Shrek

Shrek
Directed by	Andrew Adamson Vicky Jenson
Written by	William Steig (original book) Ted Elliott Terry Rossio Joe Stillman Roger S.H. Schulman
Produced by	Jeffrey Katzenberg Aron Warner John H. Williams
Starring	Voices: Mike Myers Eddie Murphy Cameron Diaz John Lithgow
Music by	Harry Gregson-Williams John Powell
Distributed by	USA: DreamWorks SKG Non-USA Theatrical: United International Pictures DVD/Video: Universal Pictures (through DreamWorks labe]) Television Distribution: CBS Paramount Television (2006-)
Release dates	May 16, 2001,
Running time	90 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$60 million

For other uses, see Shrek (disambiguation).

Shrek is an Academy Award winning animated feature film based upon William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book entitled Shrek!. 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 likely comes from the Yiddish word שרעק (pronounced Shreck) or the German word Schreck, in either case meaning "fear" or "terror".

The film features the voices of Mike Myers as a large, strong, solitude-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.

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.

Production

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.

Plot synopsis

The movie begins with Shrek, a large, intimidating, solitude-loving ogre, reading a story about a beautiful princess who is cursed with an enchantment and locked away in a tower guarded by an enormous, fire-breathing dragon. Moments later, he disregards the story as only a fairy-tale and he returns to his swamp to enjoy the easy life after a bathroom break. Meanwhile, an angry mob from a village makes plans to capture Shrek in order to collect a bounty. After Shrek easily scares away the mob, he discovers a bounty poster, detailing rewards for capturing fairy tale creatures. He thinks little of it, and throws the poster aside.

At this time, the ruthless and diminutive ruler of the Kingdom of Duloc, Lord Farquaad, manages to get a hold of the Magic Mirror on The Wall. Due to the fact that Farquaad is not of royal stock, he cannot be king until he marries a princess. He has been searching for a bride, and has thus far been unsuccessful, despite interrogating (and torturing) various fairy tale creatures (such as the Gingerbread Man). He then finally picks Princess Fiona, who happens to be trapped in a castle located in a volcano. Farquaad begins to set up a tournament where the winner will be tasked with retrieving the princess---should the winner fail, the runner-up will be tasked, and so on, until she is rescued.

Meanwhile, bounties for fairy tale creatures arise and many creatures are captured and sold, then forced to be relocated. Donkey, a originally stubborn and talkative donkey, manages to escape from his owner after a brief incident involving fairy dust, and gets pursued by a number of Farquaad's armed soldiers. He meets Shrek almost by accident and after the ogre scares off Lord Farquaad's guards, Donkey, impressed by Shrek, begins to stick around with him. Shrek initially tries to scare him off, but seeing that Donkey doesn't want to go back, he finally agrees to let Donkey stay for one night outside but not inside his hut.

Soon, as night falls, Shrek is met with a surprise as he finds that all fairy tale creatures are living at his swamp, having been relocated after their forced eviction from Lord Farquaad. Shrek announces that he will not let anyone in his swamp and he, along with Donkey, go out to meet Farquaad, so that Shrek can make his compliant to him for dumping the fairy tale creatures. They make it to the Kingdom of Duloc where they find themselves in the middle of an arena, where Farquaad's tournament is taking place. On the fly, he changes the rule---whoever kills Shrek will be the winner. Shrek manages to win the battle using an array of wrestling moves, but is ultimately surrounded by the rest of the guards after all combatants are defeated. Farquaad makes a deal with Shrek: Shrek must rescue Princess Fiona and return her to Duloc, and in return, Farquaad will regather all the fairy-tale creatues and relocate them elsewhere. Shrek agrees, and he and Donkey head off.

As they approach the castle where the princess is held, Shrek realizes that it is just like the story he had read. Inside, Shrek finds the tallest tower where the princess is held, while Donkey is chased by the resident dragon guardian. Shrek rescues Donkey but is catapulted by the dragon's tail, then lands into the princess's chambers, while Donkey is cornered by the beast. Donkey, complimenting the dragon to prevent it from killing him, learns that the dragon is female. She then seems to take a liking to him. Donkey, reading these signs and feeling uncomfortable with the idea, calls out for Shrek to help him, but the dragon gently grabs him and the two head off to the dragon's chambers. Shrek, with his face obscured by a helmet, meets Princess Fiona, and after some talking, the two go to rescue Donkey. Shrek finds Dragon sitting with Donkey in her tail as she strokes his fur. As Fiona's dragon guardian is about to kiss Donkey, Shrek puts a metal collar on her, then rejoins the others. They escape the dragon after she is caught in the makeshift leash as she roars out, apparently distressed at losing Donkey and failing to guard Fiona.

