BY LINCOLN GASKING | Lincoln Gasking recently attended a preview of the DreamWorks Animation slate, and filed this coverage of "Shrek 2". Warning: some story spoilers ahead!

"One of the biggest mistakes we made in the first one was marrying them off, because now we were like, 'What do we do now?', laughs Conrad Vernon, co-director of "Shrek 2", the sequel to the ogre-sized hit of 2001.

It didn't take them long to figure it out: "Well, 'Meet the Parents'... we'll do that!" The resulting storyline is a hilarious continuation of the original, which is sure to beat everyone's already-lofty expectations and continue the original's success for DreamWorks. So confident of their success, they invited the world's most critical audience to preview the film today: Internet journalists.

These guys have seen and heard it all, and it's normally months -- years, even -- before everyone else gets even close. So it was surprising how little they'd heard about "Shrek 2". No one knew the storyline or had seen any of the gorgeous storyboards or production stills gracing the walls of the DreamWorks Development buildings on the Animation campus in Glendale. That was, until today. In fact, DreamWorks was so confident of their material, they even invited the terminally-banned sidekick of test screening tell-all, Harry Knowles.

They had a lot to show, including the entire opening sequence. The film begins with pages from a fairytale book (a la "Shrek"), showing how the magical world was upset by Shrek taking the place of Prince Charming by marrying Princess Fiona. It turns out Prince Charming is the son of none other than the Fairy Godmother, who has not given up hope for a Happily Ever After for her darling impossibly handsome child.

After a raucous honeymoon, including a spoof of the famous "Here to Eternity" beach scene where a mermaid tries to steal Shrek from Fiona, Shrek is taken to meet Fiona's parents. The only problem is, Fiona's parents (the King and Queen of Far Far Away Land) are expecting Princess Fiona and Prince Charming, rather than the two ogres that alight from the pumpkin carriage to greet them on the red carpet.

"We have a lot of new characters, so we tried to want to focus on them but we didn't want to leave the fairytale characters behind," explains Vernon. It's one of the refreshing things about Shrek 2: all the favorites are back, plus a whole bunch of new ones, including the (not-so-terrible) ogre-killer, Puss in Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas; the King and Queen (John Cleese and Julie Andrews); and the Evil Stepsister (voiced by Larry King) is sure to delight. It's this sort of genius casting that will ultimately take this movie into mega-blockbuster status next summer.

Along with the new characters, the parodying is back as well. But this time, the targets have moved off Disneyland. Says Conrad: "I think if we're parodying anything here, it's the Hollywood / Beverly Hills aspect of things. We're dealing with beauty-only-skin-deep and where her parents live in Far Far Away is the place to do that."

Far Far Away is a fantastic fairytale spin on Beverly Hills: instead of the Hollywood Sign, "Far Far Away" graces the nearby hills; various fairytale characters own large estates, including Rapunzel and Jack (the Beanstalk rises up from behind his gates). Far Far Away even sports its own Gap clothing store and stretch carriage limousines.

When the King tries to have Shrek killed in favor of Prince Charming, the fun starts. The King employs the services of Puss 'n' Boots, who, despite his best efforts, fails miserably and joins Shrek on his quest for Fiona. After drinking a "Happily Ever After" potion to try and win back his wife, Shrek (and Donkey) are transformed into beautiful versions of themselves, which causes all sorts of mistaken identities; arrests; and an appearance by Shrek and Donkey on the Fairytale version of "Cops": "Knights".

The episode of "Knights" is seen by Pinocchio, Gingerbread Man and the Three Little Pigs on television (the magic mirror) as they house-sit Shrek's swamp abode. Deciding to rescue Shrek and Donkey, the film moves into high gear as the Fairytale group resort to a ridiculously entertaining way to save them and storm the castle. All I'll say is that it involves a Ghostbusters homage that will have you laughing in the aisle. I only saw a fraction of it and I'm still giggling.

Conrad Vernon is the perfect man for the job as co-director on this film  he made his name as a standout storyboard artist on the original, as well as being the classic distinctive voice behind "Not the buttons" Gingerbread Man. Capturing a storyboard presentation on video by Conrad for the sequel's DVD release would be a smart move: his quirky character voices and special effects spoken over his brilliant draftsmanship are extremely entertaining to watch.

Leaving the theater presentation, one Internet journalist turned to another with his snide summary comment: "it doesn't matter if I like it or not, this is still going to make a fortune". The sequel to Shrek may very well be critic-proof, but it has more than enough strength to stand on its own. Start lining up now: this one's a home run.