Shrek
| Shrek | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Andrew Adamson Vicky Jenson |
| Produced by | Jeffrey Katzenberg Aron Warner John H. Williams |
| Written by |
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| Starring | Mike Myers Eddie Murphy Cameron Diaz John Lithgow |
| Music by | Harry Gregson-Williams John Powell |
| Editing by | Sim Evan-Jones |
| Studio | DreamWorks Animation Pacific Data Images |
| Distributed by | DreamWorks Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 18, 2001 |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60 million |
| Gross revenue | $484,409,218[1] |
| Followed by | Shrek 2 |
Shrek is a 2001 American animated comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson and starring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely 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 VHS and DVD on November 2, 2001.
The film stars Mike Myers as a big, strong, solitude-loving, intimidating ogre named Shrek. Shrek also features Cameron Diaz as the beautiful but very down-to-earth and feisty Princess Fiona, Eddie Murphy as the talkative Donkey, and John Lithgow as the villain Lord Farquaad.
The film was commercially successful on release in 2001 and it helped establish DreamWorks as a prime competitor to Pixar in the field of feature film animation, particularly in computer animation. The film's success also made Dreamworks Animation create three sequels: Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, and Shrek Forever After. There was also a Christmas special called Shrek The Halls. Furthermore, Shrek was made the mascot for the company's animation productions. 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 popular music; the soundtrack includes music by Smash Mouth, Eels, Joan Jett, The Proclaimers, Jason Wade, The Baha Men, and John Cale (covering Leonard Cohen).
During 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 ten.[2][3] 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..[4]
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Plot
Shrek (Jack Welton), a 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 (Eddie Murphy), are forced into the swamp by order of the obsessive Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow).
Shrek leaves the swamp to ask 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 (Cameron Diaz). Farquaad chooses Fiona and silences the Mirror before he can mention "the little thing that happens at night".
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 she finds out that Shrek 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 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 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 ogre. Fiona explains 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. 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.
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 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 ogre 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 an ogre
- Eddie Murphy as Donkey
- Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
- John Lithgow as Lord Farquaad
- Conrad Vernon as Gingerbread Man
- Chris Miller as Geppetto/ Magic Mirror
- Cody Cameron as Pinocchio / The Three Little Pigs
- Michael Galasso as Peter Pan
- Christopher Knights and Simon J. Smith as Three Blind Mice
- Christopher Knights as Thelonius
- Aron Warner as Big Bad Wolf
- Jim Cummings as Captain of the Guards
- Jerome De Guzman as Blind Mouse
- Vincent Cassel as Monsieur Hood (a French rendition of Robin Hood)
- 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)
Dragon, Snow White, Cinderella, Pied Piper, The Three Bears and several other characters are not speaking roles and are thus uncredited
Production
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, 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 recorded at least half of the dialogue for the character, 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 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. Myers had also employed a Scottish accent for a Saturday Night Live skit, a sketch in Wayne's World 2 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 modeled after Pericles, a real miniature donkey from Barron Park, Palo Alto, California.[6]
Soundtrack
Reception
Critical reception
Shrek received generally positive reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 89% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 173 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.[7]
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."[8]
Box office
The film first made $11 million on its first day, and then $42,347,760 during an opening weekend, averaging $11,805 per theater, making it the highest-grossing film that week, beating The Mummy Returns on its third week with $20 million. The film stayed in cinemas for more than 29 weeks (roughly over 206 days), exceeding Shrek 2 at 21 weeks and Shrek the Third at 12 weeks. It made $267,665,011 in the United States and Canada as well as $216,744,207 internationally, for a worldwide total of $484 million, making it the second-highest-grossing animated film of the year behind Monsters, Inc. It 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.
Other
The film was entered into the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.[9]
Awards
At the Oscars, 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."[10] Eddie Murphy became the first actor to ever receive a BAFTA nomination for a voice-over performance.
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 2, 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 weren't nearly as successful as Shrek, such as Happily N'Ever After, Doogal, Igor, and Hoodwinked!.[11]
Other media
Video games
Several video game adaptations of Shrek have been published on various game console platforms.
- Shrek
- Shrek 2
- Shrek Smash n' Crash Racing
- Shrek: Hassle at the Castle
- Shrek Super Slam
- Shrek: Extra Large
- Shrek: Super Party
- Shrek the Third
- Shrek n' Roll
- Shrek Forever After
Comic books
In 2003, Dark Horse Comics released a Shrek three-issue mini-series comic book adaptation, which was collected into a trade paperback.[12]
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. The musical received many Tony Award nominations and won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Costume Design. A North American Tour opened July 25, 2010, in Chicago. A London production is scheduled to open in the West End on June 7, 2011.[13]
See also
- Shrek (series)
- List of animated feature-length films
- List of computer-animated films
- List of fairy tale characters in Shrek
References
- ↑ "Shrek". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=shrek.htm.
- ↑ American Film Institute (June 17, 2008). "AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 10 Classic Genres". ComingSoon.net. http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=46072. Retrieved August 18, 2008.
- ↑ "Top Ten Animation". www.afi.com. http://www.afi.com/10top10/animation.html. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
- ↑ "100 Greatest Family Films". http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/microsites/F/greatest-familymovies/results/5-1.html.
- ↑ "Robin Williams (I) - News". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000245/news.
- ↑ "Barron Park Donkeys". http://www.rosettastoneinc.com/california/donkeys/index.html.
- ↑ "Shrek (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shrek/. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
- ↑ Ebert, Roger (May 18, 2001). "Shrek review". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on July 10, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5r7R3CVSd. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
- ↑ "Festival de Cannes: Shrek". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/1100045/year/2001.html. Retrieved October 18, 2009.
- ↑ Geier, Thom; Jensen, Jeff; Jordan, Tina; Lyons, Margaret; Markovitz, Adam; Nashawaty, Chris; Pastorek, Whitney; Rice, Lynette; Rottenberg, Josh; Schwartz, Missy; Slezak, Michael; Snierson, Dan; Stack, Tim; Stroup, Kate; Tucker, Ken; Vary, Adam B.; Vozick-Levinson, Simon; Ward, Kate (December 11, 2009), "THE 100 Greatest MOVIES, TV SHOWS, ALBUMS, BOOKS, CHARACTERS, SCENES, EPISODES, SONGS, DRESSES, MUSIC VIDEOS, AND TRENDS THAT ENTERTAINED US OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS". Entertainment Weekly. (1079/1080):74-84
- ↑ "Is Shrek Bad for Kids?". Time Magazine. May 10, 2007. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1619573,00.html.
- ↑ "Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Shrek TPB". http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=12-541.
- ↑ Shrek the Musical to Open at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in May 2011 playbill.com
External links
- Official website
- Shrek at the Internet Movie Database
- Shrek at Rotten Tomatoes
- Shrek at Metacritic
- Shrek at Box Office Mojo
- Tom Hester - Shrek Character Designer
- Shrek Rendering Statistics
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