Embedded with wit and wisdom, this quirky fairytale follows the trials and triumphs in the life of Shrek, a big ogre who lives alone in the swamp, feared by all the people in the land of Duloc.
When Lord Farquaad, the ruler of Duloc, exiles all the fairy-tale beings to the woods, Shrek loses his peaceful life and his home becomes a refugee camp. So he sets out to find Lord Farquaad and convince him to take the fairy-tale beings back where they belong, and leave him alone.
Lord Farquaad accepts, under one condition. Shrek must first go and find the beautiful young princess Fiona, who will become Farquaad's bride. So the big Ogre begins his quest, along with his new-found donkey friend. Will he succeed in finding and rescuing Princess Fiona? How will meeting her impact his life?
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Mike Myers
Crew: Andrew Adamson (Director), Vicky Jenson (Director), Harry Gregson-Williams (Music Director), John Powell (Music Director)
Rating: PG (Australia)
Genres: Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romantic Comedy
Release Dates: 18 May 2001 (India)
Did you know? Shrek's outhouse has a crescent moon carved into the door, just like the DreamWorks logo. Read More
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Direction
Director
Music
Music Director
Editorial
Editor
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
1.78:1
Stereoscopy:
No
Movie Connection(s):
Dubbed into: Shrek (Latin American Spanish)
Goofs:
Revealing Mistakes
When donkey first meets Shrek, when Shrek confronts the knights, the shadows of the all people in the scene do not fall the same way, Shrek's shadow is casting more forward onto the leader knight, whereas the knight's shadows are off to their left.
Revealing Mistakes
When Shrek and Donkey visit the Mini-Theatre in DU-LOC it takes a photo of them. After taking the photo, Donkey turns his head little. But in the next shot, the head is at same pose as in the picture.
Revealing Mistakes
During the campfire scene, with the shot that has Shrek looking at the camera, his left eye goes through the left eyelids.
Miscellaneous
Shrek makes jokes about Lord Farquaad's height even though he just learned of Farquaad's existence, and never saw him anywhere before except on a balcony. However, Donkey could have heard about Farquaad's height before, and told Shrek about it during their quest.
Miscellaneous
Near the end of the movie, when Shrek and Donkey are rushing to make the wedding, Shrek climbs up the chain to get on Dragon. Previously, it has been assumed that Dragon then flies off, but if you look closely, Dragon lifts Donkey onto her back with her paw, and Donkey is present at all times.
Miscellaneous
The Three Blind Mice are turned into horses to pull the coach after the wedding reception, yet they are seen moments later dancing on the organ keys. A closer look reveals that there was a passage of time (perhaps a day) between these two shots.
Miscellaneous
As far as we know, Fiona has spent her entire life alone in the tower, so she should have no knowledge of the outside world. Yet as her encounters with the songbird and Robin Hood demonstrate, she is more than capable of taking care of herself. However, it is revealed in Shrek 2 that she's spent at least a few years of her life outside the tower (from Fiona's diary), which might be the time when she learned her skills. Another theory is that she could have been practicing in her room in the tower.
Errors in Geography
The sun sets in different directions with respect to the same view of Lord Farquaad's castle.
Continuity
As Shrek and Donkey are leaving we see them walk through sunflowers before the onions and cabbages. Later as they are walking back, the sunflowers are farther away from the castle than any other plant.
Continuity
When Donkey passes out (after the arrow incident) you see some dry leaves drifting up from the floor. However, in the next, wider shot there are no leaves to be seen.
Continuity
When Shrek and donkey arrive at Duloc, Shrek scares the parking valet who then proceeds to run back and forth through the roped queuing area. When seen from above, he has 4 more rows to run, but when seen from behind, once he runs those four rows, he still has two more rows to run.
Continuity
In the last two shots of the scene in which Fiona takes out Hood and his men, the swing that the Friar was in is missing from the background.