After escaping, Fiona claims that Shrek is her true love and Donkey is his noble steed. She becomes angry when she learns that her rescuer is not only not a handsome prince but instead is a large, overweight, terrifying ogre. True to his word and wanting only to get his swamp back, Shrek nevertheless explains the situation and forces Fiona to come back to Duloc, all the way making puns and jokes with Donkey about Farquaad's short stature.

Night approaches and Fiona knows that she must camp out as she sees the sun setting and sleeps inside a cave in something of a hurry. As night comes, Shrek and Donkey begin to look out at the stars but a bored Donkey thinks that Shrek is making up "ogre heritage". Shrek talks with Donkey, and an argument ensues where Shrek states frustratedly that he is better off alone because people judge him before they even know him. A hidden Fiona watches as Shrek talks about himself.

Morning comes, and Fiona has left the camp as the befriended Shrek and Donkey sleep. After having destroyed a bird by her singing after it tried to imitate Fiona's high-pitched song, she offers fried eggs to the two friends and she apologizes for the previous day. Soon, as the three continue to Duloc, Shrek and Donkey learn that Fiona wasn't any typical damsel-in-distress. She begins to act "nasty" like Shrek and takes out Robin Hood and his band of merry men (who attempt to "rescue" Fiona from Shrek) with impressive Matrix-inspired martial arts (including a "bullet time" element). Fiona also appears to enjoy the same culinary oddities (such as flies) that Shrek does. The nearer they approach, the more a bond develops between Shrek and Fiona, with Donkey suspecting that the two are growing romantically interested in each other.

After dinner, as Shrek and Fiona are about to kiss, Donkey interrupts the moment and Fiona sees that sundown is coming. She hides in a windmill, leaving a confused Shrek to walk off for a while. Donkey goes inside the windmill to see if Fiona is okay and is surprised and terrified to see a different-looking Fiona. Confused Donkey learns that she is, in fact, an ogress (a female ogre). Fiona explains that she's been this way as long as she can remember and she only becomes an ogress whenever the sun goes down; she has hidden herself during such moments to prevent the truth from being known.

Fiona also tells Donkey that when she was a little girl, a witch cast an enchantment of some sort that makes her turn human by day and ogress by night, and says whoever kisses her will break the spell and she will take her true love's form. Shrek, hearing only bits of Fiona's talk with Donkey, gets the wrong idea, thinking that she is calling him an ugly hideous creature when she's actually talking about herself. A hurtful Shrek then thinks that Fiona is better off with Lord Farquaad; Shrek soon walks off, angry and heartbroken.

Donkey promises Fiona that he won't tell anyone about her secret, but convinces her to do one thing: reveal the situation to Shrek. The sun rises, bringing with it Fiona's human form, and she reluctantly begins tell the truth to Shrek. He angrily refuses to listen to her explanations. Soon, Farquaad and his men arrive near the windmill to escort Fiona the rest of the way to Duloc. Farquaad gives Shrek the deed to his swamp and tells him to go. Deed in hand, Shrek begins his trek back home, with a determined Donkey trying to tell Shrek about Fiona. Shrek is too irritated to listen, breaks his friendship with Donkey, and goes back to his swamp, which is now cleared as agreed by Farquaad.

An angry Donkey returns to the swamp soon after Shrek, and continues to berate the ogre. He then says that he doesn't need to be mad at Fiona because from the looks of it, she felt the same way about him as he did about her. Shrek doesn't believe him because he still thinks Fiona called him a hideous beast. Donkey then yells at Shrek that she was talking about someone else. At that point, Shrek feels remorseful for Fiona, apologizes to Donkey, and asks him about the 'person' Fiona was talking about. Donkey calmly refuses to tell Shrek who she was talking about and says that he should go find out from her. Shrek and Donkey, reconciled as friends, head off to Duloc; during the time Donkey was away, it appears he spent some time with the dragon, who agrees to take them to the kingdom.

The wedding begins as they arrive. Donkey suggests that Shrek should try to be romantic and say, "I object!" when the time is right. Shrek reluctantly agrees. They find out that the ceremony is already past that point, prompting Shrek to burst in. Shrek tells Fiona that she shouldn't marry Farquaad because he's only marrying her so he can be king. An angry Farquaad denies this and finds it humorous that Shrek is in love with Fiona. Farquaad then tries to kiss Fiona, thus completing the marriage, but as sunset comes, Fiona becomes an ogress once again, revealing her secret to everyone, including Shrek and Farquaad. A disgusted Farquaad orders his soldiers to take them both away, vowing that he will still be king. After a battle with Farquaad's guards, Shrek becomes outnumbered, as Farquaad announces to Shrek that he will be sent to his death and Fiona will be locked away in the castle for the rest of her days. Only moments later, Shrek whistles for the dragon (commandeered by Donkey), who then bursts in through a large stained-glass window, and subsquently swallows Farquaad whole, saving Shrek and Fiona. Shrek confesses to Fiona that he loves her, and as the two kiss. Because of the form she has taken during the kiss, she remains an ogress. Fiona believes she is no longer beautiful, although Shrek tells her otherwise.

