Shrek

For other uses, see Shrek (disambiguation).

Shrek
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andrew Adamson Vicky Jenson
Written by	Ted Elliott Terry Rossio Joe Stillman Roger S. H. Schulman
Produced by	Jeffrey Katzenberg Aron Warner John H. Williams
Starring	Mike Myers Eddie Murphy Cameron Diaz John Lithgow
Narrated by	Mike Myers
Edited by	Sim Evan-Jones
Music by	Harry Gregson-Williams John Powell
Production companies	DreamWorks Animation Pacific Data Images
Distributed by	DreamWorks Pictures (through Universal Pictures)
Release date	May 18, 2001 (2001-05-18)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$60 million
Box office	$484,409,218

ShrekPlayed by jesus cruz a local boy from Waco Texas they took his face and put it on the body of shrek and filmed the whole movie this way. is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow, and loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!. Shrek stars Mike Myers as a big, strong, solitude-loving, intimidating ogre named Shrek; Cameron Diaz as the beautiful, feisty, but very down-to-earth Princess Fiona; Eddie Murphy as the talkative Donkey; and John Lithgow as the villain Lord Farquaad. The film made notable use of popular music; the soundtrack includes music by Smash Mouth, Eels, Joan Jett, The Proclaimers, Jason Wade, The Baha Men, and Rufus Wainwright (covering Leonard Cohen).

Earning $484.4 million, Shrek was a commercial and critical success. It was acclaimed as an animated film worthy of adult interest, with many adult-oriented jokes and themes but a simple enough plot and humour 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 BAFTAs, including the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Eddie Murphy for his voice-over performance as Donkey, and won 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.

Shrek established DreamWorks Animation as a prime competitor to Pixar in the field of feature film animation, particularly in computer animation. The film's success also prompted DWA to create three sequels: Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, and Shrek Forever After. There were also a Christmas special called Shrek the Halls, a Halloween special called Scared Shrekless and a spin-off film Puss in Boots.

Plot

Shrek, a grouchy, mean, selfish 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, perfectionistic, fairy-tale despising Lord Farquaad.

Shrek leaves the swamp to ask Farquaad for the return of his privacy, with Donkey happily 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 (completely disregarding his original question regarding if his kingdom was the fairest of them all). The Mirror gives him three princesses to choose from (in a parody of The Dating Game): Cinderella, Snow White, and Princess Fiona. Farquaad chooses Fiona and silences the Mirror before he can mention "the little thing that happens at night" (which is later revealed to be a curse).

Shrek and Donkey arrive at 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 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 Shrek takes his helmet off and she realises that he is an ogre. 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 10 foot wall around his swamp when he returns. When Donkey persistently asks Shrek why he is doing this, Shrek sadly confesses to him that everyone judges him before they know him; therefore, he feels he is better off alone, despite Donkey's admittance that he did not immediately judge him when they first met.

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 "love's true 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 when the next morning comes, Shrek has brought Lord Farquaad to Fiona. The two return to the castle, while a hurt Shrek returns to the now-vacated swamp, not long after breaking off his friendship with Donkey, out of anger.

Shrek finds that, despite his privacy, he is miserable and misses Fiona. Donkey comes to the swamp, angry at Shrek and Shrek reveals that he overheard their conversation. Donkey keeps his promise to Fiona and tells Shrek that she was talking about someone else. He then tells him that Fiona will be getting married shortly, urging Shrek into action to gain Fiona's true love. They are able to 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 Shrek whistles for Dragon, who 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 ogress, as she thought she was supposed to become beautiful, to which Shrek replies that she is 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". Template:Shrek chronology

Cast

Main article: List of Shrek characters

• Mike Myers as Shrek
• Eddie Murphy as Donkey
• Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
• John Lithgow as Lord Farquaad
• Vincent Cassel as Monsieur Hood (a French rendition of 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, Elisa Gabrielli & Eddie Murphy as Three Bears
• Elisa Gabrielli as Additional Voices
• Frank Welker as Dragon (uncredited)
• Michael Galasso as Peter Pan

Cinderella, Snow White, Pied Piper, and several other characters are not speaking roles and are thus uncredited

Production

File:Escudo de Armas de Muy muy lejano.png

Coat of Arms of Far Far Away.

