In theaters

SHREK 2, directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon, written by J. David Stem, Joe Stillman and David Weiss, 105 minutes, rated PG.

The best scene in “Shrek 2” comes early and hits hard. It’s pure catnip, the cinematic high to beat this year.

In it, a new character to the mix, the sword-wielding Puss in Boots (voice of Antonio Banderas), is in the midst of blasting Shrek (Mike Myers) and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) with a devastating series of bon mots, when he suddenly coughs up a hairball the size of a standard poodle.

He does so with such wheezing ferocity, it sent the audience at my screening over the edge, thus fueling hopes that this sequel to the Academy Award-winning original of 2001 would be just as clever and fun.

On the surface, the film certainly seems to have it all – well-drawn characters, top-notch animation, and enough hype to help rocket it onto a record-breaking 4,163 screens. But unlike “Toy Story 2,” which surpassed its predecessor in every way, “Shrek 2” is an ogre when it comes to gaining momentum.

Initially, it seems aimless and stuck, coasting too long on its sea of good will before the characters finally connect, the laughs become more consistent and the story gels for a strong finish.

In the film, happy newlyweds Shrek and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) fall into a ruinous funk when Fiona insists they travel to see her parents in the Kingdom of Far Far Away. There, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) want to meet their daughter’s new husband and mark the occasion of their marriage with a grand ball.

Unfortunately for all involved, the king and queen have no clue that their daughter has married a flatulent green ogre and that she has become one herself. Instead, they think she married Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), the fey villain with the fantastic hair whose wicked mother, the meddling Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders), is so determined to see him married to Fiona, she’ll stop at nothing to have her way.

Since the movie’s strength isn’t in its ability to surprise, it’s best not to reveal more of the plot. It’s safe to say that problems ensue the moment Fairy Godmother raises her wand, formulates her potions, and digs in for the long haul.

What’s missing from “Shrek 2” is the wicked little mean streak that ignited the first film. “Shrek” was essentially 90 minutes of gleeful Disney-bashing, with DreamWorks’ animation chief, Jeffrey Katzenberg, finding every opportunity to humiliate his former boss, Disney’s Michael Eisner, and the company’s infamous group of fairy-tale has-beens.

Lacking that edge, “Shrek 2” is softer and less colorful than it could have been, with the inside jokes kept to a minimum. The movie is never dull – particularly with the wonderful Saunders and Banderas on board – but too often, it feels uninspired, as if Sleeping Beauty had a hand in writing the script.

Grade: B

On video and DVD

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, directed by Peter Jackson, written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Jackson, 201 minutes, rated PG-13.

Midway through Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” the spectacular, Academy Award-winning final installment in the director’s epic journey through Middle-earth, Mordor, Mount Doom and now Minas Tirith, Jackson unleashes an extended battle sequence that’s among the best ever captured on film.

That’s no overstatement. Shot in Jackson’s native New Zealand, whose mountainous terrain and lush valleys proved perfect for the series, “The Return of the King” mounts one of the most chilling, superb reenactments of war shot for a movie.

It’s big, bloody and exhausting, creating the same sort of sensation D.W. Griffith’s Civil War epics “Birth of a Nation” and “Intolerance” – or Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” – must have generated some nine decades ago, when movies were still relatively new and had the power to fully surprise.

As was the case with its predecessors, 2001’s “Lord of the Rings” and 2002’s “The Two Towers,” “The Return of the King” is as overstuffed as a summer’s worth of blockbusters. The first hour is just as uneven and as occasionally plodding as the first hour of each previous film, but when Jackson digs in to deliver the goods, he does so with masterful flourishes that are undeniably great.

If the movie errs, it’s in its ending – or to be more accurate, in its series of endings. Jackson doesn’t know when to stop this cinematic child of his and, as such, he lets it run loose on-screen, dragging out several false conclusions (and honoring “The Wizard of Oz” and the first “Star Wars” series in the process) before his movie – all 3 1/2 hours of it – comes to an end.

Still, what an achievement. Some Tolkien purists will be disappointed at all that was lost in the translation, but they still have the books, which haven’t changed, and they can turn to them should they need solace. Jackson has covered more territory than anyone could have hoped for or imagined, and he has done so in a series of films that have raised the bar for moviemaking.

Grade: A-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 Bangor and WCSH 6 Portland, and are archived at RottenTomatoes .com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.