Shrek

Jeffrey Katzenberg

Joe Stillman

Roger S. H. Schulman

Cameron Diaz

John Lithgow

Shrek is a 2001 American computer animated adventure fantasy comedy film loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book of the same name and directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson in their directorial debut. It stars the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow, and somewhat serves as a parody of other films adapted from numerous fairy tales, mainly animated Disney films. The film focuses on an ogre named Shrek who finds his swamp overrun by fairy tale creatures who have been banished there by order of the evil Lord Farquaad. In order to get his swamp back, Shrek makes a deal with Farquaad to bring him a queen in exchange for the deed for his swamp. Shrek sets out with a talking Donkey and rescues Princess Fiona. While they take Fiona to Farquaad so she can marry him, Shrek starts to fall in love with the princess and soon discovers a shocking secret about her.

The rights to Steig's book were originally bought by Steven Spielberg in 1991, before the founding of DreamWorks, when he thought about making a traditionally animated film based on the book. However, John H. Williams convinced him to bring the film to DreamWorks in 1994, the time the studio was founded, and the film was put quickly into active development by Jeffrey Katzenberg after the rights were bought by the studio in 1995. Chris Farley was originally cast as the voice for the title character, recording about 80%–90% of his dialogue. After Farley died in 1997 before he could finish his work, Mike Myers was brought in to voice the character, who, after his first recording, decided to record his voice in a Scottish accent. The film was also originally planned to be motion-captured, but after poor results, the studio decided to recruit Pacific Data Images to help Shrek get its final computer-animated look.

Shrek established DreamWorks Animation as a prime competitor to Pixar in feature film computer animation, and grossed $484.4 million at the worldwide box office against its $60 million production budget. It was 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. Shrek won the first ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

It was also nominated for six British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Eddie Murphy for his voice performance as Donkey, and won the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.The film's success prompted DreamWorks to create three sequels—Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), and Shrek Forever After (2010), two holiday specials—Shrek the Halls (2007) and Scared Shrekless (2010), and a spin-off film—Puss in Boots (2011). A fifth film, planned as the last of the series, was cancelled in 2009, with the announcement that the fourth film would conclude the series. However, the fifth film was revived in 2016, with a planned release for 2019/2020. The film's success also inspired other merchandise, such as video games, a stage musical, and a comic book adaptation by Dark Horse Comics. The film's main title character was awarded his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2010.

## Plot

Shrek, a green ogre who loves the solitude in his swamp, finds his life interrupted when countless fairytale characters are exiled there by the fairytale-hating and vertically challenged Lord Farquaad of Duloc. Angry, Shrek decides to ask Farquaad to exile them elsewhere. He brings along a talking Donkey, who is the only fairytale creature willing to guide him to Duloc.

Meanwhile, Farquaad tortures the Gingerbread Man for the location of the remaining fairytale creatures. His guards rush in with something he has been searching for: the Magic Mirror. He asks The Mirror if his kingdom is the fairest of them all but is told that he is not even a king. To be a king he must marry a princess, so Farquaad resolves to marry Princess Fiona, who is locked in a castle tower guarded by a dragon. He organizes a tournament wherein the winner gets the "privilege" of rescuing Fiona for him. Shrek and Donkey arrive during the tournament, and ignorantly defeat Farquaad's knights. Farquaad proclaims them the champions, and compels them under threat of death to rescue Fiona, promising to move the fairytale creatures from Shrek's swamp if he succeeds.
Shrek and Donkey travel to the castle and split up to find Fiona. They are noticed by the dragon, who corners Donkey. In desperation he sweet-talks the beast, learning that it is female. Dragon falls in love with Donkey and carries him to her chambers. Shrek finds Fiona, who is appalled at his lack of romanticism and surprised he hadn't slain Dragon. As they leave, Shrek saves Donkey from Dragon, who is heartbroken as a result. At first, Fiona is thrilled to be rescued but is quickly disappointed when Shrek reveals he is an ogre. She demands that Farquaad come to get her himself, but Shrek forcibly carries her with him. The three have several adventures on their way to Duloc, such as an encounter with Robin Hood wherein Fiona reveals that she is an expert martial artist. Shrek and Fiona find they have a lot in common and fall in love. However, Fiona persistently insists on sleeping alone at night.

One night, when the trio is almost at Duloc, Fiona shelters in a windmill. Donkey hears strange noises from within and investigates, finding Fiona transformed into an ogre. She explains that she was cursed during childhood to transform every night, which is why she was locked away, and that only her true love's kiss will return her to her "love's true form". Meanwhile, Shrek, about to confess his feelings for Fiona, partly overhears them, and is heartbroken as he mistakes her disgust with her transformation to an "ugly beast" as disgust with him. At Donkey's suggestion, Fiona vows to tell Shrek about her curse, but dawn breaks before she can, and she turns back into a human. She finds that Shrek has brought Lord Farquaad to the windmill during the night. Fiona accepts Farquaad's proposal, requesting that they be married before night falls. The couple return to Duloc, while a hurt and angry Shrek abandons Donkey and returns to his now-vacated swamp.

