Shrek

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Shrek
Directed by Andrew Adamson
Vicky Jenson
Produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg
Written by William Steig (original book)
Ted Elliott
Terry Rossio
Joe Stillman
Roger S.H. Schulman
Cody Cameron
Chris Miller
Conrad Vernon
Starring Mike Myers
Eddie Murphy
Cameron Diaz
John Lithgow
Music by Smash Mouth
The Proclaimers
Jason Wade
The Baha Men
Rufus Wainwright
Distributed by USA:
DreamWorks SKG
Non-USA Theatrical:
United International Pictures
DVD/Video:
Universal Pictures (through DreamWorks label, until 2006)
Paramount Pictures (2006-)
Television Distribution:
CBS Paramount Television (2006-)
Release date(s) May 18, 2001
Running time 90 minutes
Language English
Budget $60 million
Followed by Shrek 2 (2004)
IMDb profile
This article is about a film. For other uses, see Shrek (disambiguation)

Shrek is a computer-animated film adaptation of William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book of the same name. It was directed by New Zealander Andrew Adamson and animated by DreamWorks Animation SKG in May 2001. It was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a category introduced in 2001. It was released on DVD on November 2, 2001.

The name Shrek is taken from the Yiddish word שרעק (pronounced Shreck) meaning 'fear', 'terror', or (in its closest sense) 'fright', and the German "Schreck" with the same meaning. The film features the voices of Mike Myers as a large, strong, peace-loving green ogre named Shrek, Cameron Diaz as the beautiful and feisty Princess Fiona, Eddie Murphy as a talkative donkey named Donkey, and John Lithgow as the villainous Lord Farquaad. Chris Farley was originally going to do the voice for Shrek and did at least half of the audio for the voice, but died before the project was completed. Dreamworks then re-cast the voice role to Mike Myers. After Myers had completed providing the voice for the character and the movie was well into production, he asked to be allowed to re-record all of his lines in a Scottish accent similar to the one his mother used when she told him bedtime stories. Myers had also employed this character voicing for a skit during his Saturday Night Live tenure, and also for the character Stuart MacKenzie in the motion picture So I Married an Axe Murderer.

It was critically acclaimed as an animated film worthy of adult interest, with many adult-oriented jokes and themes but a simple enough plot and humor to appeal to children. It made notable use of pop music—the soundtrack includes music by Smash Mouth, Joan Jett, The Proclaimers, Jason Wade, The Baha Men, and Rufus Wainwright.

The film was extremely successful on release in 2001 and it helped establish DreamWorks as a prime competitor to Walt Disney Pictures in the field of feature film animation, particularly in computer animation. Furthermore, Shrek was made the mascot for the company's animation productions.

This film is third on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". Shrek was also ranked second in a Channel 4 poll of the 100 greatest family films, losing out on the top spot to E.T..

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story tells how the ogre Shrek is forced by Lord Farquaad to rescue Princess Fiona from an amorous dragon for Farquaad to marry. Along the way, Shrek befriends a talking Donkey, and falls in love with Fiona. The film is set in a fairytale, with funny appearances from commonly known fairytale characters.

[edit] Detailed synopsis

Shrek lives a quiet and lonely life in his small swamp, until his peace is disturbed by the arrival of a host of "fairytale creatures" (like the Gingerbread man and Pinocchio), who were exiled from the nearby dominion of Duloc by its ruler, the vain (and exceedingly short) Lord Farquaad. One creature who escaped Farquaad's purge is the extremely-talkative Donkey; he and Shrek travel together to Duloc in an attempt to rid Shrek's swamp of the intruders. After defeating many of Duloc's knights in a tournament, Shrek accepts a bargain wherein Farquaad agrees to remove the creatures if Shrek rescues and brings to him Princess Fiona, a princess who is imprisoned in a castle guarded by a dragon, awaiting the knight who will rescue her. Only if Farquaad is able to marry a princess may he assume the title of King.

After many (mis)adventures in which Shrek is consistently irritated by the friendly but overly talkative Donkey, Shrek and Donkey manage to reach the dragon's castle (the dragon is a red-violet dragon with a pair of fin like ears, white spiked cheeks, and enormous folding wings). After Donkey runs out on a bridge and Dragon whips her tail out and knocks out most of the bridge, Donkey is cornered by Dragon. In an attempt to prevent himself from being eaten, Donkey sweet-talks Dragon (compliments her hygiene), causing her to fall in love with him. She stares lovingly at him and puffs a heart-shaped ring of smoke at him and purrs contently. After listening to him say the relationship will not work between them, she carries him by the tail in her teeth (after he turns around and calls for Shrek) and walks away, swinging him left to right and curving her tail back and forth behind her.

