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May movies

Shrek 2, The Day After Tomorrow, Raising Helen, Soul Plane - It's Airplane!

STEVE PERSALL
Published May 20, 2004

NOW IN THEATERS

Shrek 2 - Even for an ogre, it's easy being green when a movie earns $267-million at the box office. Not even DreamWorks expected that to happen, explaining why three years passed before a sequel. The voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz return for another fractured fairy tale with Antonio Banderas and Julie Andrews hopping on the gravy train.

MAY 28

The Day After Tomorrow - Let's hope the global warming catastrophe envisioned here doesn't happen that soon. The creators of Independence Day (and Godzilla, but they hope you forget) pile meteorological disasters upon Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal and everyone else on Earth. Forecast dark with only a 10 percent chance of a happy ending.

Raising Helen - Uptown girl Kate Hudson is entrusted with her dead sister's three children. A hunky Lutheran pastor (John Corbett) helps her adjust to domestic life. Sounds downbeat until you realize that's director Garry Marshall adding rim-shot gags in the background.

Soul Plane - It's Airplane! for the hip-hop audience. Snoop Dogg is the pilot (and don't call him Shirley) of an ultra-hip airliner. The bling-bling is tarnished by having annoying Tom Arnold aboard.

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