Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) and his ogre bride, Fiona (Cameron Diaz) visit her royal parents, Shrek's human in-laws in Shrek 2, a follow-up to the hit Shrek.

Cinematic martyr and intimate muckraker Morgan Spurlock turns green with indigestion during his enthralling Super Size Me, a rare case of first-person documentary filmmaking becoming hilarious black comedy. The growing epidemic of obesity in America is the theme of Super Size Me -- that and the overwhelming impact of McDonald's on our fast food nation. Spurlock plays the charismatic lab mouse, and the rules for his on-camera experiment are matter-of-fact: He will only eat McDonald's for 30 days straight, three meals a day. He must super size his meal if asked by McDonald's counter staff. He must eat everything on the menu at least once during the 30 days. He cannot bring anything into McDonalds -- no water, no fruit, no vegetables. Spurlock also limits his exercise, taking taxis instead of walking and the office elevator instead of the steps.

Early in the movie, Spurlock is clearly having fun with the experiment and gleefully exclaims he has "McGurgles" and "McGas" after eating a carton of 600-calorie fries and drinking the 64 oz. soft drink with 800 calories. Then, he feels his bloated belly and throws up his lunch, a foreshadowing of the impending changes to his once-fit body.

Spurlock is undoubtedly inspired by Eric Schlosser's 2001 book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. What separates Super Size Me from the pack of nonfiction films is the intimate context of Spurlock's story and how the socio-political commentary is tossed into the mix of humor and good-natured commentary. Spurlock is a goatee hipster, an affable, carefree spirit, but he talks seriously about diabetes in children and other health issues.

Granted, the reporting is often slim. Spurlock tries to contact McDonald's executives with little success. Interviews with a Big Mac enthusiast and the co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream chain, who discusses how his business partner died early, probably from an ice-cream-heavy diet, are intentionally conversational. Medical information is shared when Spurlock's doctor weighs in with his concerns about the immediate, negative effects of this McDonald's diet.

Super Size Me is a cinematic exercise, not an investigative news report, and Spurlock's argument is more personal than comprehensive. The film, as engaging as it is, remains a wake-up call for better nutrition and better health. Further investigative journalism remains for the people who see the film, people who will clearly think twice about their number of trips to fast food restaurants. Spurlock fell facedown with nausea so we wouldn't have to, and he was smart enough to capture his funny brush with illness on camera.

Green, grumpy Shrek (voice of Mike Myers), the ogre hero of William Steig's timeless children's book and star of the 2001 animated feature film, returns in an expected sequel devoid of the first film's surprises and with a little less zippy cleverness. This time in fairy tale land, Shrek is married to his ogre bride, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), and his pal, the donkey (Eddie Murphy), is still hanging around.

A visit to Fiona's royal parents, Shrek's human in-laws (John Cleese and Julie Andrews) leads the likable trio to the town of Far, Far Away, a L.A.-like city of fashion boutiques and palm trees. While there, Shrek falls prey to a plot by Fiona's fairy godmother (Jennifer Saunders) to break up the ogre newlyweds and pair Fiona with Prince Charming (Rupert Everett).

Saunders, best known for her role in the British TV comedy Absolutely Fabulous, makes the Fairy Godmother a sly, sneaky, silly villainess. As the feline swashbuckler Puss in Boots, Antonio Banderas mines his Spanish accent and womanizing personality for laughs as Shrek's newest comrade.

Shrek 2's 3-D animation (courtesy of Pacific Data Images, creators of Shrek and Antz) is as stunning as ever. Granted, the musical numbers are funny and plenty of gags hit the mark, although I miss the pokes at the Disney mythos that were prevalent in the first film. Some of the gags feel desperate. Pinocchio wears women's underwear (a thong, no less) and re-creates a scene from Mission: Impossible.

The thrill of the new is gone in Shrek 2 and the directors (Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon) and writers (Adamson, Joe Stillman, J. David Stern and David N. Weiss) fail to completely replace that spirit with something unexpected. Of course, a sequel with something different could derail a movie franchise, the one thing nobody involved with Shrek wants, except for moviegoers tired of familiar routines.

Brad Pitt flashes a buffed backside and golden body armor as Achilles, the raging Greek warrior at the center of the action of Greek poet Homer's Iliad, and therefore director Wolfgang Petersen's sprawling, stumbling, Trojan War movie spectacle, Troy. Pitt is receiving all the celebrity glory, although he deserves a good share of blame for the film's long lulls. While Pitt captures Achilles' extreme self-pride and anger towards his king, Agamemnon (Brian Cox), he fails to fully show his wrath and savage anger, the key characteristic that determines his being. Eric Bana is the film's true hero: His performance as Achilles' Trojan adversary Hector boosts the film with drama, emotion, action and much-needed heartache. Handsome Orlando Bloom is window dressing as Hector's brother, the Trojan Prince Paris. German-born Diane Kruger matches Bloom's pretty, vacant performance as Helen, the most famous woman in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world and the sole reason for the Trojan War after she leaves her Greek husband, Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), for Paris.

Petersen and screenwriter David Benioff take full advantage of the film's elaborately detailed ships, swords, period sets and armies of soldiers. Everything is in its place except for a story equal to Homer's poems and performances from Pitt, Bloom and Kruger to make the effort worthwhile.

Super Size Me grade: A

Shrek 2 grade: C

Troy grade: D+