Shrek is a 2001 American animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book Shrek! by William Steig. It is the first installment in the Shrek film series, and stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow. In the film, an embittered ogre named Shrek (voiced by Myers) finds his home in the swamp overrun by fairy tale creatures banished by the obsessive ruler Lord Farquaad (Lithgow). With the help of Donkey (Murphy), Shrek makes a pact with Farquaad to rescue Princess Fiona (Diaz) in exchange for regaining control of his swamp.
After purchasing the rights to Steig's book in 1991, Steven Spielberg sought to produce a traditionally-animated film adaptation, but John H. Williams convinced him to bring the project to the newly-founded DreamWorks Pictures in 1994. Jeffrey Katzenberg, along with Williams and Aron Warner, began development on Shrek in 1995, immediately following the studio's purchase of the rights from Spielberg. Chris Farley was cast as the voice of the title character, recording most of the required dialogue, but died in 1997 before his work on the film was completed; Myers was hired to replace him, and gave Shrek his characteristic Scottish accent. The film was originally intended to be created using motion capture, but after poor test results, the studio hired Pacific Data Images to complete the final computer animation. Shrek parodies other fairy tale adaptations, primarily Disney animated films.
Shrek premiered at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood on April 22, 2001, and was later shown at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or, making it the first animated film since The Missing Link (1980) to be chosen as main competition at the festival. The film was theatrically released by DreamWorks Pictures in the United States on May 18, 2001, and grossed $494.3 million worldwide, becoming the fourth highest-grossing film of 2001. It received widespread acclaim from critics for its animation, voice performances, soundtrack, writing and humor, which they noted catered to both children and adults. Shrek was named one of the top ten films of 2001 by the American Film Institute, the first animated film to be listed, and won numerous accolades including the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
The film's major success helped establish DreamWorks Animation as a competitor to Pixar in feature film computer animation. Three sequels have been released—Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), and Shrek Forever After (2010)—along with other productions, notably a fourth sequel—Shrek 5 (2027)—in development. It is also regarded as one of the most influential animated films of the 2000s and one of the greatest animated films ever made. In 2020, the United States Library of Congress selected Shrek for preservation in the National Film Registry, becoming the first animated film of the 21st century to be preserved.
Plot
Shrek is an asocial ogre who loves the solitude of his swamp and enjoys fending off mobs and intruders. One day, his life is interrupted after he inadvertently saves a talkative Donkey from some soldiers, prompting Donkey to forcibly stay with him. Donkey is one of many fairy tale creatures that are being exiled by the dwarfish Lord Farquaad of Duloc to beautify his land. However, the creatures inadvertently end up in the swamp. Angered by the intrusion, Shrek resolves to visit Farquaad and demand that he move the creatures elsewhere, reluctantly allowing Donkey to accompany him as he is the only one who knows where Duloc is.
Meanwhile, Farquaad asks a magic mirror if he has the most perfect kingdom; the mirror tells him he is not a king and would need to marry a princess in order to become one. Presented with three options, Farquaad chooses Princess Fiona, who is imprisoned in a castle guarded by a Dragon. Unwilling to rescue Fiona himself, he organizes a tournament, the winner receiving the "privilege" of rescuing her on his behalf. When Farquaad sees Shrek and Donkey in his castle, he announces that whoever kills Shrek will win the tournament; however, Shrek and Donkey defeat Farquaad's knights with relative ease. Amused, Farquaad proclaims Shrek his champion, and agrees to relocate the fairy tale creatures in exchange for Shrek rescuing Fiona.
Shrek and Donkey travel to the castle and Dragon attacks them. Shrek locates Fiona, who is bewildered by his lack of romanticism; they flee the castle after rescuing Donkey from Dragon, who is revealed to be female and has fallen in love with him. When Shrek removes his helmet and reveals he is an ogre, Fiona stubbornly refuses to go to Duloc, demanding Farquaad arrive in person to save her, but Shrek carries Fiona against her will. That night, after setting up camp, and with Fiona alone in a cave, Shrek admits to Donkey that he is asocial because he grew frustrated over being constantly judged for his appearance. Fiona overhears this and becomes kinder to Shrek. The next day, Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men harass the three, but Fiona easily defeats them in physical combat. Shrek becomes impressed with Fiona, and they begin to fall in love.
