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Shrek facts for kids
| Shrek | |
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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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| Narrated by | Mike Myers |
| Starring | Mike Myers Eddie Murphy Cameron Diaz John Lithgow Vincent Cassel Jennifer Seguin David Ogden Stiers |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Editing by | Sim Evan-Jones |
| Studio | DreamWorks Animation Pacific Data Images |
| Distributed by | DreamWorks Pictures (through Universal Pictures) |
| Release date(s) | May 18, 2001 |
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60 million |
| Money made | $484,409,218 |
Shrek is an animated movie based upon William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book called Shrek!.
The film parodies other films adapted from fairy tale storylines, primarily aimed at animated Disney films. In the story, Shrek (Myers) finds his swamp overrun by fairy tale creatures who have been banished by a corrupt Lord Farquaad (Lithgow) aspiring to be king. Shrek makes a deal with Farquaad to regain control of his swamp in return for rescuing Princess Fiona (Diaz), whom he intends to marry. With the help of Donkey (Murphy), Shrek embarks on his quest but soon falls in love with the princess, who is hiding a secret that will change his life forever.
It was the first movie to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a category introduced in 2001 . It was released on DVD on November 2, 2001. There have also been three sequels (follow-ups) of Shrek, called Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After.
Story
Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) is a green ogre who always loves living peacefully in the swamp. However, he finds many fairytale creatures disrupting his privacy. This is because of the order by Lord Farquaad (voiced by John Lithgow). Shrek goes along with Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) to ask Farquaad to give his privacy back. Farquaad wants to be King by marrying Princess Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz) to be Queen.
Farquaad orders Shrek and Donkey to travel for Fiona and bring her to Farquaad. After trying to get Fiona from the castle, Fiona is happy that she is rescued, but soon becomes sad that the knight is an ogre. Shrek forces Fiona to travel with him and Donkey, 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 keeps on asking Shrek why he is doing this, Shrek sadly tells him that everyone judges him before they know him; so he thinks he is better off alone, despite Donkey's saying that that he did not immediately judge him when they first met.
The next night, Donkey finds Fiona in a windmill. Donkey finds that Fiona has turned into an ogress. She tells Donkey that she was cursed as a child and turns into a ogress every night. This is why she was locked away in the castle. She also says 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.
After finding out that despite is privacy that he misses Fiona very much, Donkey gets mad at Shrek, and Shrek tells Donkey that he overheard their conversation. They both 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 eats 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 be[come] 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".
Cast
- 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
- Jennifer Seguin as Mowgli
- David Ogden Stiers as Baloo the Sloth Bear
- David Ogden Stiers, U Aung Ko, Frank Oz, John Lithgow & Christopher Knights as Monkeys
- U Aung Ko as King Louie
- Steve Coogan as Bagheera
- Elisa Gabrielli as Additional Voices
- Frank Oz 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