DreamWorks' Shrek-Forever After

***Shrek Forever After***, formerly known as ***Shrek Goes Fourth***and also known as ***Shrek 4*** or ***Shrek: The Final Chapter*** or ***Shrek Forever After: The Final Chapter***, is a ***2010*** ***animated film***. It is the fourth installment in in the ***Shrek franchise*** and final installment in the main series. It was released in cinemas May 21, 2010 in the US and was released on July 2, 2010 in the UK. Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke wrote the film, and ***Mike Mitchell*** directed. The principal cast members reprised their roles. The plot was announced February 23rd, 2009.

Forever After follows ***Shrek***, ***Shrek 2*** and ***Shrek the Third***. Like the first three *Shrek* films, the movie is significantly based on ***fairy tale*** themes. The film was revealed on November 25th, 2009. The teaser trailer was attached to ***20th Century Studios'*** ***Avatar**.* The second trailer was shown before the live action of Disney's *Alice in Wonderland* (only in the 3D versions) and *How to Train Your Dragon*. The third trailer was shown in front of *Iron Man 2*.

## Plot

The film opens in a ***storybook*** with ***King Harold*** and ***Queen Lillian*** (***Fiona***’s parents) going to see ***Rumpelstiltskin*** to find a way to free Fiona from the tower from the first movie. In exchange, they agree to sign over their kingdom to him. But before they sign the contract, a messenger arrives and tells them that ***Shrek*** has saved Fiona, angering and upsetting Rumpelstiltskin before Shrek brings Fiona to Lord Farquaad of completing the deed to the swamp. Back to the present after defeating Lord Farquaad, Fairy Godmother and her son Prince Charming and Arthur Pendragon now becoming the new king of Far Far Away of completing King Harold's legacy, Rumple is revealed to be reading the book in a store, angry that he didn't get the kingdom and take over the world. ***Pinocchio***kicks him out of the store after he tries to offer him a deal to make him a real boy. He angrily wishes Shrek was never born.

Shrek is with Fiona and their three children, living a happy and content life in the swamp. Or so it looks at first. But will soon see that it’s the same routine for Shrek day after day with no rest or time to himself. Shrek and the gang go back to the kingdom of Far Far Away to celebrate their kids’ first birthday at the ***Poison Apple***, which has become a family restaurant and it's now known as the ***Happy Apple***. All the villagers who used to fear him are now clamoring fans and treat him like a big celebrity and they told him to sign their pitchforks and torches. They can also tell him when he was a real ogre which it makes Shrek surprised and confused. After the three little pigs eat the birthday cake (as well as a backup cake and a set of cupcakes) and an annoying kid named ***Butter Pants***bothers him about doing the ogre roar, he furiously unleashes a mighty roar and angrily smashes the new cake after Puss makes magic from his cape, as the cake has a glittery "cute" ogre on it, which simply serves to remind Shrek of what he has lost. Shrek and Fiona go outside to talk. Shrek is angry that he is no longer a real ogre or has any privacy, but Fiona tells him that he's not the ogre he used to be as it's not such a bad thing. And Shrek knows that it's not like Fiona is a *real* ogre, because she spent the first half her life in a palace, and the other half of being locked away in a tower. This causes him to uncharacteristically wish that his life were how it was before he rescued Fiona. (But if it weren't for that, Lord Farquaad, Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother would be alive and they would still rule the world). Fiona is hurt and tells him he has everything, but Shrek is the only one that can’t see that. Eavesdropping on this conversation nearby is Rumpelstiltskin.

On his long trek back home, Shrek passes by a fallen over ***carriage*** and lifts it to find Rumpelstiltskin. Shrek fixes the carriage and in exchange, Rumpelstiltskin offers Shrek a ride and some food and drink. During the ride, Shrek tells him he wishes he could be a real ogre for just one day. Rumpelstiltskin offers him a contract offering him just that. In exchange, Shrek is going have to give up a day: they agree that it will be a day from his childhood, a day he wouldn't even remember, when he was an "innocent, mindless little baby". Shrek signs the contract and everything around him swirls around and disappears landing him in the center of the forest.