Continuity
When Lord Farquaad finds Shrek, Donkey and Fiona after Donkey discovers Fiona's secret, he gives Shrek a scroll, claiming it's the deed to the swamp. Later, when he leaves with Fiona, the scroll is nowhere to be seen.
Continuity
When Shrek sits to eat his meal he has a slug on the left-hand side of his plate facing towards him. When he is invaded by the Three Blind Mice the slug is suddenly facing the other way.
Continuity
When Fiona finishes off the rest of Robin Hood's Merry Men, she cries out a few seconds later that an arrow is stuck in Shrek's butt. However, if one looks in the few shots beforehand, there is none there.
Continuity
The chain around Dragon's neck is not there when Donkey summons her before the wedding scene, but it appears seconds later when Shrek gives Donkey a noogie. The chain disappears again after Shrek uses it to climb on to her.
Character Error
Lord Farquaad summons the Mirror to show him a princess he can marry (to become King of Duloc). The Mirror presents him with Cinderella, who is not a princess in her own right, so Lord Farquaad could not become King by marrying her. Of the choices named by the Mirror, only Snow White and Fiona are princesses.
When donkey first meets Shrek, when Shrek confronts the knights, the shadows of the all people in the scene do not fall the same way, Shrek's shadow is casting more forward onto the leader knight, whereas the knight's shadows are off to their left.
Revealing Mistakes
When Shrek and Donkey visit the Mini-Theatre in DU-LOC it takes a photo of them. After taking the photo, Donkey turns his head little. But in the next shot, the head is at same pose as in the picture.
Revealing Mistakes
During the campfire scene, with the shot that has Shrek looking at the camera, his left eye goes through the left eyelids.
Miscellaneous
Shrek makes jokes about Lord Farquaad's height even though he just learned of Farquaad's existence, and never saw him anywhere before except on a balcony. However, Donkey could have heard about Farquaad's height before, and told Shrek about it during their quest.
Miscellaneous
Near the end of the movie, when Shrek and Donkey are rushing to make the wedding, Shrek climbs up the chain to get on Dragon. Previously, it has been assumed that Dragon then flies off, but if you look closely, Dragon lifts Donkey onto her back with her paw, and Donkey is present at all times.
Miscellaneous
The Three Blind Mice are turned into horses to pull the coach after the wedding reception, yet they are seen moments later dancing on the organ keys. A closer look reveals that there was a passage of time (perhaps a day) between these two shots.
Miscellaneous
As far as we know, Fiona has spent her entire life alone in the tower, so she should have no knowledge of the outside world. Yet as her encounters with the songbird and Robin Hood demonstrate, she is more than capable of taking care of herself. However, it is revealed in Shrek 2 that she's spent at least a few years of her life outside the tower (from Fiona's diary), which might be the time when she learned her skills. Another theory is that she could have been practicing in her room in the tower.
Errors in Geography
The sun sets in different directions with respect to the same view of Lord Farquaad's castle.
Continuity
As Shrek and Donkey are leaving we see them walk through sunflowers before the onions and cabbages. Later as they are walking back, the sunflowers are farther away from the castle than any other plant.
Continuity
When Donkey passes out (after the arrow incident) you see some dry leaves drifting up from the floor. However, in the next, wider shot there are no leaves to be seen.
Continuity
When Shrek and donkey arrive at Duloc, Shrek scares the parking valet who then proceeds to run back and forth through the roped queuing area. When seen from above, he has 4 more rows to run, but when seen from behind, once he runs those four rows, he still has two more rows to run.
Continuity
In the last two shots of the scene in which Fiona takes out Hood and his men, the swing that the Friar was in is missing from the background.
Continuity
When Lord Farquaad finds Shrek, Donkey and Fiona after Donkey discovers Fiona's secret, he gives Shrek a scroll, claiming it's the deed to the swamp. Later, when he leaves with Fiona, the scroll is nowhere to be seen.
Continuity
When Shrek sits to eat his meal he has a slug on the left-hand side of his plate facing towards him. When he is invaded by the Three Blind Mice the slug is suddenly facing the other way.
