Shrek

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Shrek
Directed by Andrew Adamson
Vicky Jenson
Produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg
Aron Warner
John H. Williams
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 Harry Gregson-Williams
John Powell
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 1 hr. 30 minutes
Language English
Budget $60 million
Followed by Shrek 2 (2004)
All Movie Guide profile
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' or 'terror.' In German, "Schreck" has a similar meaning. The film features the voices of Mike Myers as a large, strong, peace-loving yet grumpy green ogre named Shrek, Cameron Diaz as the beautiful but very down-to-earth 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 world, with funny appearances from commonly known fairytale characters.

[edit] Trivia

  • This movie, along with Monsters, Inc., is the first pair of CG animated movies to win an academy award of a different nomination of the same year (Shrek for Best Animated feature of 2001, and Monsters, Inc. for Best song of 2001).

[edit] Parodies and jokes

The animatronic information booth
The animatronic information booth
  • 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 an 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.
  • In the parking lot of DuLoc, there is a sign that says "You are parked in Lancelot".
  • 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, a bear with a different-colored bow shows 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.
The smoking remnants of the bird destroyed by Fiona's singing
The smoking remnants of the bird destroyed by Fiona's singing
  • 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 Princess Aurora in a scene of Disney animation classic Sleeping Beauty, 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. The fight scene also contains references to a famous fight in Ghost in the Shell when Major Kusanagi fights off a crook, the Fifth Element when Leeloo (Mila Jovovitch) fights the aliens in the hotel room, and Street Fighter II with fighting moves from Ryu and Chun Li.
  • 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, Kurt Angle, and The Undertaker even applying the Ankle Lock, Angle's well known submission move, and The Undertaker's Tombstone Piledriver.
  • 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.
  • In the karaoke dance party, Fiona sings Madonna's famous song "Like A Virgin".
  • Some of the fairy tale "creatures" such as Snow White bear a striking resemblance to their Disney renditions, but the best resemblance is seen in The Magic Mirror which is practically identical to the Disney version.
  • 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).
  • England football international Wayne Rooney is known as Shrek, owing to his facial appearance, especially when a decision doesn't go his way.
  • At one point Shrek says to Donkey "That'll do, Donkey. That'll do." This is a reference to the line "That'll do, pig. That'll do." from the film Babe .
  • The Magic Mirror sequence is a spoof of the game show The Dating Game; even the show's theme plays during the sequence.
  • 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 University of Notre Dame. Located on the outskirts of campus, it is sometimes referred to as "Far Quad".
  • Donkey is apparently color-blind, even admitting it himself when sent by Fiona to find a blue flower with red thorns. He is surrounded by them but cannot see any.

[edit] Cast

Magic Mirror
Magic Mirror

[edit] Main cast

Actor Image Role
Mike Myers Shrek
Eddie Murphy Donkey
Cameron Diaz Princess Fiona
John Lithgow Lord Farquaad

[edit] Minor cast

Actor Image Role
Conrad Vernon Gingerbread Man
Vincent Cassel Robin Hood
Chris Miller Geppetto / Magic Mirror
Cody Cameron Pinocchio / Three Little Pigs
Michael Galasso Peter Pan
Chris Knights Blind Mouse / Thelonius
Simon Smith Blind Mouse
Aron Warner Big Bad Wolf
Jim Cummings Captain of the Guards
Jherome De Guzman Blind Mice

[edit] Songs and performers

Shrek: Official soundtrack
Shrek: Official soundtrack

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 mainstream 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. Nevertheless some retribution was made by Over the Hedge which was released in the summer of 2006 and received a much warmer reception, though still a faliure when compared with Shrek and its sequel.

[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: The Royal Engagement
Spinoffs Shrek 4-D • Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer • Shrek The Halls
Video Games Shrek • Shrek 2 • Shrek Super Slam • Shrek Smash and Crash • Shrek the Third
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
v • d • e

2001: Shrek • 2002: Spirited Away • 2003: Finding Nemo • 2004: The Incredibles • 2005: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit • 2006: Happy Feet


DreamWorks animated films
Traditionally animated films (1998-2003)

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) (2000-2005)

Chicken Run (2000) • Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) 
Computer-animated films (1998-present)

Antz (1998) • Shrek (2001) • Shrek 2 (2004) • Shark Tale (2004) • Madagascar (2005) • Over the Hedge (2006) • Flushed Away (2006)
Future films

Shrek the Third (2007) • Bee Movie (2007) • Kung Fu Panda (2008) • Madagascar 2: The Lost Island (2008) • Punk Farm (2009) • Shrek 4 (2010) • How to Train Your Dragon (2010) • Crood Awakening (TBA) 
Direct-to-video

Joseph: King of Dreams (2000)
Shorts

The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (2005)  Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer (2007) 
See also: DreamWorks
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