A tour group drives by and they react in fear and crash into a tree. The villagers are afraid of him again as shown in a montage of Shrek happily scaring villagers and animals. As Shrek walks through the forest, he notices that the wanted posters are not just pictures of him, but more pictures of Fiona as well. He runs back to his home in the swamp to find it has never been excavated from the hill it was into the house it should be. A band of witches fly by the area and see him. They attack, knocking him unconscious and capturing him. He wakes up in a trolley cage being driven by witches and dragged by Donkey. Shrek tries to ask him what is going on but Donkey doesn’t know who Shrek is. Shrek eventually gets the information out of Donkey that he is being taken where every ogre is taken, to Rumpelstiltskin.

Far Far Away has become rundown and decrepit except for Rumpelstiltskin’s enormous and luxurious palace. Inside the castle, it’s like a dance club as Shrek in chains is marched across the dance floor to the throne of Rumpelstiltskin. Pinocchio begs him to be a real boy but he gets dragged away before he can finish signing the contract, thanks to Shrek, the far more important person to deal with at that time, being dragged in. Rumpelstiltskin sees Shrek and thanks him for making everything around him come true. He reveals that the contract that the King and Queen signed ended up having their existence taken away when they signed away the kingdom to Rumpelstiltskin, as they had wished for their worries to disappear. He reveals to Shrek that the childhood day that he took away was the day Shrek was born, and as such, when the day ends, Shrek will disappear forever as in this new reality he has never actually existed; ultimately, his three children don’t exist by extension. Shrek, in an unfriendly manner, breaks free and steals one of the witch’s broomsticks and escapes with Donkey, against his will.

Shrek and Donkey crash land in the woods somewhere. Donkey, fearful of ogres just as any other citizen would be, attempts to flee, but Shrek stops him from successfully running away. Shrek tries to convince Donkey to trust him by poorly singing a showtune and smiling, but the attempt fails. Donkey runs away screaming. Shrek sits alone on a log, and a squeak emanates from his pocket. Pulling the item out he discovers that he had brought his daughter's little ogre doll and starts crying. Donkey sees this. Having never seen an ogre cry before, he chooses to trust him. Shrek tells him that he signed a contract with Rumpelstiltskin, which Donkey says he should never have done. Donkey then tells him about the exit clause which used to be guessing Rumpelstiltskin’s name but they don’t do that anymore since everyone knows his name now. Donkey shows Shrek the hidden exit clause in the contract by folding the contract in a certain way - at least in this case, as an ***origami*** ***heart***. The way to break the contract is to share true love’s kiss, which will render the contract null and void. Shrek has to share a kiss with Fiona but doesn't know where she is so he rushes to the fortress where he rescued her in the first movie. When he gets to the top of the tower, he finds it empty and on the wall a tally of the innumerable days she spent up in that tower. He is also surprised to see that she left her crown behind on her bed.

Shrek also finds a handkerchief that belonged to Fiona, which was originally a token of her love to him. He gives it to Donkey so he can sniff her out. Despite trying to explain to Shrek that he is in fact a donkey and not a dog (as otherwise his name would be "Dog" and not "Donkey"), he smells something but his nose just leads him to a plate of waffles. Shrek tries to stop him, telling him how obvious of a trap it is, but Donkey tastes it anyways. Licking the syrup caused the trap to trigger as a log forces Donkey into a hole under the stump. Shrek follows Donkey through it underground, where he finds an entire community of ogres who make up the resistance to free Far Far Away and ogres everywhere. The warrior leader of this group turns out to be Fiona. As one might expect (except for Shrek himself) she doesn’t recognize him. He tries to explain the situation to her but he does it poorly. Before he can continue, witches patrol by their little village. Rumpelstiltskin has a meeting with the witches. He threatens them with a goblet of water in order to get Shrek before he kisses Fiona. They decide to hire a professional bounty hunter. Fiona tells her meeting of ogres that Rumpelstiltskin will lead the Ogre Hunt himself. They plan to ambush him now that he’s out of the safety of his castle, something he has not done before. Shrek plans to get Fiona to fall in love with him all over again so she will kiss him. When Shrek goes to Fiona’s room, he finds a morbidly obese ***Puss in Boots***, who has retired and since gone soft, becoming, in effect, Fiona's pet. Fiona finds Shrek in her room. Shrek gives her a gift basket in order to woo her. It doesn’t work and she kicks him out. The bounty hunter Rumpelstiltskin has hired is the Pied Piper. Using his flute, he is able to manipulate any person or creature he sets his flute to, demonstrating by setting the flute to witches and making the witches break dance against their will.

