Shrek 2

Shrek 2 Information

Shrek 2 is a 2004 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon. It is the second installment in the Shrek series, the sequel to 2001's Shrek, and features the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett and Jennifer Saunders.

Like its predecessor, Shrek 2 received positive reviews. Shrek 2 scored the second-largest three-day opening weekend in US history at the time of release, as well as the largest opening for an animated film until May 18, 2007, when it was eclipsed by its sequel Shrek the Third. As of 2011, it is the inflation-adjusted 31st highest-grossing film of all time in the US. It went on to be the highest-grossing film of 2004. The associated soundtrack reached the top ten of the Billboard 200. It is also the seventh highest ticket selling animated film of all time. It is DreamWorks's most successful film to date and was also the highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide for six years until Toy Story 3 surpassed it in 2010, along with the re-releases of The Lion King in late 2011 and Finding Nemo in 2012, making it the 4th highest grossing animated film of all time.

Plot

After Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) and Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz) come back from their honeymoon, they are invited to a royal ball thrown by Fiona's parents to celebrate their marriage, an event in which Shrek is reluctant to participate. Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) appears, wanting to move in with them after a falling-out with Dragon, much to their consternation. They all travel to the kingdom of Far Far Away and meet Fiona's parents, King Harold and Queen Lillian (voiced by John Cleese and Julie Andrews), who are surprised by Fiona's choice of husband and her new appearance. Harold is repulsed and at a family dinner, he and Shrek get into a heated argument over how Shrek and Fiona will raise their family. Fiona, disgusted at their behavior, locks herself in her room, where she meets her Fairy Godmother (voiced by Jennifer Saunders), who is also startled by Fiona's new looks and marriage. Subsequently, King Harold is accosted by the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming, her son (voiced by Rupert Everett). He had arranged with the Fairy Godmother that Charming would marry Fiona and they demand that he get rid of Shrek. Shrek worries that he and Fiona aren't meant to be, particularly after finding a diary from her pre-teenager years and discovering that she was once very infatuated with Prince Charming. Harold arranges for Shrek and Donkey to join him on a hunting trip, which is really a trap to lure the two into the hands of an assassin, Puss in Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas).

When Fiona realizes that Shrek left, she asks her father for help, but he replies that he always wanted the best for her and that she should think about that too. Puss is unable to defeat Shrek and reveals that he was paid by Harold. He asks to tag along as a way to make amends. Shrek decides to go to the Fairy Godmother for help. However, the Fairy Godmother states that ogres do not live "happily ever after" and refuses to assist him. Nonetheless, the three sneak into the Fairy Godmother's potion factory and steal a "Happily Ever After" potion that Shrek believes will ensure a happy ending for his marriage. Shrek and Donkey both drink the potion, which doesn't appear to work. They wait out the storm in a barn and Shrek and Donkey become dizzy and fall over into a deep sleep. When they awake, they discover the potion has taken effect: Shrek is now a handsome man, while Donkey has turned into a stallion. In order to make the change permanent, Shrek must kiss Fiona by midnight. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss return to the castle to discover that the potion has also transformed Fiona back into her former human self from the first movie. However, the Fairy Godmother, having learned of the potion's theft, sends Charming to the castle, where he poses as Shrek to win Fiona's love. Although Harold recognizes Charming for who he really is, he doesn't speak up. Shrek, heartbroken, lets Fiona go, believing she will be happier with Charming.

A few hours later, Shrek overhears the Fairy Godmother telling Harold that Fiona hasn't fallen for Charming, and giving him a love potion for Fiona, which will cause her to fall in love with the first person she kisses. Harold at first refuses, but the Fairy Godmother threatens to take away his own "Happily Ever After" if he does not listen to her. After hearing that Charming is the Fairy Godmother's son, the trio is noticed by the Fairy Godmother, who has them arrested by the royal guards and thrown into a dungeon. When the royal ball begins, several of Shrek's friends band together to free the trio (having seen their arrest via the Magic Mirror) and help Shrek stop the kiss. The Muffin Man helps them create a gigantic gingerbread man (named Mongo), who breaks through the castle's defences, then falls into the moat and dies. When Shrek arrives, Charming forcibly kisses Fiona, believing the potion has taken effect, but Fiona temporarily knocks him out with a headbutt. When the Fairy Godmother confronts Harold, he reveals that he drank the potion himself at the last minute, having realized Fiona's love for Shrek. The Fairy Godmother tries to kill Shrek, but Harold sacrifices himself to save the couple. The spell reflects off his armor and vanquishes the Fairy Godmother into a cloud of bubbles; it also reverts Harold to his true form, that of the Frog Prince. Harold apologizes to Shrek and Fiona for everything he has done, and now realizes what is best for Fiona, giving them his blessing. Shrek forgives him, and Lillian tells Harold that she still loves him no matter what. When it is midnight, Shrek tells Fiona that if they kiss now, then their change will be permanent. But Fiona says that she wants what any other princess wants: to live happily ever after with the ogre she married. The clock chimes as the potion's effects wear off, with Donkey changing back as well, much to his chagrin. He cheers up as Shrek reassures him he still is a noble steed in his eyes. Finally, Puss and Donkey sing as the royal ball resumes celebrating the true newlyweds.

In a post-credits scene, Donkey complains to Puss about missing Dragon, and rejects his invitation to a night-cap at the "Kit-Kat Club." Suddenly, Dragon flies in, along with six "Dronkeys" that Donkey happily embraces as his "mutant babies," and Donkey and Dragon reconcile. Having a larger family, Donkey realizes, "I've gotta get a job!"