A happy Fiona reconciles with Shrek and the two are married. The film then ends with all fairy tale creatures starting a party in Shrek's swamp and singing as Donkey marries up with Fiona's dragon guardian, the newly wedded Shrek and Fiona go on their honeymoon as the film ends.

Crew

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Soundtrack

Main article: Shrek (soundtracks)

Annie Awards

Result	Award	Winner/Nominee Recipient(s)
WON	Animated Theatrical Feature
WON	Individual Achievement in Directing	Andrew Adamson (Director) Vicky Jenson (Director)
WON	Individual Achievement in Writing	Ted Elliott (Screenplay) Terry Rossio (Screenplay) Joe Stillman (Screenplay) Roger S.H. Schulman (Screenplay)
WON	Individual Achievement in Storyboarding	Robert Koo (Story Artist)
WON	Individual Achievement in Production Design	Guilluame Aretos (Art Director)
NOMINATED	Individual Achievement in Production Design	Douglas Rogers (Art Director)
NOMINATED	Individual Achievement in Character Animation	Paul Chung (Animator)
NOMINATED	Individual Achievement in Character Animation	Raman Hui (Supervising Animator)
NOMINATED	Individual Achievement in Character Animation	Jason Reisig (Animator)
WON	Individual Achievement in Effects Animation	Arnauld Lamorlette (Effects Lead)
WON	Individual Achievement in Voice Acting	Eddie Murphy ("Donkey")
WON	Individual Achievement in Music	Harry Gregson-Williams (Music) John Powell (Music)

Trivia

• Shrek and Monsters, Inc. are the first CG animated movies to win an Academy Award of a different nomination in the same year (Shrek for Best Animated feature of 2001, and Monsters, Inc. for Best Song of 2001).
• Dreamworks co-founder Steven Spielberg wanted his good friends Bill Murray and Steve Martin to play Shrek and Donkey. He was not happy when others were cast but he eventually changed his mind when he saw the finished project.
• Shrek was originally setup to be animated as stop-motion. The tests were too costly and the executives were not pleased with the overall look and lack of facial expression in the main character. A test was then shot on live-action background plate miniature sets and the main characters were composited into the scene as computer graphics. Again, the look of technique of the test wasn't conducive to produce an entire feature length animated film so the entire test was done as full computer graphics. Shrek was born and the project was green-lighted.

Sequels

Main article: Shrek (series)

• Shrek 2 - Was released on May 19, 2004 and quickly overtook Disney's Finding Nemo as the highest grossing opening weekend for an animated feature. It is the third most successful movie of all time in terms of domestic US gross, behind only Titanic and the original Star Wars.
• Shrek the Third - This sequel was announced on June 2, 2004 and titled on March 21, 2006. It was released May 18,2007, and members of the crew included the writing team of Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman and Jon Zack, and the three lead voices from the previous movies: Mike Myers as Shrek, Eddie Murphy as Donkey, Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona, while adding Justin Timberlake as King Arthur.
• Shrek 4 - The sequel to Shrek 3, to be released in 2010 .

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 babies.

• Shrek 5 - The sequel to Shrek 4, to be released in 2013 . It was confirmed by Antonio Banderas.
• Shrek 4-D - A 3-D 15 minute feature about Shrek and Fiona encountering Farquaad's ghost on their honeymoon, presented as an attraction at Universal Studios theme parks. The show was later released on DVD as Shrek 3-D.
• Shrek the Halls - A upcoming ABC special premiering in the holiday season of 2007 . The thirty minute show will include Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and Antonio Banderas reprising their roles from the feature films.
• Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer - spin-off film about Puss in Boots.

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 retribution was made by Over the Hedge which was released in the summer of 2006 and received a much warmer reception.

Other media

Books

Original story on which the film is based:

• Steig, William (1990). Shrek!, Sunburst Paperback. ISBN 0-374-46623-8

Video games

• Several video game adaptations of Shrek have been published on various game console platforms.

Comic books

• In 2003 Dark Horse Comics released a Shrek three-issue mini-series comic book adaptation, which was collected into a trade paperback.

Theater

• A musical version of the hit movie is said to make its way to the stage in 2008. Jeanine Tesori, composer of Thoroughly Modern Millie and Caroline, or Change has been commissioned to compose the show's music. The hit songs "All Star" and "I'm A Believer" from the original movie will be transformed into musical numbers for the stage (most likely sung by Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona).

See also

• List of animated feature-length films
• List of computer-animated films
• List of fairy tale characters in Shrek

External links

• Shrek Official Web SIte
• Shrek at IMDb
• Shrek at Rotten Tomatoes
• Shrek at Metacritic
• DreamWorks SKG Fansite for Shrek
• William Steig's web page describing the original 1990 story book
• Shrek at Box Office Mojo