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Shrek 2  Dreamworks
**

If you're looking for the magic formula that has helped make the Shrek franchise one of the most lucrative in film history, you won't uncover many secrets on this soundtrack. The producers have tried hard to come up with songs that, like the film, both amuse the kids and keep the older audience fully engaged. But they've stretched too far to please and have been left with a pig in a poke. On the plus side are Nick Cave's delicate, dignified People Ain't No Good and Tom Waits's mischievous Little Drop of Poison, played with broken, sloppy relish. Oddly, Jennifer Saunders's flighty version of AOR classic Holding Out for a Hero raises a smile, and the Eddie Murphy/Antonio Banderas double act on Living la Vida Loca is far from irritating. But whoever advises David Bowie needs a stiff back hand. The Thin White Duke's duet with Butterfly Boucher on Change is one of the worst ever committed to tape. And Dashboard Confessional and Joseph Arthur can take heart only because their doughy love songs are nowhere near as lame as Pete Yorn's cover of The Buzzcocks' Ever Fallen in Love. A flabby soundtrack of missed opportunities. www.shrek2.com - Paul McNamee