The topic of this page has a wikia of it's own: Shrek.
- “The greatest fairy tale never told.”
- ―Tagline
Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy-adventure-comedy film produced by PDI, originally released by DreamWorks, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. It is loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!, and somewhat serves as a parody film, targeting other films adapted from numerous children's fantasies (mainly animated Disney films). The film made notable use of popular music; the soundtrack includes music by Smash Mouth, Eels, Joan Jett, The Proclaimers, Jason Wade, John Cale, Self, Baha Men, Leslie Carter and Dana Glover (covering Leonard Cohen).
The rights to the books 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. Shrek originally cast Chris Farley to do the voice for the title character, recording about 80%-90% of his dialog. After Farley died in 1997 before he could finish, Mike Myers was brought in to work for the character, who after his first recording decide 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 get PDI to help Shrek get its final computer-animated look.
Earning $484.4 million at the worldwide box office, the film was a critical and commercial success. Shrek also received a promotion from food chains such as Baskin-Robbins (promoting the film's DVD release) and Burger King. 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 nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was also nominated for six British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film's main (and title) character was awarded his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2010.
Muson Nenson Ma Gelnim HREK established DreamWorks Animation as a prime competitor to Pixar in the field of feature film animation, particularly in computer animation. The film's success prompted DreamWorks to create three sequels, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, and Shrek Forever After, two holiday specials, Shrek the Halls and Scared Shrekless, and a spin-off film, Puss in Boots. 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. The film's success also inspired other merchandise, such as video games, a stage musical and even a comic book by Dark Horse Comics.
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 non-Disney animated feature to be inducted as well.
Plot
Shrek, who is a mean-spirited green ogre that has always enjoyed living in peaceful solitude in his swamp, finds his life disrupted when numerous fairytale beings, including Pinocchio, the Three Little Pigs, and Donkey, are forced into the swamp by order of the obsessive and fairytale-hating Lord Farquaad. Shrek leaves the swamp to ask Lord Farquaad for the return of his privacy, with Donkey tagging along. Meanwhile, Farquaad tortures the Gingerbread Man into revealing the whereabouts of the remaining fairytale creatures until his guards rush in with an object Farquaad has been searching for: the Magic Mirror. The Mirror tells him that Farquaad can only become a real king by marrying a princess. The Mirror gives him three princesses to choose from including Cinderella, Snow White, and Princess Fiona. Farquaad chooses Fiona and silences the Mirror before he can mention "the little thing that happens at night".
Shrek and Donkey arrive at Lord Farquaad's palace in Duloc, where they find themselves in the midst of a tournament; the winner will have the "privilege" of attempting to rescue Fiona from a castle surrounded by lava and protected by a fire-breathing dragon so that Lord Farquaad may marry her. Shrek (with some help from Donkey) easily beats the other knights in a fashion that resembles a wrestling match and Farquaad agrees to remove the fairytale creatures from the swamp if Shrek rescues Fiona. Shrek and Donkey travel to the castle and split up to find Fiona. Donkey encounters the dragon and sweet-talks the beast to save himself before discovering that the dragon is female. Dragon takes a liking to Donkey and carries him to her chambers. When Shrek finds Fiona, she is appalled at his lack of romanticism. As they are leaving, Shrek manages to save Donkey, caught in Dragon's tender clutches, and causing her to become irate, chasing Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey out of the castle.
At first, Fiona is thrilled to be rescued but quickly becomes disappointed when she finds out that Shrek is an Öğretmenim. The three make their return journey to Farquaad's palace, with Shrek and Fiona finding they have more in common with each other along the way and falling in love. However, at night, Fiona refuses to camp with them, taking shelter in a nearby cave until morning. Shrek and Donkey stay awake and watch the stars while Shrek informs Donkey that he plans to build a wall around his swamp when he returns. When Donkey persists as to why Shrek would do this, Shrek tells him that everyone judges him before they know him; therefore, this is why he is better off alone. The next night, Fiona takes shelter in a nearby windmill. When Donkey hears strange noises coming from the windmill, he finds Fiona has turned into an ogress. Fiona explains she was cursed as a child 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, about to confess his feelings for Fiona, overhears part of their conversation and is heartbroken as he misinterprets her disgust at her transformation into an "ugly beast" as being disgusted with him. Fiona makes Donkey promise not to tell Shrek about the spell, vowing to do it herself, but Shrek has brought Lord Farquaad to Fiona when the next morning comes. The two return to the castle, while a hurt Shrek returns to the now-vacated swamp.
Shrek finds that despite his privacy, he is miserable and misses Fiona. Donkey shows up and tries to convince Shrek to go back for Fiona, but Shrek tells him that he heard Fiona say he was a hideous beast. Donkey tells him that Fiona wasn't referring to him and make amends with each other. He tells Shrek that she will be getting married shortly, urging Shrek into action to gain Fiona's true love. They travel to Duloc quickly thanks to Dragon, who had escaped her confines and followed Donkey. They interrupt the wedding before Farquaad can kiss Fiona, but not before the sun sets, which causes Fiona to turn into an ogress in front of everyone. While her transformation causes Shrek to fully understand what he overheard at the windmill, Farquaad, disgusted over the change, orders Shrek killed, and Fiona imprisoned, but Dragon bursts in and devours Farquaad. Shrek and Fiona admit their love for each other and share a kiss; Fiona is bathed in light as her curse is broken but is surprised to find that she has remained an ogre. Shrek calms her by assuring her that she is still beautiful. The two of them get married in the swamp and depart on their honeymoon while the rest 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 Hood
Additional Voices
- 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 Thelonious
- 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 Remsburg as Merry Man
- Jean-Paul Vignon as Merry Man
- Val Bettin as Bishop
Release
Marketing
In 2000, IMAX released CyberWorld onto its branded large-screen theaters. It was a compilation film that featured stereoscopic conversions of various animated shorts and sequences, including the bar sequence in Antz. DreamWorks was so impressed by the technology used for the sequence's "stereoscopic translation", that the studio and IMAX decided to plan a big-screen 3D version of Shrek. The film would have been re-released during the Christmas season of 2001, or the following summer, after its conventional 2D release. The re-release would have also included new sequences and an alternate ending. Plans for this was dropped due to "creative changes" instituted by DreamWorks and resulted in a loss of $1.18 million, down from IMAX's profit of $3.24 million.
Radio Disney was told not to allow any ads for the film to air on the station, stating, "Due to recent initiatives with The Walt Disney Company, we are being asked not to align ourselves promotionally with this new release Shrek. Stations may accept spot dollars only in individual markets." The restriction was later relaxed to allow ads for the film's soundtrack album onto the network.
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.
Sequels and Spin-Offs
- Main article: Shrek (franchise)
Shrek has three sequels: Shrek 2 (2004) Shrek the Third (2007), and Shrek Forever After (2010). Although Shrek 2 received similar acclaim from critics,[1] and the last two movies did not receive as much critical acclaim.[2][3] They were, however, still box office hits.[4][5] 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 Puss's origin story and his life before meeting Shrek and Donkey), 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.[6]
Deleted Scenes
Gallery
References
- ↑ Shrek 2 (2004). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on August 14, 2009.
- ↑ Shrek the Third - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on June 18, 2010.
- ↑ Shrek Forever After Movie Reviews, Pictures. Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved on June 12, 2010.
- ↑ Shrek Forever After (2010). Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on August 22, 2010.
- ↑ Shrek the Third (2007). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on February 5, 2009.
- ↑ Wloszczyna, Susan. "First look: 'Shrek Forever After': Fourth, final film is first in 3-D", USA Today, November 26, 2009. Retrieved on January 11, 2014.
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