Greatest Film Scenes
and Moments



Shrek (2001)

 



Written by Tim Dirks

Title Screen
Movie Title/Year and Scene Descriptions
Screenshots

Shrek (2001)

In the first winner of the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar, a biting satire of classic Disney animated films by DreamWorks/PDI's revisionist fairy tale:

  • the opening Sleeping Beauty (1959) reference (through the use of a stylized storybook), and many other fairy tale references and one-liners
  • the character of surly, sarcastic, wisecracking, Scottish-accented green, smelly but affable ogre Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) in his swamp home, bathing in mud, brushing his teeth with caterpillar goo, and using the outhouse
  • Shrek's love/hate relationship with the faithful, talkative, wisecracking, annoying tag-a-long sidekick Donkey (voice of Eddie Murphy)
  • Shrek's rescue of the pouty, fiercely independent Princess Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz) on a mission to save her from the Dragon for the nefarious, narcissistic midget Lord Farquaad (voice of John Lithgow) - who had banished fairy tale characters into exile, and tortured the Gingerbread Man on a cookie sheet
  • Donkey's romance with the female fire-breathing Dragon
  • the scene of a mechanical Information Booth featuring a spoof of Disney's sugary It's a Small World (It's a Perfect Place) with vaguely sarcastic wooden puppets, tiny welcome dolls
  • the unlikely romance between Shrek and Fiona, who initially rejected him for being an ogre
  • the revelation of the plot twist: Fiona was a maiden by day, and an ogre by night
  • the climax in which the forced marriage between Fiona and Farquaad was interrupted by the dragon, and Donkey's quip after Lord Farquaad was eaten by the dragon: "Celebrity marriages! They never last, do they?"
  • the sharing of their true love's first kiss when Shrek kissed Fiona to free her from her enchantment -- resulting in a glorious explosion of light, shattering the church's stained glass windows
  • in another twist, Fiona remained an ogre permanently -- love's true form
  • also the celebratory party finale in which Donkey and the other fairy tale characters sang The Monkees' "I'm a Believer"








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