Movies - Shrek

	Movies - Shrek

Shrek is a computer-animated movie adaptation of William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture-book of the same name. It was directed by New Zealander Andrew Adamson and animated by DreamWorks Animation SKG in May 2001. It was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a category introduced in 2002. It was released on DVD on November 2 2001.

The name Shrek is taken from the Yiddish word שרעק (pronounced Shreck) meaning 'fear, terror' and the German "Schreck" with the same meaning.

The film features the voices of Mike Myers as a large green ogre named Shrek, Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona, Eddie Murphy as a talkative donkey named Donkey, and John Lithgow as the vain Lord Farquaad.

The voice of Shrek was originally recorded by Chris Farley. After his death, Mike Myers was brought on to replace him. After Myers had completed providing the voice for the character and the movie was well into production, he asked to be allowed to re-record all of his lines in a Scottish accent similar to the one his mother used when she told him bedtime stories. Curiously, Myers had also employed this character voicing for a skit during his Saturday Night Live tenure, and also for the character Stuart MacKenzie in the motion picture So I Married an Axe Murderer.

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, 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.

Plot

The story tells how the ogre Shrek is forced by Lord Farquaad to rescue Princess Fiona from a lovestruck dragon for Farquaad to marry. Along the way, Shrek befriends a talking Donkey, and falls in love with Fiona.

Shrek lives a quiet and lonely life in his small swamp, until his peace is disturbed by the arrival of a host of "fairytale creatures", who were exiled by the nearby dominion of Duloc by its ruler, the vain (and exceedingly short) Lord Farquaad. One creature who escaped Faarquad's purge is Donkey, an extremely talkative donkey; he and Shrek travel together to Duloc in an attempt to rid Shrek's swamp of the intruders. After defeating many of Duloc's knights in a tournament, Shrek and Farquaad reach a bargain wherein Farquaad agrees to remove the creatures if Shrek rescues and brings to him Princess Fiona, a princess who is imprisoned in a castle guarded by a dragon, awaiting the knight who will rescue her. Only if Farquaad is able to marry a princess may he assume the title of King.

After many (mis)adventures in which Shrek is consistently irritated by the friendly but overly talkative Donkey, Shrek and Donkey manage to reach the dragon's castle (the dragon is a red-violet dragon with a pair of fin like ears, white spiked cheeks, and enormous folding wings). Donkey is trapped by Dragon on a bridge, who reveals herself to be a female (note her makeup, green slitted eyes and toothed smile); in an attempt to prevent himself from being eaten, Donkey sweet-talks Dragon (complimates her hygiene), causing her to fall in love with him and carrying him in her teeth (as he turns around and calls for Shrek) off to the throne room. Meanwhile, Shrek rescues Fiona from Dragon's keep. As he opens the door to the throne room, he sees Dragon with Donkey wrapped up in her beautiful long tail and seducing him in her coils, being a romantic dragon (one of the most romantic scenes). Just as Dragon is about to kiss him, Shrek knocks him out of her coils, and she kisses his rump instead; in a rage, she chases them through the castle. Shrek, Fiona and Donkey then escape from Dragon's lair. As they make their escape and Dragon gets caught on a chain, she cries after them.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Shrek ]

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Movies - Shrek

Plot

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