Continuity
When Fiona finishes off the rest of Robin Hood's Merry Men, she cries out a few seconds later that an arrow is stuck in Shrek's butt. However, if one looks in the few shots beforehand, there is none there.
Continuity
The chain around Dragon's neck is not there when Donkey summons her before the wedding scene, but it appears seconds later when Shrek gives Donkey a noogie. The chain disappears again after Shrek uses it to climb on to her.
Character Error
Lord Farquaad summons the Mirror to show him a princess he can marry (to become King of Duloc). The Mirror presents him with Cinderella, who is not a princess in her own right, so Lord Farquaad could not become King by marrying her. Of the choices named by the Mirror, only Snow White and Fiona are princesses.
Trivia:
Although Fiona's appearance was based off of Cameron Diaz, her ogre form and more specifically her facial features were based on a Dreamworks employee at the time by the name of Fiona who also had long red hair.
The principal actors of this movie never met each other. All read their parts separately, with a reader feeding them the lines. John Lithgow later admitted that, while he enjoyed playing Lord Farquaad, he was a little disappointed that he never actually worked directly with Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, or Eddie Murphy.
Cameron Diaz, having undergone Kung Fu training during the making of Charlie's Angels (2000), became very physical when recording her kung fu moves for Fiona's fight with Robin Hood and his Merry Men, and at times even broke out into Cantonese.
The effects department actually took mud showers to study how to realistically portray mud in the film.
When the fairytale creatures arrive at Shrek's swamp, you can see Papa Bear comforting Baby Bear at a fire... later in Lord Farquaad's castle, as he watches Fiona on the mirror you see Mama Bear as a rug, skinned and laying on the floor. Her ultimate fate, however, seems to be OK: she re-appears in the Video/DVD Karaoke scene, dancing with Papa and Baby Bears.
The art director of this movie, Douglas Rogers visited a magnolia plantation in Charleston, South Carolina to do research for look of Shrek's swamp. He ended up getting chased by an alligator.
Some viewers have complained that Robin Hood was English and should not speak with a French accent. It should be noted that in the film he is always referred to as "Monsieur Hood" and never as Robin.
The song "Welcome to Duloc", which is sung by the wooden dolls in the cabinet at the entrance to Duloc, is not only a parody of Disney's "It's a Small World", but is in the same key and has the same beats per minute (tempo) as the Disney song.
Prior to release, the movie was viewed by DreamWork's lawyers, since there were concerns that Disney would sue over the movie's not-so-subtle satirical references to the company's films and theme parks.
During a voice-over session, Cody Cameron suggested that Cameron Diaz marry him "... so you can become Cameron Cameron".
Because this film was so long in the making, DreamWorks were able to reference other films that weren't even made when the film was conceived. The Matrix (1999), for example.
There are 36 unique locations in Shrek - more than any other computer-animated film at the time.
This film was the first winner for the inaugural Best Animated Feature Film category of the Academy Awards 2001.
Shrek showering in mud and bathing in water were two of the hardest things to animate in the movie. Any scene involving fire also proved difficult.
Gingy, the Gingerbread Man, later became a mascot for Wal-Mart.
Shrek's outhouse has a crescent moon carved into the door, just like the DreamWorks logo.
Steven Spielberg was originally going to produce the film in 1991, when he was in charge of the studio Amblin Entertainment. Then, the film would have been in hand-drawn animation, and was going to star Bill Murray as Shrek and Steve Martin as Donkey.
Rumors abound that Lord Farquaad was based on former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
Mike Myers improvised numerous lines in the film, including when he addresses the guests at Fiona and Farquaard's wedding.
Computer animation production started on the project on 31 October 1996 and took more than four and a half years to complete.
Mike Myers was in New York when they realized that the line "What are you doing in my swamp!" had never been read. So producer Jeffrey Katzenberg flew to New York, and had Myers read the line in the back of a limo.
"Shrek" means "monster" in Yiddish, and is derived from the German word "Schreck", which means "terror" or "fright".
