Shrek 2 has already grossed more than $400m since its release in the United States, and it looks set to do brisk business now it's opened in the UK to cinemas full of children - and adults - many sporting green ears in homage to their favourite ogre.
For the kids, it may not matter that Banderas is spoofing his macho character in The Mask of Zorro. For the adults who pay for the tickets - and the actors on the cast list - it counts.
"The quality (of animated features) has improved so much that the actors are more readily available - and they also get good deals," says Stuart Kemp, the UK bureau chief for the Hollywood Reporter.
Perhaps the first celebrity appearance was in 1928, when Walt Disney himself provided the voice for Steamboat Willie, widely regarded as the breakthrough for animation.
While audiences might enjoy listening to their favourite actors, not everyone thinks the trend is a good thing.
In 1998, when DreamWorks released Prince of Egypt - starring the voices of Sandra Bullock, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ralph Fiennes, Helen Mirren, Steve Martin and others - movie critic Leonard Maltin told the Chicago Tribune that he was concerned about the star power behind the cartoon characters.
Fans of the first Shrek movie have eagerly awaited the return of the big green ogre, who proved a runaway success in cinemas in 2001.
Since it debuted in the US on 19 May, the sequel has become one of the top 10 most successful films to date, clinching record box office figures for an animated film.
Beyond from the handsome computer-generated animation, the tone of the film marks a radical and deliberate departure from tradition.
Shrek makes an unconventional foray into the territory of the old-fashioned fairy tale, once dominated by Disney and the focus of many of their 2-D animated classics.
Besides the cachet of being in a hit film, there's also cash in it for the actors. The three stars of Shrek 2 made $10m each for voicing the roles, according to industry publications.
But Mr Kemp says the reason actors lend their voices to cartoon roles is very much the same as how they decide on their usual roles.
"If Jeffrey Katzenberg is making an animated feature and he calls you up and you're a star, you'll pretty much do it.
"It's the same rules that apply to animation that apply to anything else. If the script is good, and the agents want their actors and actresses to be in it, then they will do."