Development

Shrek had been in development for over a decade and in production for 5 years, since Steven Spielberg bought the rights to the original book in 1991, when he was in charge of the studio Amblin Entertainment, and apparently envisioned making a traditionally animated film of the book with Bill Murray as Shrek and Steve Martin as Donkey. However, at the time Spielberg bought the rights, it entered development hell for years.

At the time Dreamworks was founded, producer John H. Williams got hold of the book from his children, and when he brought it to Dreamworks, it caught Jeffrey Katzenberg's attention and the studio decided to make it into a movie. After buying the rights to the film in 1995, Katzenberg quickly put the film in active development. In the beginning of production, co-director Andrew Adamson refused to be intimidated by Katzenberg, and had an argument with him how much should the film appeal to adults. Katzenberg wanted both audiences, but he found some of Adamson's ideas about adding sexual jokes and Guns 'n Roses music to the soundtrack a bit too outrageous.

Early sketches of Shrek saw Shrek first living in a garbage dump near a human village called Wart Creek. It was also thought one time that he lived with his parents and kept rotting fish in his bedroom. These sketches were done in 1996 through 1997. Donkey was modeled after Pericles (born 1994; also known as Perry), a real miniature donkey from Barron Park, Palo Alto, California. Raman Hui, supervising animator of Shrek, stated that Fiona "wasn't based on any real person." and he did many different sketches for Princess Fiona and had done over 100 scupltures of Fiona before the directors picked the final design.

In early development, the Art Directors visited Hearst Castle, Stratford upon Avon and Dordogne for inspiration. Art Director Douglas Rogers visited a magnolia plantation in Charleston, South Carolina for inspiration for Shrek's swamp.

Casting

Robin Williams, who had worked for Jeffrey Katzenberg before on Aladdin and had a bitter falling out with him and The Walt Disney Company over marketing agreements, hinted in an interview that he refused a role in Shrek, because it would mean working for Katzenberg again. He would not state which role he had refused.

When the project was started in 1996, Chris Farley was planned to do the voice for Shrek which he recorded 80 to 90% (or 95% according to Farley's brother Tom) of the dialogue for the character, but died in December 1997 before the project was completed. DreamWorks then re-cast the voice role to Mike Myers, who insisted on a complete script rewrite, to leave no traces of Farley's version of Shrek. After Myers had completed providing the voice for the character, when the film was well into production, he asked to re-record all of his lines in a Scottish accent similar to the one his mother had used when she told him bedtime stories. He explained his decision, "There is a class struggle in Shrek between the fairy-tale kings and queens and the common people. I always thought that Shrek was raised working-class. And since Lord Farquaad (the villain) was played English, I thought of Scottish". After hearing alternative, Katzenberg agreed to redo scenes in the film, saying, "It was so good we took $4m worth of animation out and did it again." Myers later reported: "I got a letter from Spielberg thanking me so much for caring about the character... And he said the Scottish accent had improved the movie."

Janeane Garofalo was also set to star alongside Farley as Princess Fiona, but stated in an interview that she was fired from the project with little explanation. Years later, Garofalo stated "I was never told why [I was fired]. I assume because I sound like a man sometimes? I don't know why. Nobody told me... But, you know, the movie didn't do anything, so who cares?" According to Jim Hill, Garofalo's "abrasive, sarcastic comic persona" was "a perfect counterpoint to Chris Farley's sweet if somewhat dim take on Shrek", but without Farley her version of Fiona was thought to be "too downbeat for the film".

This was Kathleen Freeman's last role, who died of lung cancer at age 82.

Animation

Shrek was originally set up 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 motion-captured computer graphics. Again, the results were not satisfactory, Katzenberg stating, "It looked terrible, it didn't work, it wasn't funny, and we didn't like it." The studio then turned to its production partners at PDI, who began production with the studio in 1998 and helped Shrek to get its final, computer-animated look. At this time, Antz was still in production by the studio and Effects Supervisor Ken Bielenberg was asked by Aron Warner "to start development for Shrek."

