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Shrek

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For other uses, see Shrek (disambiguation).
For the entire film series, see Shrek (film series).
Shrek
Offical poster for Academy Award winning Shrek
Directed byAndrew Adamson
Vicky Jenson
Written byScreenplay:
Ted Elliott
Terry Rossio
Joe Stillman
Roger S. H. Schulman
Book:
William Steig
Produced byJeffrey Katzenberg
Aron Warner
John H. Williams
StarringMike Myers
Eddie Murphy
Cameron Diaz
John Lithgow
Music byHarry Gregson-Williams
John Powell
Distributed byUSA:
DreamWorks SKG
Non-USA Theatrical:
United International Pictures
DVD/Video:
Universal Pictures (through DreamWorks label until 2006)
Paramount Pictures (2006–)
Television Distribution:
CBS Television Distribution (2006–)
Release date
May 18, 2001
Running time
90 minutes (1:29:59)
CountriesUnited States, Canada
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUS $60 million
Box officeWorldwide
$484,409,218[1]

Shrek is a 2001 computer-animated American comedy film, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and starring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!, the film was produced by DreamWorks Animation. Shrek was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a category introduced in 2001. It was released on DVD and VHS on November 7 2001.

The film stars Myers as a large, strong, solitude-loving, intimidating ogre named Shrek (from the German word "schreck" meaning "terror" or Yiddish word שרעק, meaning "fear"), Diaz as the beautiful but very down-to-earth and feisty Princess Fiona, Murphy as a talkative donkey named Donkey, and 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, Eels, 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.

Shrek was ranked second in a Channel 4 poll of the 100 greatest family films, losing out on the top spot to E.T..[2]

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 8th best film in the animated genre, and the only non-Disney-Pixar film on the top 10.[3][4]

Plot

Shrek, an ogre that seeks to live peacefully in his swamp, finds his solitude disrupted when numerous fairy tale beings, including the talkative Donkey, are forced to the swamp by order of Lord Farquaad. Shrek decides to travel the country to see Farquaad to try to regain his privacy but Donkey tags along. The two make it to Farquaad's palace in Dulac and come across a knight tournament to decide who will rescue Princess Fiona from a castle surrounded by lava and protected by a fire-breathing dragon, so that Farquaad may marry her. Shrek manages to best the other knights, and Farquaad agrees to nullify his order if Shrek goes on to rescue Fiona, a deal that Shrek agrees to.

Shrek and Donkey travel to the castle and split up to find Fiona. Donkey manages to encounter the dragon, sweet-talking the beast to save himself when he finds out the dragon is female, and she takes a liking to Donkey, taking him back to her chambers. When Shrek finds Fiona, she is appalled that her rescuer is an orge, making Shrek drag her off by force. As they are leaving, Shrek manages to save Donkey, caught in the dragon's tender love, and causing the dragon to become irate, chasing Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey out of the castle but unable to follow. 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 into love. However, at night, Fiona refuses to camp with them, taking shelter in a nearby cave until morning. The next night, Fiona takes shelter in a nearby windmill, angering Shrek who walks off, believing she cannot accept his appearance. When Donkey hears strange noises coming from the windmill, he finds that Fiona has turned into an ogre. Fiona explains that she was cursed as a child and turns into an ogre 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. Fiona promises Donkey to not tell Shrek, vowing to do it herself, but when the next morning comes, Lord Farquaad has arrived, led by Shrek, and he returns with her to the castle, while Shrek returns to the now-vacated swamp.

Shrek finds that despite his privacy he is miserable, and misses Fiona. Donkey shows up to tell him that Fiona will be getting married shortly, urging Shrek into action to gain Fiona's true love. They are able to travel to the fortress quickly thanks to Dragon, who escaped her confines and followed Donkey. They interrupt the wedding before Farquaad can kiss Fiona, but not before the sun sets, causing Fiona to turn into an ogre in front of everyone. Farquaad, furious over the change, orders Shrek and Fiona killed, but Dragon gobbles up Farquaad whole, causing the other knights to flee. Shrek and Fiona admit their love for each other and share a kiss; Fiona is bathed in light as her curse is broken, but leaving her as an ogre, a form she was not expecting but that Shrek finds beautiful. The two get married and depart on their honeymoon, while Donkey and Dragon continue their relationship.

Production

Robin Williams, who had worked for Jeffrey Katzenberg before in Aladdin and had had a bitter falling out with him and The Walt Disney Company over marketing agreements, has 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.[5]

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 re-record all of his lines in a Scottish accent similar to the one his mother had used when she told him bedtime stories. Myers had also employed this character voice for a Saturday Night Live skit, and also for the characters Stuart MacKenzie in the motion picture So I Married an Axe Murderer, and Fat Bastard in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Austin Powers in Goldmember.

Donkey was modelled after Pericles, a real miniature donkey from Barron Park, Palo Alto, California.[6]

Cast

Dragon is not a speaking role and is thus uncredited

Soundtrack

Main article: List of Shrek songs

Two soundtracks were released for the original motion picture:

Influences

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 2, Robots, and Chicken Little. It also inspired a number of CG-animated films which also spoofed fairy tales, or other related story genres, often including adult-oriented humor, most of which weren't nearly as successful as Shrek, such as Happily N'Ever After, Doogal, Igor, and Hoodwinked!.[7]

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

Broadway

Main article: Shrek (musical)

A musical version of Shrek, with music by Jeanine Tesori and a book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, opened on Broadway at The Broadway Theatre beginning previews on November 9, 2008 and opening December 14, 2008. It stars Brian d'Arcy James in the title role and Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona. The musical had a tryout in Seattle, Washington in August and September 2008.

See also

References

  1. ^ Box Office Mojo: Shrek
  2. ^ 100 Greatest Family Films
  3. ^ American Film Institute (2008-06-17). "AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 10 Classic Genres". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
  4. ^ "Top Ten Animation". www.afi.com. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  5. ^ Robin Williams (I) - News
  6. ^ Barron Park Donkeys
  7. ^ "Is Shrek Bad for Kids?" Time Magazine May 10, 2007
  8. ^ Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Shrek TPB
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