While still working on this film, Shrek 2 (2004) was already being made.
Eddie Murphy and Jeffrey Katzenberg have known each another since the beginning of their film careers. They promised that one day, they would do an animated film together, which culminated with this film. Katzenberg even recommended Murphy for the part of Donkey, and no-one else. He thinks its Murphy's best work.
While Donkey is a hooved animal, his movements are based on dogs and rabbits.
Mike Myers actually read opposite his (then) wife Robin Ruzan when recording his lines for the climactic love scene at the end of the movie.
Robin Williams was going to have a role in the film, but he suffered a bitter falling-out with Jeffrey Katzenberg when Katzenberg was still working at Disney, and refused to work with him.
Shrek became DreamWorks' mascot for the company's animated productions.
Although Antz (1998) was the first computer animated film produced by DreamWorks, it was Shrek (2001) that established the studio as a major name in the field, alongside its main competitor, Pixar.
A fairy godmother was originally included in the movie, but was cut out in the beginning of the movie's production. She eventually appeared in Shrek 2 (2004) and would form a lasting impact across the film series (this is the only film that doesn't feature her at all).
As of June 2008, this movie was ranked 8 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Animation", the only non-Disney or Pixar film on the list.
Everything in Farquaad's castle is designed to be angular (no curves or bends) to heighten his evil nature.
Shrek compares ogres to onions, saying they both have layers. This refers to the Henrik Ibsen play 'Peer Gynt', where the title character declares himself an onion for similar reasons.
In the original pitch, Shrek was to be a knight and rescue Donkey from a wicked witch. Shrek also varied from Scottish to Canadian and than back to Scottish again.
The song "I'm a Believer", which has become one of the series' theme songs, was chosen specifically because of the line "I thought love was only true in fairy tales."
Eddie Murphy's BAFTA nomination for his voice-over performance was the first of its kind.
Chris Farley was originally cast as Shrek and even recorded part of the dialogue. However, after his death, the role was given to fellow Saturday Night Live (1975) performer, Mike Myers. Shrek's "air quotes" in the film is an homage to Farley, whose character Bennett Brauer also used air quotes.
Shrek was adapted into a stage musical in 2008, and is still being performed around the world as of May 2013.
The film's music editor provided the sound of the dragon 'burping' up Farquaad's crown.
Over 1,000 fantasy characters invade Shrek's swamp at the beginning of the movie.
Shrek received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The song "All Star" by Smash Mouth, heard in the opening credits, was only placed in the film for test audiences until a new song could be found. But test audiences loved it, and the producers kept it in. When the producers decided to keep "All Star" they decided to let the band sing the last song in the movie, "I'm a Believer."
Cameron Diaz has said that Princess Fiona's romantic/practical nature was more like her sister rather than herself.
Mike Myers recorded Shrek's voice in a natural accentless voice before this film was test-screened. After watching it, he decided that the voice didn't sound right and had all of his lines re-recorded with a Scottish accent, based on the voice his mother used when reading him bedtime stories as a child.
The whole animation team from Antz (1998), DreamWorks' first animated movie, were recruited to work on Shrek.
Storyboard artist Cody Cameron provided the voices for Pinocchio and the 3 Little Pigs. In fact, several of the artists voiced the smaller characters they drew the scenes for.
An armor expert was brought in to show the animators a variety of armors that they could use as inspiration in the film. The animators tried on the armor, studied how they moved with the armor on, and also took turns flailing different swords.
Donkey was the easiest character to sketch since no-one knew what a talking donkey would look like. He looked very different in the early drafts, more akin to Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.
Donkey annoying Shrek with his singing was one of the first scenes to be filmed. The scene at Fiona's fortress was the second.
According to director, Andrew Adamson, Shrek's height varies between seven and eight feet depending on who you ask. He was 7 feet and since then he's grown in people's minds, and now he's usually referred to as 8 feet.