The $10m cost for the additional computer programming was paid by IMAX, and over 275 people worked on the animation of the film, including computer animators, software developers, and engineers.

The hair for the characters required a lot of computer power and tool sets that Dreamworks did not evolve during production of the film. This would result in Fiona's hair having to be still. PDI's Academy Award-winning Fluid Animation System (FLU) was used to animate water, milk, beer, mud, lava, and even to simulate the movement of leaves blown by the wind.

Bielenberg was the key developer on fire, stating "Being a movie that takes place in a medieval sort of time period, fire plays a big role. Fire is your heat and light source, your cooking source, of course, so we had all different types of fire in Shrek. Of course there were torches and campfires, and of course it being a fairy tale, we have to have a fire-breathing dragon. So Marty worked extensively on these effects."

“We did a lot of work on character and set-up, and then kept changing the set up while we were doing the animation,” Hui noted. “In Antz we had a facial system that gave us all the facial muscles under the skin. In Shrek we applied that to whole body. So if you pay attention to Shrek when he talks, you see that when he opens his jaw, he forms a double chin, because we have the fat and the muscles underneath. That kind of detail took us a long time to get right."

Music

Main article: List of songs featured in Shrek

Cultural references

The film is in many places in the classic Disney movies, fairy tales and parodies:

• When Tinkerbell falls on Donkey and he says "I can fly" and people around including three little pigs, say "He can fly, he can fly", this is a reference to Disney's Peter Pan film. This scene is also a reference to another Disney movie named Dumbo, where Donkey says, while flying, "You might have seen a house fly, maybe even a super fly, but I bet you ain't never seen a Donkey fly."
• When Shrek crosses the bridge to the Castle and says, "That'll do, Donkey, that´ll do", this is a reference to the movie Babe.
• The scene where Fiona is singing to the blue bird is a reference to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• The scene where Princess Fiona is fighting the Merry Men is a lengthy reference to The Matrix.
• The transformation scene at the end of the film strongly references to Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Also at the end of the film, the Gingerbread Man at the end with a crutch (and one leg) says "God bless us, everyone" which is a reference to Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol.

Release

In 2000, IMAX released CyberWorld onto it's 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 it's 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 a loss of $1.18 million down from IMAX's profit of $3.24 million.

Marketing

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." Also resulting initiatives from Disney, Katzenberg, who left Disney under somewhat acrimonious circumstances in 1994, "showed each and every scene to lawyers as we went along. We certainly did not want to be sued by Disney."

On May 7, 2001 Burger King began promotions for the film, giving out a selection of nine exclusive Candy Caddies based on the Shrek characters, in Big Kids Meal and Kids Meal orders.

Critical reception

Shrek received critical acclaim, praising Shrek 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. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 89% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 176 reviews, with an average score of 7.7/10. The critical consensus is: While simultaneously embracing and subverting fairy tales, the irreverent Shrek also manages to tweak Disney's nose, provide a moral message to children, and offer viewers a funny, fast-paced ride.

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 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 that "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."

William Steig, the author of the original book, and his wife Jeanne Steig also enjoyed the film, stating "We all went sort of expecting to hate it, thinking, 'What has Hollywood done to it?' But we loved it. We were afraid it would be too sickeningly cute and, instead, Bill just thought they did a wonderful, witty job of it."

Box office

Shrek open in more than 3,587 movie theaters on its 2001 release, 11 of them showing them digitally, made possible by the THX Division of Lucasfilm. This was the first time that DreamWorks had shown one of its movies digitally. The film earned $11,573,015 on its first day and $42,347,760 on its opening weekend, topping the box office for the weekend and averaging $11,805 from 3,587 theaters. In its second weekend, due to the Memorial Day Weekend holiday, the film gained 0.3 percent to $42,481,425 and $55,215,620 over the four-day weekend, resulting in an overall 30 percent gain. Despite this, the film finished in second place behind Pearl Harbor and had an average of $15,240 from expanding to 3,623 sites. In its third weekend, the film retreated 34 percent to $28,172,869 for a $7,695 average from expanding to 3,661 theaters. The film closed on December 6, 2001, after grossing $267,665,011 domestically along with $216,744,207 overseas for a worldwide total of $484,409,218. Produced on a $60 million budget, the film was a huge box office smash and is the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2001 behind Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Monsters Inc.

