DreamWorks' Shrek 0001

**Shrek** also known as ***Shrek 1*** is the first feature film in the *Shrek* franchise, starring Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. **The film 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, Eels, Joan Jett, the Proclaimers, Jason Wade, the Baha Men, and Rufus Wainwright.** The film was extremely successful upon release in 2001 and it helped establish DreamWorks as a prime competitor to Disney and Pixar in the field of feature film animation, particularly in computer animation. Furthermore, Shrek was made the mascot for the company's animation productions. **It was the fourth highest grossing movie of the year behind *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, *The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring*, and *Monsters, Inc*. It was also the second highest grossing Animated movie of the year (right behind *Monsters Inc.*).** In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", making it the first DreamWorks Animation film to earn that honor and the first ever non-Disney animated feature to be inducted as well. It was also the first work of animation from the 21st century to also be inducted.

## Plot summary

Shrek (Mike Myers) leads a solitary life in his swamp. A group of peasants gathers in front of his house with the goal of hunting down the ogre in return for bounty. He scares them away, however, and as they leave, he notices they dropped a wanted poster offering a reward for capturing fairytale creatures. The next day he goes out into the nearby woods and meets Donkey (Eddie Murphy) who, having escaped from the guards of a fairytale creatures market, bumps into him. The soldiers, terrified of Shrek, run away, and Donkey tags along with his newfound friend. Since Donkey has nowhere to stay, Shrek agrees to let him sleep in his swamp for one night. That same night, Shrek's swamp becomes overrun by a host of fairytale creatures who have been displaced by Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow). Shrek decides to visit Farquaad at his palace to negotiate regaining his privacy with Donkey as a companion who knows the way to Duloc. The two make it to Duloc and come across a knight tournament which aims to select a man who will rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) from a castle surrounded by lava and guarded by a fire-breathing dragon so that Farquaad may marry her and finally become a king. Shrek and Donkey easily best all the contestants, and Farquaad agrees to nullify his order and grant him rights to his land if Shrek brings Fiona, a deal that Shrek agrees to.

Shrek and Donkey travel to the Dragon's Keep and split up to find Fiona. Donkey manages to encounter the dragon (Frank Welker; uncredited), sweet-talking the beast to save himself when he finds out the dragon is a female, and she takes a liking to Donkey, taking him back to her chambers. Disguised as a knight, Shrek rescues Fiona from her tower, though she is appalled at his lack of romanticism. As they're leaving, Shrek manages to save Donkey, caught in the dragon's tender love, which makes the dragon angry. Subsequently, Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey, are being chased by the dragon; however, Shrek traps it in chains and the trio safely escapes the castle. Now the dragon becomes sad, because she's going to miss Donkey.

At first, Fiona is thrilled to be rescued but quickly becomes disgusted to learn that Shrek is an ogre. The three make their return journey to Farquaad's castle, with Shrek and Fiona finding they have more in common with each other along the way, and falling in love. However, at night, Fiona doesn't want to camp with Shrek and Donkey, taking shelter in a nearby cave until the next morning. Then, Monsieur Hood and his Merry men ambush them and think they're rescuing Fiona from Shrek. But she beats them to a pulp, and they continue on. The next night, Fiona takes shelter in a nearby windmill. When Donkey hears strange noises coming from the windmill, he finds that Fiona has turned into an ogress. Fiona explains that she was cursed as a kid and turns into an ogress every night, which is why she was locked away in the castle, and that only a kiss from her true love will return her to her proper form. Shrek overhears them talking, and, thinking that they're talking about him being ugly, walks off angry and heartbroken, believing that she can't accept his appearance. Fiona promises Donkey to not tell Shrek, vowing to do it herself, but when the next morning comes, Lord Farquaad has arrived, led by a still angry Shrek, and he returns with her to the castle, while Shrek abandons Donkey, and returns to the now-vacated swamp.

