Donkey (Shrek)

Donkey
Shrek character
File:Donkeyshrek.JPG Ashif as the voice of Donkey in the first film
First appearance	Shrek
Last appearance	Shrek Forever After
Voiced by	Ashif (English, films, Shrek Smash and Crash Racing and Father of the Pride) Mark Moseley (English, video games except Shrek Smash and Crash Racing,ADR work) Fred Newman (in the Strawberry Shortcake episode "Chickens Hatches an Egg or Two! by Strawberry Shortcake") Med Hondo (French) Randolf Kronberg (German, first and second films) Dennis Schmidt-Foß (German, third film) José Mota (Spanish) Jerzy Stuhr (Polish) Thomas Giertsen (Norwegian films) Dicky Cheung (Cantonese) Eugenio Derbez (Mexican) Nanni Baldini (Italian) Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese) Lee In Seong (Korean) Gaminda Priyaviraj (Sinhaleese) Jan Gintberg (Danish) József Kerekes (Hungarian) Mehmet Ali Erbil (Turkish) Lykourgos Markoudis (Greek) Jonas Malmsjö (Swedish)
Species	Miniature Donkey
Gender	Male
Family	Donkey Jr. Coco Bananas Peanut Parfait Debbie/Eclair (children)
Spouse	Dragon (wife)

Donkey is a fictional talking donkey from the Shrek series of films and he serves as the second protagonist of the films, voiced by Ashif. The character also featured in the original story Shrek!. He currently has five Dronkey children, with his wife, Dragon.

Personality

Donkey is seen as being annoying, talkative and sensitive.

He likes to sing and also has a sweet tooth. He enjoys such foods as waffles, parfait and "upside-down coconut soufflé with mango chutney sauce." In a scene about Merlin's bonfire, Donkey's sweet tooth gets the best of him, for he sees only a fudge torte on it in the enchanted smoke.

In the "Meet the Cast of Shrek 2" segment that is featured in the Special Features part on the Shrek 2 DVD, Ashif says: "Donkey is a really positive character. He's always looking at the bright side of everything, trying to work it out. A happy-go-lucky donkey."

Donkey in Shrek films

Shrek

Donkey first makes his debut at a sale of animal or mythical characters from beloved fairy-tales being sold to the evil Lord Farquaad's guards. An old woman attempts to sell Donkey, but magic pixie dust accidentally is unleashed upon him from a caged fairy, thus giving him the temporary ability to fly. However, when the spell unleashed upon Donkey breaks and he falls to the ground, he is chased by Farquaad's guards into the woods, where he meets Shrek. Shrek is at first reluctant to meet the talkative Donkey, who follows him around, but Shrek does not consider Donkey a friend until by the end of the film. Donkey also follows Shrek on his quest to find Princess Fiona, whom Lord Farquaad wants to make his bride. While passing a mountain guarded by a vicious, fire-breathing dragon, Donkey tries to talk the dragon guard into allowing him and Shrek to pass and compliments the dragon, whom he discovers is a female, and the dragon is greatly pleased by Donkey's flattering and lets them pass. Things often went roughly between Shrek and Donkey during the quest mainly due to Shrek's being reluctant about having Donkey as a forced "friend" and poor attitude, but by the end of the movie they were both very good friends. After Shrek saved Fiona from marrying Lord Farquaad and Dragon swallowed the evil fiend, Donkey sang at Shrek and Fiona's wedding reception and takes his love, Dragon, as his wife.

Shrek 2

Donkey was having troubles in his relationship with Dragon as she was acting strangely, but he could not determine the cause, and accompanied Shrek and Fiona to the Far Far Away kingdom but keeps on asking every second like what kids would say on long trips "Are we there yet?" Shrek and Fiona keep answering no.

