and also develops the world that this series takes place in. Viewers are given more insight into its dynamics, and what general society is like.
Almost all of the new characters introduced in Shrek 2 are really good. Fiona's parents, her dad especially, are very complex for supporting characters and provide a lot of information about where Fiona came from and why she is how she is. They're also interesting people on their own. Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming are really smart and fun villains, who are evil but also entertaining to watch and kind of likable. Shrek 2 is also where audiences first meet Puss in Boots. Puss is a very fun hero with a very distinct character, and almost instantly steals the show. His character has shown up in both of the other Shrek films, as well as his own works, and he's definitely a fan favorite.
DreamWorks clearly struck gold with this franchise. Though the last two of the four films aren't quite as good, it's a solid series as a whole. Shrek and Shrek 2 are the definite standouts. They've become memes, but for being out as long as they have-- Shrek celebrated its 20 year anniversary just the other day --they hold up incredibly well and are very fun watches for children and adults alike. Shrek 2 specifically fulfills every role it's supposed to and goes beyond the brief to even set up the third film in a brilliant way. It deserves to be considered in the conversation of all-time greatest sequels in cinema and should be looked at as a precedent for what a brilliant sequel should be.