Shrek soon realizes that despite his privacy, he's miserable and misses Fiona. Donkey shows up to tell him that Fiona will be getting married shortly, urging Shrek into action to gain Fiona's true love. The duo travel to the fortress quickly, thanks to Dragon, who escaped her confines and followed Donkey. They interrupt the wedding before Farquaad can kiss Fiona, but not before the sun sets, making Fiona turn into an ogress in front of everyone. Angry over the change, Lord Farquaad orders his guards to kill Shrek and Fiona, but Shrek calls Dragon and she gobbles up Farquaad whole, making the guards run away in terror while the crowd cheers for the death of their tyrannical lord. Shrek and Fiona admit their love for each other and share a kiss; Fiona is bathed in light as her curse is broken, but making her a real ogre, the form that she wasn't expecting, but that Shrek still finds her beautiful. The two get married and depart on their honeymoon, living "ugly ever after" and ending the film.

## Cast

* **Mike Myers** as **Shrek**
* **Eddie Murphy** as **Donkey**
* **Cameron Diaz** as **Princess Fiona**
* **John Lithgow** as **Lord Farquaad**
* **Vincent Cassel** as **Monsieur Hood**
* **Peter Dennis** as **Ogre Hunter**
* **Clive Pearse** as **Ogre Hunter**
* **Jim Cummings** as **Captain of Guards**
* **Bobby Block** as **Baby Bear**
* **Chris Miller** as **Geppetto**/**Magic Mirror**
* **Cody Cameron** as **Pinocchio**/**Three Pigs**
* **Kathleen Freeman** as **Old Woman**
* **Michael Galasso** as **Peter Pan**
* **Christopher Knights** as **Blind Mouse**
* **Mike Myers** as **Blind Mouse**
* **Simon J. Smith** as **Blind Mouse**
* **Christopher Knights** as **Thelonius**
* **Conrad Vernon** as **Gingerbread Man**
* **Jacquie Barnbrook** as **Wrestling Fan**
* **Guillaume Aretos** as **Merry Man**
* **John Bisom** as **Merry Man**
* **Matthew Gonder** as **Merry Man**
* **Calvin Remsberg** as **Merry Man**
* **Jean-Paul Vignon** as **Merry Man**
* **Val Bettin** as **Bishop**

### Uncredited Cast

* **Andrew Adamson** as **Duloc Mascot**/**Ogre Hunter**
* **Patty Cornell** as **Clockwork Chorus**
* **Charles Dennis** as **Villager**
* **Sally Dworsky** as **Princess Fione** (singing voice)
* **Sim Evan-Jones** as **Ogre Hunter**
* **Susan Fitzer** as **Clockwork Chorus**
* **Elisa Gabrielli** as **Additional Voices**
* **Jeremy Harrington** as **Screaming Villager**
* **Gary A. Hecker** as **Dragon**
* **Richard Steven Horvitz** as **Additional Voices**
* **Phillip Ingram** as **Additional Voices**
* **Aron Warner** as **Big Bad Wolf**
* **Frank Welker** as **Dragon**

## Trivia

* In 2001, *Shrek*, *Monsters Inc.*, and *Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius* were the first films nominated at the Academy Awards for "Best Animated Feature" and *Shrek* won. Making Shrek the first animated film to win an Oscar. It is also the only DreamWorks Animation film so far to win an Oscar.
* Eddie Murphy become the first person nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the BAFTA for a voice performance
* When Fiona is in the cave, she can slightly be seen in her ogre form.
* Over 1,000 fairy tale and nursery rhyme creatures invade Shrek's swamp.
* In the beginning of the film, all three bears from Goldilocks and the Three Bears are present. However, the second time one sees them, the boy is crying, the father is holding him, and the mother is nowhere to be seen. Later in the film, when the camera pans into Lord Farquaad's room, the mother's skin can be seen as a rug, implying that the mother was taken from the family by Farquaad and killed.
* The film has been featured in the 2007 Warner Bros. film, *I Am Legend*.
* In the swamp party after the movie, Lord Farquaad was shown to be still alive in the dragon (although he possibly got digested shortly after and perished).
* The only film of the series not to be released the same year as another DreamWorks Animation film outside of the franchise.
* This is the only *Shrek* film to not have any scenes set in Far Far Away, as it wasn't introduced until the next movie.
* This is also the only film to not have Shrek with different clothes as on the other movies he has different ones excluding his Human Version and keeps the same clothes during the movie.
* *Shrek* was one of the five CGI Animated Films to be released in 2001, the other 4 being "*Monsters Inc.*", "*Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius*", "*Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within*", & "*The Living Forest*".
* Mama Bear can be seen alive and well in the Swamp karaoke dance party, despite her being made into a rug by Lord Farquaad.
* The game Fairy Tale Freakdown is based on this movie.
* In Other Dubs, I'm a Believer is Left in English, as a result, Donkey's Voice is Left in English as Well (Except for the End)