Shrek finds out from the other ogres at dinner that the usual romantic gestures won’t work with Fiona and that the only thing she really cares about is getting rid of Rumpelstiltskin. Shrek tries to get closer to Fiona by feigning interest in the armory weapons. They end up sparring and having a good time with each other. Before he can get too close, she snaps out of it and orders him to get ready for the mission. Puss catches up to Shrek telling him that he saw a spark in Fiona that means Shrek is truly Fiona’s true love. Shrek tells Puss that he knows about Fiona’s curse.

At the ambush, the ogre band disguises themselves to wait for Rumpelstiltskin's caravan to pass by while Fiona moves to and lookout post to provide the group with the signal they will use to attack. However, Shrek ignores the plan and instead follows Fiona up to her lookout, where he proceeds to tell Fiona everything he knows about her including the curse. With Fiona distracted, the signal never comes to the rest of the ogre band, and Brogan grows impatient and takes it upon himself to issue the order. The ogre band rush out to take down the carriage only to find it empty. It turns out that the caravan is a trap laid by the Pied Piper, who proceeds to force the ogres into a dance number (of which only Cookie enjoys). Meanwhile, Shrek and Fiona start dancing randomly, unknowing of what has occurred. Donkey and Puss ride down the hill and grab Shrek and Fiona (they are unaffected by the Piper's magical flute because it must be attuned to a specific type of being to function against them, and it is currently on an ogre setting which only affects ogres). They try to ride them away from the music but end up falling into the river.

On dry land, Fiona tries to go back to her friends but Shrek insists that she kiss him in order to save her friends. She kisses him but it doesn’t work. Nothing happens. Fiona tells him it’s all a big fairy tale and that she got herself out of the tower. She leaves. Shrek realizes that the kiss doesn’t work because Fiona is not in love with him in this reality. She was never rescued like she was supposed to be, and became disheartened and stopped believing in love.

Rumpelstiltskin takes to the airwaves across all of Far, Far Away and tells the populace that he will give them their wildest dreams in exchange for Shrek and Fiona. Shrek finally realizes that he didn’t realize how perfect he had it until it was all gone. Gingerbread Man tries to collect his bounty from him and tells him about the deal. This gives Shrek an idea, but before he can ask Gingerbread Man an important question, Puss eats him. Shrek turns himself in, in order to get the deal of a lifetime, which Rumpelstiltskin offered to whosoever turned Shrek in. He makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to free all the ogres. He keeps Fiona, however, because she’s not all ogre, due to her curse. Rumpelstiltskin keeps them chained in the same room but across the room, relishing his victory. They are incapable of reaching each other because they are chained through the walls to one another, so if one person pulls forward, the other person is dragged back. Fiona is very enthralled by Shrek's attempt to save her.

Donkey, Puss, and the ogres make a plan on how to free Shrek and Fiona. Meanwhile, in the large room that Shrek and Fiona are chained up, Rumpelstiltskin unleashes Dragon. Donkey, Puss, and the ogres break in and cause chaos as they try to save Shrek and Fiona. Donkey and Dragon almost fall in love all over again (likely because Shrek had already revealed to Donkey that she was his wife) but instead of kissing him, the dragon attempts to eat him; however, Puss saves Donkey by stabbing Dragon with his ***rapier***.