Meanwhile, Shrek rescues Fiona from Dragon's keep. She complains that he's not doing it right, saying that he should charge in on a horse with a sword and banner, like a proper knight - like all the other knights who have attempted to rescue her did. "Yeah," he says sarcastically, "right before they burst into flame!" As he opens the door, he sees Dragon with Donkey. The Dragon has Donkey coiled comfortably in her tail and is charming him. She strokes him with her claw and lights the chandelier above her, then nudges him. Just as Dragon is about to kiss Donkey, Shrek knocks him out of her coils, and she kisses Shrek on the butt instead; in a rage, she chases them through the castle. Shrek, Fiona and Donkey then escape from Dragon's lair. They make their escape and Dragon gets caught on a chain. She cries after them because she has fallen in love with Donkey.

Shrek and Fiona initially dislike each other--Fiona is annoyed that her rescuer is an ogre and not the expected Prince Charming; however on the journey back they begin to like one another. Fiona reveals herself to be more than just a pretty face; when the trio is attacked by a French-accented Robin Hood (who assumes that the ogre has kidnapped Fiona), Fiona proves herself to be a martial-arts expert and single-handedly defeats the attackers. Shrek, despite his tough and non-caring exterior, starts to develop romantic feelings for Fiona.

On the way back, Donkey discovers that Fiona is under a curse which causes her to turn into an ogre every night at sunset (and then turn back again the next morning). The only way to break the curse is to receive "true love's first kiss". While Fiona laments to Donkey that she is ugly, Shrek (who having finally made up his mind to propose is bringing flowers to her) partially overhears the conversation and thinks that Fiona is calling him ugly.

The misunderstanding causes a bitter split. Shrek and Donkey go back to the Swamp while Fiona and Farquaad make wedding arrangements, with Fiona desiring to be married before that evening's sunset so that Farquaad will never see her in her ogre form. Donkey follows Shrek back to his swamp; after an argument, Donkey informs Shrek that she was not calling him a "hideous, ugly beast". Together, they travel on the back of the beautiful Dragon they previously battled (who is now Donkey's girlfriend) to Duloc and crash the wedding (though not in time to prevent the vows from being taken). Farquaad and the assembled guests laugh at the notion of the ogre marrying the lovely Fiona. At that moment, the sun sets, and Fiona reveals her curse to all assembled. Farquaad, repulsed at Fiona's ogre form, orders her carried away. A struggle ensues, and Dragon crashes through the palace windows and devours Farquaad, spitting out his crown. Donkey makes the cheeky remark, "Celebrity marriages! They never last, do they?"

Shrek and Fiona then exchange proclamations of love, and he kisses her, but instead of this turning her back to a human being, she turns permanently into an ogre. When Fiona says that the kiss was supposed to turn her beautiful, Shrek says that she is beautiful. This ending stresses the relativity of beauty, thus lending the allegory its moral.

After the wedding, the song "I'm a Believer" is played while all the magical creatures visit (including a short appearance of Lord Farquaad, in the dragon's stomach).