## Production

The idea for a film based off the original *Shrek* book was first thought of by Steven Spielberg, whom before the founding of DreamWorks bought the rights to the film in 1991. The film would be traditionally animated and would cast Bill Murray as Shrek, Steve Martin as Donkey, and Robin Williams (unknown). When DreamWorks was founded in 1994, producer John H. Williams brought the book to the company, and after DreamWorks bought the rights in 1995, the film was put into active development.

Some sketches of Shrek were done in 1996-1997 using Photoshop, where they showed Shrek living in a garbage dump near a human village called Wart Creek. At one time it was thought that he lived with his parents and kept rotting fish in his bedroom.

Chris Farley was originally going to be the voice of Shrek, being able to record 80% to 90% of the character's dialogue (or what his brother Tom believes 95%) before his death from a drug overdose. DreamWorks later recast Mike Myers to voice Shrek, who then decided to re-record his lines in a Scottish accent.

The film was originally planned to be a motion capture film slated for a 1999 release and the team created a 45 second animation test (also known as ***I Feel Good***). With unsatisfactory results, Katzenberg said "It looked terrible, it didn't work, it wasn't funny, and we didn't like it." The company later made a visit to PDI in 1998 to help Shrek get its final computer animated look and the film was pushed back to 2001.

## Soundtrack

* Stay Home - Self - the first song in the end credits
* I'm a Believer— Smash Mouth - the end of the film when Shrek & Fiona get married and go on their honeymoon in the next movie.
* Like Wow!— Leslie Carter - the third song in the end credits
* It Is You (I Have Loved)- Dana Glover - the fourth and last song in the end credits, as well as Fiona's theme song
* Best Years of Our Lives— Baha Men - the second song in the end credits
* Bad Reputation— Halfcocked - Shrek battles the guards at Duloc
* My Beloved Monster— Eels - Shrek and Fiona spend quality time together
* You Belong to Me— Jason Wade - Shrek and Fiona eat dinner at sunset
* All Star— Smash Mouth - the beginning of the film when Shrek is enjoying his wonderful life in the beautiful swamp
* Hallelujah— Rufus Wainwright - near the end when Shrek is in his swamp depressed, Donkey is all alone, and Fiona is preparing for her wedding with Lord Farquaad.
* I'm On My Way— The Proclaimers - during Shrek and Donkey's quest for Fiona
* I'm a Believer (reprise)— Eddie Murphy - Donkey's version
* True Love's First Kiss - Harry Gregson-Williams & John Powell