Furious at Shrek, Donkey goes to the swamp where Shrek says he overheard Donkey and Fiona's conversation. Donkey tells Shrek that she was talking about someone else, and urges Shrek to talk to Fiona before she is married. They travel to Duloc quickly, thanks to Dragon, who had escaped her confines and followed Donkey.

Shrek interrupts the wedding before Farquaad can kiss Fiona. He tells her that Farquaad is not her true love and is only marrying her to become king. The sun sets, which turns Fiona into an ogre in front of everyone in the church, causing a surprised Shrek to fully understand what he overheard. Outraged, Farquaad orders Shrek executed and Fiona detained. Dragon bursts in alongside Donkey and devours Farquaad. Shrek and Fiona profess their love and share a kiss; Fiona is bathed in light as her curse is broken but is surprised that she is still an ogre, as she thought she would become beautiful, to which Shrek replies that she is still beautiful on the inside. They marry in the swamp and leave on their honeymoon while Donkey and the fairytale creatures celebrate by singing "I'm a Believer".

## Cast

* Mike Myers as Shrek
* Eddie Murphy as Donkey
* Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
* John Lithgow as Lord Farquaad
* Vincent Cassel as "Monsieur" Robin Hood
* Conrad Vernon as Gingerbread Man
* Chris Miller as Geppetto / Magic Mirror
* Cody Cameron as Pinocchio / The Three Little Pigs
* Simon J. Smith as Three Blind Mice
* Christopher Knights as Three Blind Mice and Thelonius
* Aron Warner as Big Bad Wolf
* Jim Cummings as Captain of the Guards
* Kathleen Freeman as Old Woman (Donkey's ex-owner)
* Andrew Adamson as Duloc Mascot (a man dressed in a suit that looks like Lord Farquaad)
* Bobby Block as Baby Bear from the Three Bears
* Michael Galasso as Peter Pan
* Elisa Gabrielli as additional voices

## Trivia

* This Was The First Computer-Animated Film Made In 21st Century

* Robin Williams was originally going to have a role in the film, but dropped out when he found out that one of the producers, Jeffery Katzenburg, was producing the film, he dropped out. The reason why is because Williams recently worked with Katzenburg on Aladdin and had disputes with each other.
* There are many Disney references in this movie.
* Chris Farley was originally cast as Shrek and even recorded almost 100% of the dialog. But after he died from his drug overdose, his fellow Saturday Night Live member, Mike Myers, took the role and demanded the screenplay re-written after looking at it.
* Fairy Godmother was going to be in here but was cut, but was put in Shrek 2.
* Computer animation for the movie began in late 1996 and took four and a half years to complete. In fact, it took so long that the crew began production on Shrek 2.

## Transcripts

### Main

To see the main transcript of the film, click Here

### Teaser

To see the transcript for the Teaser of the film, click Here

### Trailers

To see the transcript for the Teaser of the film, click Here

## Other Media

Several video game adaptations of the film have been published on various game console platforms, including *Shrek* (2001), *Shrek: Hassle at the Castle* (2002), *Shrek: Extra Large* (2002), *Shrek: Super Party* (2002) and *Shrek SuperSlam* (2005). Shrek was also included as a bonus unlockable character in the video game *Tony Hawk's Underground 2* (2004).

In 2003, Dark Horse Comics released a Shrek three-issue mini-series comic book adaptation, written by Mark Evanier, which were collected into a trade paperback.

A musical version, based on the film, with music by Jeanine Tesori and a book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, opened on Broadway on December 14, 2008, and closed January 3, 2010, running for a total of 441 performances.[118] It starred Brian d'Arcy James in the title role, Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona, Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad, Daniel Breaker as Donkey, and John Tartaglia as Pinocchio.[118] The Broadway production was recorded and released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital media.[119][120][121] A North American Tour opened July 25, 2010, in Chicago.[118] A London production opened in the West End on June 7, 2011. The musical received many Tony Award nominations and won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Costume Design. It received five Laurence Olivier Award nominations including Best New Musical.

## Sequels And Spin-Offs

*Shrek* has three sequels: *Shrek 2* (2004), *Shrek the Third* (2007), and *Shrek Forever After* (2010). Although *Shrek 2* received similar acclaim from critics, the following two movies after received some mixed reviews. They were, however, still box office hits. There were also two holiday specials entitled *Shrek the Halls* and *Scared Shrekless*, a spin-off *Puss in Boots* (a prequel to the Shrek series, exploring the origins of Puss in Boots, a character in the Shrek sequels), and several shorts. A fifth feature film was also planned for release, but was later cancelled in 2009, after it was decided that *Shrek Forever After* (originally titled *Shrek Goes Fourth*) was to be the last film in the series. However, in July 2016, the fifth film was announced and is set for release in 2019.

## See Also

* Shrek 2

* Shrek The Third

* Shrek Forever After
* Shrek 5
* Puss In Boots
* List Of DreamWorks Animation Computer Animated Films