At one point in the film, he reveals that he was the donkey traded by Jack for the magic beans, which greatly offended him. He and Shrek ended up drinking the "Happily Ever After" potion from the Fairy Godmother's workshop and while Shrek transformed into a human, Donkey became a large white horse. But after the duo worked together with their friends to stop her plans to force Fiona to engage with her son, Prince Charming, both return to their normal forms, though Donkey seemed to be quite disappointed at returning to his original form although Shrek told Donkey he still sees Donkey as a noble steed. After the credits, Donkey and the Dragon are reunited and he meets their newborn children.

Shrek the Third

Donkey is enjoying fatherhood in Shrek the Third, but he is still first and foremost Shrek's sidekick and closest friend. When Far Far Away is in need of a new king, Donkey ventures off with Shrek in search of Fiona's cousin Arthur Pendragon, known simply as Artie at the Worcestershire boarding school where he resides. In their magical transport back to Far Far Away (aided by a slightly off-kilter Merlin), Donkey and Puss accidentally switch bodies, (most likely from holding hands) and Puss finds Donkey's quadrupedal form hideous. Donkey, meanwhile, can't figure out how Puss can walk with such fancy accoutrements. They must put that aside and work together, however, if they are to save Far Far Away from a vindictive Prince Charming. After Charming is defeated, the same sorcerer comes to change them back, it works, but switches their tails (in the next scene, their tails have been corrected as well).

Shrek Forever After

In the fourth and final film, Donkey brings his Dronkey children over often, much to Shrek's annoyance at the ensuing daily chaos. He takes part in innocently ruining Shrek's children's birthday party.

In Rumplestiltskin's alternate reality, Donkey first meets Shrek when he pulled a wagon the ogre was imprisoned in. After being taken to Rumplestiltskin, Shrek escapes and takes Donkey with him, much to the latter's chargin. At first, Donkey fears Shrek and runs away, but returns after seeing Shrek crying over his babies toy. Having never seen an ogre cry before, Donkey decides to trust Shrek and befriends him. Due to the fact that this reality's version of him is intelligent, Donkey helps Shrek find a loophole in Rumplestiltskin's contract, comparing Shrek's situation to The Twilight Zone. The duo meet Fiona, Puss, and the rebellion of ogres in the woods, and Donkey befriends Puss in Boots and the ogres as well. Donkey and Puss later save Shrek and Fiona from the Pied Piper, and then lead the assault on Rumplestiltskin's castle.

In the ending, with reality restored, Donkey celebrates Shrek's children's birthday.

Trivia

• Steven Spielberg (Dreamworks co-founder and executive producer of Shrek) wanted his good friend Steve Martin to voice Donkey.
• Donkey guest-starred on an episode of the DreamWorks Animation-produced television series Father of the Pride. Simply entitled “Donkey”, the episode portrays Donkey as a rather conceited Hollywood actor whom all the series' characters admire. In the show he appears to shoot a Japanese SUV commercial, but in real life Donkey was used in Chinese SUV commercials.
• The filmmakers had intended to change Dragon into a beautiful pink winged mare to coincide with Donkey's metamorphosis into a handsome white stallion in Shrek 2, as the Fairy Godmother's Happily Ever After potion affects both the drinker and their “true love”. Dragon's equine depiction never made it into the final film, however, Dragon was not left in her true form either at the time; she only appeared in a post-credits scene, when everyone is "back to normal".
• Donkey is an interactable character at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood, offering personalized chatter to those that approach his cart.
• One thing known about Donkey is that he likes making waffles. This is noted in Shrek when he says to Shrek "And in the morning, I'm making waffles!" and in Shrek 4-D when he says to Dragon "Let's go home and make some waffles!". He also gets "carried away" with a story about a 50-foot waffle Santa Claus in Shrek the Halls and in Shrek Forever After, Donkey is seen about to eat some waffles before noticing Shrek right behind him.
• Donkey appeared in the original book as a regular sized donkey who Shrek rode on briefly during his journey.
• In the original Broadway production of Shrek the Musical, the role was played by Daniel Breaker.