Donkey's appearance was based on Pericles ("Perry"), a miniature Donkey who lives in Barron Par, Palo Alto (California) - right in the neighborhood of the Pacific Data Images/DreamWorks animators.
This film marks Mike Myers' fifth performance with a Scottish accent, following Saturday Night Live (1975), Wayne's World 2 (1993), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), and as Fat Bastard in the last two Austin Powers movies.
Shrek was almost made in stop-motion animation, but early tests proved too costly and executives weren't pleased with the overall look and lack of facial expression in the main character. After live-action miniatures and motion-capture graphics also proved unsatisfactory, the studio went with computer-generated animation.
The scene where Princess Fiona burps was written after a recording session where Cameron Diaz burped after drinking Coca-Cola.
An additional scene was storyboarded but never filmed that revealed Lord Farquaad's plan for Duloc. He wanted to turn the entire kingdom into something like a gigantic shopping complex. Another scene planned and scrapped was Fiona getting Shrek and Donkey lost on the way back to Duloc.
The list of fairytale characters in this movie: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves; the Wicked Witch of the West (or the East); The Three Bears; Pinocchio and Geppetto; the 3 Little Pigs; Tinkerbell and Peter Pan; The Big Bad Wolf; The Pied Piper of Hamelin; The Gingerbread Man; Cinderella; Robin Hood and his Merry Men.
Donkey and Fiona are the only characters to refer to Shrek by name.
1,250 props and environments were created in the computer for this film.
This movie is loosely based on William Steig's fairytale picture book of the same name.
Early concept sketches of Shrek in the 1990s saw him living in a garbage dump near a human village called Wart Creek. Another version saw him living with his parents and keeping rotting fish in his bedroom.
The line "You're on your way to a smacked bottom." was improvised by Mike Myers after he got annoyed at one of the directors.
Gaming hosts Jim Lange and Jimmy Fallon recorded the voice of the Magic Mirror (Lange in particular hosted The Dating Game (1965), which the Mirror parodies). Eventually, however, the Mirror was voiced by storyboard artist Christopher Miller.
This movie was voted number 2 in channel 4's (UK) "Greatest Family Films"
Monsieur Hood's Merry Men perform to Riverdance: The Show (1995).
Eddie Murphy says the Shrek series is among his best works.
When the masked executioner, Thelonious, is singing, it is a direct reference to a "Stacker 2" commercial that the "WWF (World Wrestling Federation)" character Kane (Glenn Jacobs), who also wears a mask, appears singing karaoke.
The principal actors of this movie never met each other. All read their parts separately, with a reader feeding them the lines. John Lithgow later admitted that, while he enjoyed playing Lord Farquaad, he was a little disappointed that he never actually worked directly with Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, or Eddie Murphy.
Cameron Diaz, having undergone Kung Fu training during the making of Charlie's Angels (2000), became very physical when recording her kung fu moves for Fiona's fight with Robin Hood and his Merry Men, and at times even broke out into Cantonese.
The effects department actually took mud showers to study how to realistically portray mud in the film.
When the fairytale creatures arrive at Shrek's swamp, you can see Papa Bear comforting Baby Bear at a fire... later in Lord Farquaad's castle, as he watches Fiona on the mirror you see Mama Bear as a rug, skinned and laying on the floor. Her ultimate fate, however, seems to be OK: she re-appears in the Video/DVD Karaoke scene, dancing with Papa and Baby Bears.
The art director of this movie, Douglas Rogers visited a magnolia plantation in Charleston, South Carolina to do research for look of Shrek's swamp. He ended up getting chased by an alligator.
Some viewers have complained that Robin Hood was English and should not speak with a French accent. It should be noted that in the film he is always referred to as "Monsieur Hood" and never as Robin.
The song "Welcome to Duloc", which is sung by the wooden dolls in the cabinet at the entrance to Duloc, is not only a parody of Disney's "It's a Small World", but is in the same key and has the same beats per minute (tempo) as the Disney song.