Shrek and Fiona work together to chain up and defeat Dragon. The ogres corner Rumpelstiltskin but he tries to escape on his goose. Shrek lassos the goose and brings him down to the ground. The ogres have won the battle. However, the battle is won at daybreak and as such, Shrek begins to disappear from existence. Shrek tells Fiona all about their life together and their kids as he’s disappearing. He tells her how he’s enjoyed falling in love with her all over again. She kisses Shrek just as he disappears, As the sun rises, Shrek begins to fade from existence, but Fiona, having fallen in love with him all over again, kisses him just before he disappears completely, which nullifies the contract and restores everything back to the way it was, right before Shrek lashed out at everyone, apparently erasing Shrek and Fiona's argument from existence. Shrek embraces his friends and family with newfound appreciation for everything he has, truly living happily forever after.

## Cast

* Mike Myers as Shrek
* Eddie Murphy as Donkey
* Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
* Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots
* Walt Dohrn as Rumpelstiltskin / Krekraw the Ogre
* ***Julie Andrews*** as ***Queen Lillian***
* Conrad Vernon as Gingy
* Cody Cameron as Pinocchio / Three Little Pigs
* Christopher Knights as Three Blind Mice
* Aron Warner as Wolf
* Chris Miller as Magic Mirror / Geppetto
* John Cleese as King Harold
* Jon Hamm as Brogan the Ogre
* Craig Robinson as Cookie the Ogre
* Jane Lynch as Gretched the Ogre

## Reception

Much like the previous film, this one received mixed reviews from critics and audience, who criticized its clichéd story and poor pacing, although it was considered to be an improvement over *Shrek the Third*. The film currently holds a 58% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 197 reviews, with the consensus reading "While not without its moments, *Shrek Forever After* too often feels like a rote rehashing of the franchise's earlier entries."

However, several years later, the film's reception began to improve and some fans consider it an underrated classic and a genuine effort to return to the first two film's roots. Nowadays, some even go so far as to call it the true third Shrek movie.

## Songs

* ***It's The Rumpelstiltskin Show!*** (skit)
* ***Isn't It Strange*** by Scissor Sisters
* Tough Love For Baba (skit)
* One Love by ***Antonio Banderas***
* ***Sunshine And Rainbows*** (skit)
* ***Top Of The World*** by the Carpenters
* Cupcake Party (skit)
* Rumpel's Party Palace by Mike Simpson
* Pinocchio Gets His Wish (skit)
* ***Click Click*** by Light FM featuring Lloyd Hemmings
* Gingy's Lil' Sugar (skit)
* Darling I Do by Landon Pigg and Lucy Schwartz
* Shake Your Groove Thing by Mike Simpson
* Hello by Lionel Richie
* ***Birthday Bash*** (skit)
* ***Sure Shot*** by Beastie Boys
* ***Hook's Garrrrden*** (skit)
* ***Right Back Where We Started From*** by Maxine Nightingale
* Wheezer Wig (skit)
* ***I'm a Believer*** by Weezer
* Home To Fifi (skit)
* For Once in my Life by Stevie Wonder

## International Titles

* Shrek Para Siempre
* Shrek Felices Para Siempre
* Shrek Para Sempre!
* Shrek 4: Il Était Une Fin
* Shrek Voor Eeuwig En Altijd
* Für Immer Shrek
* Shrek E Vissero Felici e Contenti
* Srek Sonsuza Dek Mutlu

## Cancelled film

In February 2014, in an interview with Fox Business Network, Katzenberg hinted that a fifth film still may be made, saying, "We like to let [the characters] have a little bit of time to rest. But I think you can be confident that we'll have another chapter in the Shrek series. We're not finished and, more importantly, neither is he.