When the trio nears Duloc, Fiona takes shelter in a windmill for the evening. Donkey enters alone and discovers that Fiona has transformed into an ogress. She explains that during her childhood, she was cursed to transform into an ogress at night but retain her human form during the day. She tells Donkey that only "true love's first kiss" will break the spell and allow her to "take love's true form". Meanwhile, Shrek is about to confess his feelings to Fiona, when he overhears Fiona referring to herself as an "ugly beast". Thinking that she is talking about him, Shrek angrily leaves and returns the next morning with Farquaad. Confused and hurt by Shrek's abrupt hostility, Fiona reluctantly accepts Farquaad's marriage proposal and requests that they be married that day before sunset. Shrek dismisses Donkey and returns to his now vacated swamp, but quickly realizes that he feels miserable without Fiona. Donkey returns and lectures Shrek for jumping to conclusions and reveals that Fiona was not referring to him as an "ugly beast", although Donkey does not reveal Fiona's secret to Shrek. The two reconcile, and Donkey summons Dragon, whom he had reunited with earlier in the day. Shrek and Donkey ride Dragon to Duloc so they can stop the wedding.
Shrek interrupts the ceremony just before it ends and expresses his feelings for Fiona. The sun sets, and Fiona transforms into an ogress in front of everyone. Disgusted and enraged, Farquaad orders Shrek to be executed and Fiona re-imprisoned, while he declares himself king. The two are saved when Dragon, ridden by Donkey, breaks in and devours Farquaad. Shrek and Fiona kiss, and Fiona's curse is broken; though she remains an ogress, Shrek reassures her that he still finds her beautiful. They marry in the swamp with the fairy tale creatures in attendance, then leave for their honeymoon.
Voice cast
Production
Development
At the time DreamWorks Pictures was founded, producer John H. Williams got hold of the book from his children and when he brought it to DreamWorks, it caught CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg's attention and the studio decided to make it into a film. Recounting the inspiration of making the film, Williams said: After buying the rights to the film, Katzenberg quickly put it in active development in November 1995. Steven Spielberg had thought about making a traditionally animated film adaptation of the book before, when he bought the rights to the book in 1991 before the founding of DreamWorks, where Bill Murray would play Shrek and Steve Martin would play Donkey. In the beginning of production, co-director Andrew Adamson refused to be intimidated by Katzenberg and had an argument with him about how much the film should appeal to adults. Katzenberg wanted both audiences, but he deemed some of Adamson's ideas, such as adding sexual jokes and Guns N' Roses music to the soundtrack, to be too outrageous. Adamson and Kelly Asbury joined in 1997 to co-direct the film. However, Asbury left a year later for work on the 2002 film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and was replaced with story artist Vicky Jenson, although Asbury would later co-direct the sequel. Both Adamson and Jenson decided to work on the film in half, so the crew could at least know whom to go to with specific detail questions about the film's sequences; "We both ended up doing a lot of everything," Adamson said. "We're both kinda control freaks, and we both wanted to do everything."
Early development of the film from 1996–1997 involved concept art designed in Photoshop, which depicted a significantly different aesthetic and setting for the titular character. Initial iterations placed Shrek's home within a garbage dump near a human settlement, referenced as Wart Creek. Furthermore, early conceptual drafts explored a background where Shrek resided with his parents and featured habits such as storing decaying fish in his bedroom. Donkey was modeled after Pericles (born 1994; died 2025; also known as Perry), a real miniature donkey from Barron Park in 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 her. He had done over 100 sculptures of Fiona before the directors chose 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, as inspiration for Shrek's swamp. Planned characters not used in the film include Goldilocks and Sleeping Beauty.
Writing The screenplay was written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the picture book by William Steig. The way Steig upended fairy tale conventions in the original book by making an ogre the protagonist formed the basis for the movie being a parody of fairy tales. Elliott and Rossio began writing for the film in 1997 and worked on the project for two years. Elliott and Rossio were also credited as co-producers for the film. They centered the four main characters' personalities on maladaptive responses to self-esteem issues; as the DreamWorks story crew developed the plot, their personalities remained the same, ensuring the "thematic unity" of the story was preserved. When the studio leaned towards Shrek being a kind person shunned for being an ogre, they pushed for Shrek to remain a "misanthropic anti-hero."
Casting Nicolas Cage was initially offered the role of Shrek but turned it down because he did not want to look like an ogre. In 2013, Cage explained: "When you're drawn, in a way it says more about how children are going to see you than anything else, and I so care about that." Alternately, Ian Bagg auditioned for the role but was rejected.Ian Bragg interview clip