Prior to release, the movie was viewed by DreamWork's lawyers, since there were concerns that Disney would sue over the movie's not-so-subtle satirical references to the company's films and theme parks.
During a voice-over session, Cody Cameron suggested that Cameron Diaz marry him "... so you can become Cameron Cameron".
Because this film was so long in the making, DreamWorks were able to reference other films that weren't even made when the film was conceived. The Matrix (1999), for example.
There are 36 unique locations in Shrek - more than any other computer-animated film at the time.
This film was the first winner for the inaugural Best Animated Feature Film category of the Academy Awards 2001.
Shrek showering in mud and bathing in water were two of the hardest things to animate in the movie. Any scene involving fire also proved difficult.
Gingy, the Gingerbread Man, later became a mascot for Wal-Mart.
Shrek's outhouse has a crescent moon carved into the door, just like the DreamWorks logo.
Steven Spielberg was originally going to produce the film in 1991, when he was in charge of the studio Amblin Entertainment. Then, the film would have been in hand-drawn animation, and was going to star Bill Murray as Shrek and Steve Martin as Donkey.
Rumors abound that Lord Farquaad was based on former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
Mike Myers improvised numerous lines in the film, including when he addresses the guests at Fiona and Farquaard's wedding.
Computer animation production started on the project on 31 October 1996 and took more than four and a half years to complete.
Mike Myers was in New York when they realized that the line "What are you doing in my swamp!" had never been read. So producer Jeffrey Katzenberg flew to New York, and had Myers read the line in the back of a limo.
"Shrek" means "monster" in Yiddish, and is derived from the German word "Schreck", which means "terror" or "fright".
While still working on this film, Shrek 2 (2004) was already being made.
Eddie Murphy and Jeffrey Katzenberg have known each another since the beginning of their film careers. They promised that one day, they would do an animated film together, which culminated with this film. Katzenberg even recommended Murphy for the part of Donkey, and no-one else. He thinks its Murphy's best work.
While Donkey is a hooved animal, his movements are based on dogs and rabbits.
Mike Myers actually read opposite his (then) wife Robin Ruzan when recording his lines for the climactic love scene at the end of the movie.
Robin Williams was going to have a role in the film, but he suffered a bitter falling-out with Jeffrey Katzenberg when Katzenberg was still working at Disney, and refused to work with him.
Shrek became DreamWorks' mascot for the company's animated productions.
Although Antz (1998) was the first computer animated film produced by DreamWorks, it was Shrek (2001) that established the studio as a major name in the field, alongside its main competitor, Pixar.
A fairy godmother was originally included in the movie, but was cut out in the beginning of the movie's production. She eventually appeared in Shrek 2 (2004) and would form a lasting impact across the film series (this is the only film that doesn't feature her at all).
As of June 2008, this movie was ranked 8 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Animation", the only non-Disney or Pixar film on the list.
Everything in Farquaad's castle is designed to be angular (no curves or bends) to heighten his evil nature.
Shrek compares ogres to onions, saying they both have layers. This refers to the Henrik Ibsen play 'Peer Gynt', where the title character declares himself an onion for similar reasons.
In the original pitch, Shrek was to be a knight and rescue Donkey from a wicked witch. Shrek also varied from Scottish to Canadian and than back to Scottish again.
The song "I'm a Believer", which has become one of the series' theme songs, was chosen specifically because of the line "I thought love was only true in fairy tales."
Eddie Murphy's BAFTA nomination for his voice-over performance was the first of its kind.
Chris Farley was originally cast as Shrek and even recorded part of the dialogue. However, after his death, the role was given to fellow Saturday Night Live (1975) performer, Mike Myers. Shrek's "air quotes" in the film is an homage to Farley, whose character Bennett Brauer also used air quotes.
Shrek was adapted into a stage musical in 2008, and is still being performed around the world as of May 2013.
The film's music editor provided the sound of the dragon 'burping' up Farquaad's crown.
Over 1,000 fantasy characters invade Shrek's swamp at the beginning of the movie.