On June 15, 2016, after NBCUniversal purchased DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, NBCUniversal's president and chief executive officer Steve Burke discussed plans to revive the franchise, as well as other DreamWorks films. In July 2016, *The Hollywood Reporter*cited sources saying that a fifth film was planned for a 2019 release. In September 2016, Eddie Murphy confirmed that the film was expected to be released in 2019 or 2020, and that the script had been completed. In October 2016, Mike Mitchell stated that *Austin Powers* screenwriter Michael McCullers had written a script based on his own original idea. In March 2017, asked about the script, McCullers said it featured "a pretty big reinvention" for the film series.

On November 6, 2018, it was reported by Variety that Illumination's CEO and founder Chris Meledandri had been tasked by Universal Pictures to produce both Shrek 5 and Puss in Boots 2, with the cast returning. However, the film was later cancelled.

## Trivia

* This is the first Shrek movie in Real D-3D and IMAX 3D.
* This is the first Shrek film to be shot in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio, unlike the first three Shrek films were produced in 1.85:1.
* The ***crying sound*** of ***Baby Kate*** from ***Arthur*** is heard in the film. The first being its ***predecessor*** of the franchise.
* This has more ***ogres*** than any other *Shrek* film of the series.
* When Shrek puts the book on the shelf for the last time you can see the space next to the Shrek book contains the 2011 film of *Puss in Boots*.
* Even though Fiona is an ogre for most of the movie, we do get to see her briefly as a human. When Shrek is telling Puss the Fat Cat the curse "By day one way, by night another, this shall be the norm. Until you find true love's first kiss, then take love's true form", we go to a flashback of Fiona in the tower as human as the sun sets and turns into an ogre.
	+ Even though the first movie, Fiona tells Donkey a story of the curse, but in different version that says: "By night one way, by day another, this shall be the norm. Until you find true love's first kiss, then take love's true form".
* In the scenes where Fiona is shown as a princess, she has blue eyes, but when she is shown as a tough warrior in Rumpelstiltskin's Universe, she has green eyes.
* When Fifi is first shown he is an average size for a goose, but in another scene, he is much larger.
* When Shrek enters the alternate universe and crash-landed into the ground, he says in pain "I think I fell on my keys.", which was a line spoken by Garth Algar in the *Wayne's World*film (which also stars Mike Myers, the voice of Shrek).
* Shrek also said his line from the ***first film*** "This is the part, where you run away!" to scare the people.
* Originally, ***Arthur Pendragon*** and ***Farquaad*** were supposed to appear in the film. Artie would appear in 3 deleted scenes excluded in the DVD release, and ***Farquaad*** would appear in the alternate universe as a possible ally of ***Rumpelstiltskin***. However, none of these ideas would be possible for the following reasons:
	+ ***Justin Timberlake***, ***Artie's*** voice actor, was on a tour during the production of the film, and for this reason, he didn't make the 3 planned scenes.
	+ ***Farquaad*** didn't appear for unknown reasons, however, he appears in the end credits.
* Finally, according to the above, another possible character that was planned to feature in the film, but was dropped, was ***Prince Charming***. The only fact that indicates that Charming would return in this film is this: the name of ***Rupert Everett***, Charming's voice actor, was seen on the film's cast list, but many people think that was an error because Charming wasn't seen or heard in all the film (excluding the credits, along with his mommy the ***Fairy Godmother***).
* This film is notably darker and more serious than the previous films.
* This is the only Shrek movie to have a known main antagonist still left alive, although Prince Charming may have survived as he was seen in the ***Thriller Night*** audience.
* Shrek Forever After is the first shrek film and first DreamWorks film to not have any involvement from ***Pacific Data Images***.
* This is the only film in the franchise to be released in the 2010s, letterboxed and were Shrek doesn't get attacked in the groin.
* Released the same year as Despicable Me, also starring Julie Andrews.
* Released the same year as Hot Tub Time Machine, also starring Craig Robinson
* There was originally going to be a Scene in which the Fairytale Creatures ambush Shrek and capture him for Rumpelstiltskin. Due to how dark it was, the scene was cut, and was replaced with Gingy telling Shrek about the bounty. Luckily, there have been multiple uploads of it on YouTube.