## Critical Response

The film received massive critical acclaim upon release, with many calling it one the best films of 2001 .Roger Ebert praised the film, giving it four stars out of a possible four and describing it as "jolly and wicked, filled with sly in-jokes and yet somehow possessing a heart".  *USA Today*'s Susan Wloszczyna praised Eddie Murphy's performance, stating it "gives the comic performance of his career, aided by sensational digital artistry, as he brays for the slightly neurotic motormouth". Richard Schickel of *Time* also enjoyed Murphy's role, stating "No one has ever made a funnier jackass of himself than Murphy." Peter Rainer of *New York magazine* liked the script, also stating "The animation, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, is often on the same wriggly, giggly level as the script, although the more "human" characters, such as Princess Fiona and Lord Farquaad, are less interesting than the animals and creatures—a common pitfall in animated films of all types."  Peter Travers of *Rolling Stone* wrote "*Shrek* is a world-class charmer that could even seduce the Academy when it hands out the first official animation Oscar next year." James Berardinelli of *ReelViews*gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "*Shrek* is not a guilty pleasure for sophisticated movie-goers; it is, purely and simply, a pleasure." Kenneth Turan of the *Los Angeles Times* wrote "The witty, fractured fairy tale *Shrek* has a solid base of clever writing." Lisa Schwarzbaum of *Entertainment Weekly* gave the film an A-, saying "A kind of palace coup, a shout of defiance, and a coming of age for DreamWorks." Jay Boyar of the *Orlando Sentinel* wrote "It's a pleasure to be able to report that the movie both captures and expands upon the book's playful spirit of deconstruction.

## Accolades

The film has since received many awards and nominations following its release the following it's release.

The following are just. the most notable ones.

#### 2002 Academy Awards

* Best Animated Feature **(WON)**
* Best Adapted Screenplay (Nominated)

#### 2002 Golden Globes

* Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical (Nominated)

#### 2002 British Academy Film Awards

* Best Adapted Screenplay **(WON)**
* Best Film (Nominated)
* Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy (Nominated)
* Best Sound (Nominated)
* Best visual effects (Nominated)

#### 2002 Annie Awards

* Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature **(WON)**
* Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production **(WON)**
* Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music Score an Animated Feature Production **(WON)**
* Outstanding Individual Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production **(WON)**

* Outstanding Individual Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production **(WON)**
* Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production **(WON)**
* Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production: Eddie Murphy **(WON)**
* Outstanding Individual Achievement for Character Animation (Nominated)
* Outstanding Individual Achievement for Character Animation (Nominated)
* Outstanding Individual Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production (Nominated)

#### American film institute

* Winner of AFI's Top 10 films of 2001 list
* Ranked Number 8 on American film institutes to ten greatest American animated films of all time.
* Nominee for AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains list
* Nominee for AFI's 100 Years...100 for the song I'm a Believer
* Nominee for AFI's top 100 Greatest American films of all time list

## Lost Animation Test "***I Feel Good***"

Back in 1997 when Chris Farley was still cast, the team created a 45 second animation test (nicknamed ***I Feel Good***). The Test starts with Shrek entering a gated city at night, singing "I Got You (I Feel Good)" by James Brown. He comes across a Mugger with a harness on his body, who was singing along with Shrek. Shrek proceeds to play with him and then stretches the Mugger on his rope, and sends him soaring into the night sky.

In 2017, YouTuber "unclesporkums" uploaded a storyboard version of the animation test. He later re-uploaded it in September of 2017 because he found more storyboards of the animatic. Since voices were absent from the original upload, he decided to voice over the missing lines by himself. The upload can be watched down below and is roughly 2 minutes and 23 seconds long. Considering the storyboards' existence, it’s likely that the actual animation is either somewhere in the Dreamworks Archives or in the hands of a collector.

On July 30th, 2022, LMW user DingleManBoy (aka DoofusManBoy on YouTube) found a sped-up clip of the tape in HD quality on a demo reel of a previous animator for Dreamworks' pre-production stage of *Shrek* (1996-1998). It was uploaded to YouTube and slowed down/zoomed so that every frame was visible (31 frames total). It is partially covered by another film and has no audio.

On August 14th, 2022, YouTube user TheSecretLifeOfAliens uploaded two snippets of the test, a snippet with just Shrek, and a snippet with both Shrek and the Mugger, without the original audio. The footage comes from demo reels by another Dreamworks animator.

On August 17th, 2022, a video containing early models for Shrek and the Mugger was found on the Hester Studios website. It's unknown if they were used in the final test.