Shrek received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The song "All Star" by Smash Mouth, heard in the opening credits, was only placed in the film for test audiences until a new song could be found. But test audiences loved it, and the producers kept it in. When the producers decided to keep "All Star" they decided to let the band sing the last song in the movie, "I'm a Believer."
Cameron Diaz has said that Princess Fiona's romantic/practical nature was more like her sister rather than herself.
Mike Myers recorded Shrek's voice in a natural accentless voice before this film was test-screened. After watching it, he decided that the voice didn't sound right and had all of his lines re-recorded with a Scottish accent, based on the voice his mother used when reading him bedtime stories as a child.
The whole animation team from Antz (1998), DreamWorks' first animated movie, were recruited to work on Shrek.
Storyboard artist Cody Cameron provided the voices for Pinocchio and the 3 Little Pigs. In fact, several of the artists voiced the smaller characters they drew the scenes for.
An armor expert was brought in to show the animators a variety of armors that they could use as inspiration in the film. The animators tried on the armor, studied how they moved with the armor on, and also took turns flailing different swords.
Donkey was the easiest character to sketch since no-one knew what a talking donkey would look like. He looked very different in the early drafts, more akin to Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.
Donkey annoying Shrek with his singing was one of the first scenes to be filmed. The scene at Fiona's fortress was the second.
According to director, Andrew Adamson, Shrek's height varies between seven and eight feet depending on who you ask. He was 7 feet and since then he's grown in people's minds, and now he's usually referred to as 8 feet.
Donkey's appearance was based on Pericles ("Perry"), a miniature Donkey who lives in Barron Par, Palo Alto (California) - right in the neighborhood of the Pacific Data Images/DreamWorks animators.
This film marks Mike Myers' fifth performance with a Scottish accent, following Saturday Night Live (1975), Wayne's World 2 (1993), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), and as Fat Bastard in the last two Austin Powers movies.
Shrek was almost made in stop-motion animation, but early tests proved too costly and executives weren't pleased with the overall look and lack of facial expression in the main character. After live-action miniatures and motion-capture graphics also proved unsatisfactory, the studio went with computer-generated animation.
The scene where Princess Fiona burps was written after a recording session where Cameron Diaz burped after drinking Coca-Cola.
An additional scene was storyboarded but never filmed that revealed Lord Farquaad's plan for Duloc. He wanted to turn the entire kingdom into something like a gigantic shopping complex. Another scene planned and scrapped was Fiona getting Shrek and Donkey lost on the way back to Duloc.
The list of fairytale characters in this movie: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves; the Wicked Witch of the West (or the East); The Three Bears; Pinocchio and Geppetto; the 3 Little Pigs; Tinkerbell and Peter Pan; The Big Bad Wolf; The Pied Piper of Hamelin; The Gingerbread Man; Cinderella; Robin Hood and his Merry Men.
Donkey and Fiona are the only characters to refer to Shrek by name.
1,250 props and environments were created in the computer for this film.
This movie is loosely based on William Steig's fairytale picture book of the same name.
Early concept sketches of Shrek in the 1990s saw him living in a garbage dump near a human village called Wart Creek. Another version saw him living with his parents and keeping rotting fish in his bedroom.
The line "You're on your way to a smacked bottom." was improvised by Mike Myers after he got annoyed at one of the directors.
Gaming hosts Jim Lange and Jimmy Fallon recorded the voice of the Magic Mirror (Lange in particular hosted The Dating Game (1965), which the Mirror parodies). Eventually, however, the Mirror was voiced by storyboard artist Christopher Miller.
This movie was voted number 2 in channel 4's (UK) "Greatest Family Films"
Monsieur Hood's Merry Men perform to Riverdance: The Show (1995).
Eddie Murphy says the Shrek series is among his best works.
When the masked executioner, Thelonious, is singing, it is a direct reference to a "Stacker 2" commercial that the "WWF (World Wrestling Federation)" character Kane (Glenn Jacobs), who also wears a mask, appears singing karaoke.