[edit] Parodies and jokes

  • The castle in Duloc is an obvious parody of Disneyland, complete with a box office, turnstiles, an animatronic information booth resembling it's a small world, and ropes for queuing up patrons seeking admittance. It has also been suggested that the castle resembles the Hesburgh Library at the University of Notre Dame, which many of the film's animators attended. Similarly, Duloc is suggested to be a reference to the university's full name, Notre Dame du Lac.
  • Building on this, du Lac is also the name of the "rule book" of sorts at the University of Notre Dame, and is criticized by many students as being overly strict and perfectionist, much like the Lord Farquaad's kingdom.
  • On their way back to Lord Farquaad's castle, Shrek, Donkey, and the Princess are met by Robin Hood (who begins emulating Michael Flatley). Friar Tuck plays the accordion. However, when Robin Hood attempts to "rescue" Princess Fiona (and provokes the inevitable fight) the background music changes to a fast jig. However, although Friar Tuck cannot be seen to be playing the accordion any more, the background music stops immediately after he is knocked out.
  • The back of Shrek's vest contains a very obvious outline of the Golden Dome of Notre Dame.
  • The character Lord Farquaad was modeled after former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who fired current DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg from Disney in 1994. That Farquaad is portrayed as being extremely short, despite Eisner being fairly tall, is supposedly because Eisner once made fun of Katzenberg being shorter than him.
  • Earlier in the movie, when the fairy tale creatures invade Shrek's swamp, the Papa Bear and the Baby Bear are there, but the Mama Bear is nowhere to be seen. But after Shrek explained to Donkey why he is better alone, when cutting to Farquaad's bedroom, we see what had happened to Mama Bear - she has been turned into a rug. (However, she manages to show up unharmed in the karaoke music video.)
  • During the rescuing of Princess Fiona from the dragon, when Shrek says, "Well, I have to save my ass," (referring to Donkey), there is a cookbook in the background about how to eat a knight.
  • In Farquaad's room, in the back of his bed, there are paintings of himself. The middle painting show Farquaad rising from the sea. This is a parody of the Botticelli painting The Birth of Venus.
  • In one scene, Fiona sings to the birds and accidentally kills one by singing in an extremely high-pitched tone. This is a parody of Disney princesses, in particular Snow White in an scene of Disney animation classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, who are often shown singing with woodland creatures such as birds.
  • In the scene when Fiona is fighting off Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Fiona jumps into the air and freezes in place; the camera pans around her, giving her time to adjust her hair, before she finishes off two attackers in normal time. This is a reference to the movie The Matrix and the "bullet time" effect introduced in it. Fiona's fight with the Merry Men is also reminiscent of Charlie's Angels, in which Cameron Diaz stars.
  • Shrek's fight with the knights in Duloc is a parody of a typical fight portrayed by World Wrestling Entertainment, in particular, the wrestling style of Hulk Hogan.
  • Fiona's "transformation" after she kisses Shrek is practically identical to the Beast's transformation in Beauty and the Beast.
  • In the background of the karaoke party one of the princesses can be seen doing a dance very similar to that of Elaine Benes from Seinfeld.
  • Some of the fairy tale "creatures" such as Snow White bear a striking resemblance to their Disney renditions.
  • During the scene where Shrek and Donkey ride Dragon to Fiona's wedding, the dragon swoops and flies through the clouds in a manner almost identical to Falcor the luckdragon from The NeverEnding Story.
  • In addition to all those above the movie also had a number of fairytale characters making cameos (Red Riding Hood, the Three Blind Mice, etc).
  • When Lord Farquaad chooses Princess Fiona as his bride out of his three choices "Pina Colada" begins playing, which Cameron Diaz sang in the movie "The Sweetest Thing."
  • 'Farquaad' sounds like 'fark wad,' an insult denoting an abrasive or useless person.
  • Farquaad may also be a reference to the dormitory Carroll Hall at the Universtiy of Notre Dame. Located on the outskirts of campus, it is sometimes referred to as "Far Quad".

[edit] Karaoke party songs

At the end of the Shrek VHS and DVD, many of the characters are seen dancing and singing in a karaoke party. Here are the numbers:

[edit] Box office totals

  • Budget - $60,000,000
  • Marketing cost - $45,000,000
  • Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic) - $42,347,760
  • Total Domestic Grosses - $267,665,011
  • Total Overseas Grosses - $216,744,207
  • Total Worldwide Grosses - $484,409,218

[edit] Cast

[edit] Main cast

[edit] Minor cast

[edit] Songs and performers

A list of songs which were performed during the film. Songs which were included on the soundtrack album are listed in boldface.

[edit] Sequels


  • The producers have referred to Shrek as being in four parts, the fourth supposedly focusing on how Shrek ended up in the swamp where we meet him in the first movie, or how Shrek and Fiona are having trouble taking care of their baby.

[edit] Influence

Shrek has noticeably influenced the current generation of animated films. Particularly after Shrek 2, animated films began to incorporate more pop culture references and end-film musical numbers. Such can be seen in films like Ice Age 2, Robots, Chicken Little, and Hoodwinked!. Dreamworks' recent films such as Shark Tale and Madagascar, similar in style to Shrek, were panned by critics.

[edit] Other media

Original story on which the film is based:

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Shrek
Films: Main: Shrek | Shrek 2 | Shrek the Third | Shrek 4

Spin offs: Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer | Shrek 4-D
Video Games: Main: Shrek (video game) | Shrek 2 (video game) | Shrek Superslam | Shrek Smash and Crash
Books: Shrek!
Characters: Main: Shrek | Princess Fiona | Donkey | Puss in Boots | Dragon

Minor: Big Bad Wolf | Lord Farquaad | Fairy Godmother | Gingerbread Man | Prince Charming
Locations : Far Far Away


Academy Award for Best Animated Feature: Winners

2001: Shrek | 2002: Spirited Away | 2003: Finding Nemo | 2004: The Incredibles | 2005: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
DreamWorks animated films
Traditionally Animated Films

The Prince of Egypt (1998) • The Road to El Dorado (2000) • Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) • Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) 
Stop-Motion Films (Produced With Aardman Animations)

Chicken Run (2000) • Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
3-D Animated Films

Antz (1998) • Shrek (2001) • Shrek 2 (2004) • Shark Tale (2004) • Madagascar (2005) • Over the Hedge (2006) • Flushed Away (2006) • Shrek the Third (2007) • Bee Movie (2007) • Kung Fu Panda (2008) • Madagascar 2 (2008) • Punk Farm (2009) • Shrek 4 (2010) • Route 66 (2010) • How to Train Your Dragon (2010) • Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer (2011) 
Direct-to-Video

Joseph: King of Dreams (2000)
Short Film

The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (2005) 
See also: DreamWorks
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