Shrek became the highest-grossing animated movie ever to be released in Australia, passing the mark set by The Lion King in 1994. In the United Kingdom, Shrek regained the top spot at the British box office after being beaten out the previous week by Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, earning a $20.3 million since its opening in the UK.

Accolades

At the 74th Academy Awards, Shrek won the first ever Academy Award For Best Animated Feature, beating Monsters, Inc. and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Prince Charming? So last millennium. This decade, fairy-tale fans — and Princess Fiona — fell for a fat and flatulent Ogre. Now, that's progress."

Shrek was also nominated for 6 BAFTA Award, including the BAFTA Award for Best Film. Eddie Murphy became the first actor to ever receive a BAFTA nomination for a voice-over performance. The film was also nominated for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Film Music, and won the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Shrek was nominated for a dozen Annie Awards from ASIFA-Hollywood, and won eight Annies including Best Animated Feature and Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production.

In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"; the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community Shrek was acknowledged as the eighth best film in the animated genre, and the only non-Disney·Pixar film on the top ten. It is also third on Bravo's 100 funniest films. 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. the Extra-Terrestrial. In 2005, Shrek came sixth in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Cartoons poll behind The Simpsons, Tom and Jerry, South Park, Toy Story and Family Guy. In November 2009, the character, Lord Farquaad, was listed #14 in IGN UK's "Top 15 Fantasy Villains".

American Film Institute recognition:

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
  • Shrek - Nominated Hero
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • I'm a Believer - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - #8 Animated film

Festivals

The film was entered into the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, and was the first animated film since Disney's Peter Pan (1953) to receive that honour.

Influence

Previous films and TV shows, such as Fractured Fairy Tales and The Princess Bride, have parodied the traditional fairy tale. However, Shrek itself 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 elements can be seen in films like Ice Age: The Meltdown, Robots, and Chicken Little. It also inspired a number of computer animated films which also spoofed fairy tales, or other related story genres, often including adult-oriented humor, most of which were not nearly as successful as Shrek, such as Happily N'Ever After, Doogal, Igor, and Hoodwinked!.

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD on November 2, 2001. Both releases included Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party!, a 3-minute musical short film, that takes up right after the Shrek's ending, with film's characters performing a medley of modern pop songs.

Shrek was released to video on Friday, the same day that Pixar's Monsters, Inc. hit theaters. Since videos were traditionally released on Tuesdays, Disney's executives didn't received that well, saying "that the move seemed like an underhanded attempt to siphon off some of their film's steam". DreamWorks responded that "it simply shifted the release to a Friday to make it more of an event and predicted that it and other studios would do so more frequently with important films." Monsters, Inc. earned that weekend more than $62 million, breaking the record for an animated film, while the Shrek's video release made more than $100 million, and eventually became the biggest selling DVD of all time with over 5.5 million sales.

A 3D version of the film was released on Blu-ray 3D on December 1, 2010, along with its sequels.

Other media

Video games

Several video game adaptations of the film have been published on various game console platforms.

• Shrek (2001)
• Shrek: Hassle at the Castle (2002)
• Shrek: Extra Large (2002)
• Shrek: Super Party (2002)
• Shrek SuperSlam (2005)

Shrek was also included as a bonus unlockable character in the video game Tony Hawk's Underground 2. (2004)

Comic books

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

Musical

Main article: Shrek the Musical

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. 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. A North American Tour opened July 25, 2010, in Chicago. 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

Main article: Shrek (franchise)

Shrek had three sequels including Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After. Although Shrek 2 received similar acclaim from critics, the last two movies did not receive as much acclaim, but were still box office hits. There were also two holiday specials called Shrek the Halls and Scared Shrekless and a spin-off called Puss in Boots.

External links

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• Official website
• Shrek at IMDb
• Shrek at Rotten Tomatoes
• Shrek at Metacritic
• Shrek at Box Office Mojo
• Tom Hester - Shrek Character Designer