Cultural references

Like its predecessor, Shrek 2 also acts as somewhat of a parody film, targeting adapted children's fantasies (mainly those adapted by Disney); and like other DreamWorks animated films, also features references to American popular culture:

The mermaid that washes up on Shrek in the beginning of the movie bears strong resemblance to Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid.
Elements and landmarks in the fictional kingdom of Far Far Away bear reference to elements and landmarks of Southern California, particularly those of the Los Angeles area. For example, the kingdom features a "Far Far Away" sign obviously modeled after the famous Hollywood Sign; and the "Friar's Fat Boy" restaurant which King Harold, Fairy Godmother and Charming "drive thru" references the Southern California restaurant chain, Bob's Big Boy.
The character Puss In Boots is based on Zorro, a character played by Antonio Banderas, who also voices Puss. His behavior references Zorro as he appeared in the 1998 film, The Mask of Zorro. Also in the late 1950s, Zorro was adapted by Disney into a television series of the same name.
Donkey yells out "I'm melting" when it starts to rain, which is a reference to the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.
When Shrek, Donkey and Puss are trying to escape from the Potion Room in The Fairy God Mothers Factory, the security door are closed when the workers discover Shrek trying to steal a love potion but Puss looses his Fedora hat and just retrieves it before the doors crash shut; this being a close reference to Indiana Jones.
When Mongo first enters Far Far Away, several people run out of a parodied Starbucks cafe (in this case "Farbucks"), only to run to another location across the street. Mongo also spots a large replica of a Farbucks coffee cup decorated on the roof. Out of curiosity, he picks up the cup and drops it on a mail box below.
When the carriage is entering Far Far Away, there is a shop called "Baskin Robbinhood," a parody of Baskin Robbins, and a shop called "Versarchery," a play on the designer label Versace. There is also a store "Old Knavery," a spoof of the clothing store and brand Old Navy.
Fiona and Shrek's upside down kiss references Mary Jane Watson and Spider Man's kiss.
When the Fairy Godmother appears to Fiona on her balcony when she sheds a tear due to the fight at dinner, the gold dress in which she makes Fiona wear, blows up in a Marilyn Monroe fashion
When Puss is attacking Shrek and crawls through his shirt, he bursts out of the front, a reference toward the chestburster scene from the 1979 film Alien
During the scene where Shrek, Donkey and Puss are at the bar, Puss says "I hate Mondays," an obvious reference toward another similar ginger cat.
- When Puss, Donkey, and Shrek are being arrested, it is a parody of the TV show Cops, only this is called Knights.

Cast

Mike Myers as Shrek
Eddie Murphy as Donkey
Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
Julie Andrews as Queen Lillian
Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots
John Cleese as King Harold
Rupert Everett as Prince Charming and the Narrator
Jennifer Saunders as Fairy Godmother
Joan Rivers (US)/Kate Thornton (UK) as Red Carpet Announcer
Larry King (US)/Jonathan Ross (UK) as Doris the Ugly Stepsister
Aron Warner as Big Bad Wolf
Cody Cameron as Pinocchio; The Three Little Pigs
Christopher Knights and Simon J Smith as Three Blind Mice
Conrad Vernon as Gingerbread Man; Muffin Man; Mongo; Cedric; Announcer
Chris Miller as Magic Mirror
Mark Moseley as Dresser
Kelly Cooney as Fast Food Clerk
Kelly Asbury as Page; Elf; Nobleman; Nobleman's son
Andrew Adamson as Captain of the Guard

Special guest stars

Joan Rivers' cameo marked the first time that a real person had been represented on screen by the Shrek animation team. Her part (though retaining her visual representation) was redubbed by presenter Kate Thornton for the United Kingdom release.
On the DVD Special Features and in the U.S. edition VHS (just before the credits), Simon Cowell appears as himself on Far Far Away Idol, a parody of American Idol. (see Home Media)

Production

In July 2001, it was reported that the main cast of the original Shrek were set for huge paychecks for voicing a sequel to the movie. Following a successful collaboration with the original film, Eddie Murphy had signed a two-year, first-look production deal with DreamWorks, where he also signed writer-director Todd Field to a two-year deal. The film was produced with a US$70 million budget.

The screenwriters for the first film, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, insisted the movie to be a traditional fairytale, but after disagreements with the producers, they left the project and was taken over by director Andrew Adamson. His writing of the film was inspired from Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, with the help of the co-directors for the film, who had spent most of the film's production in Northern California while Adamson spent most of the time with the voice actors in Glendale, California.

DreamWorks began production of the film in 2001, which was actually before the first film was even completed. DreamWorks made sure there was something new to see in Shrek 2 by putting more human characters in the film than there were in its predecessor and improving their appearance, with the use of a few systems that dealt with hair and fur to improve its appearance and movement. The set up for all the characters was done in the first 3 years of production.

Puss in Boots required a whole new set of tools in the film to handle his fur, belt and feather plume in his hat. The character also required an upgrade in the fur shader for his introduction in the film.

According to production designer Guillaume Aretos, Shrek 2 appeared to be a lot darker than the original film; "There are a lot of medieval paintings and illustrations that we used quite a bit also. Other than that there are my own influences, which are classical paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries, but those are not as direct. In fact, nothing was absolutely direct. The design of Shrek is always a twist on reality anyway, so we tried to [pack] as much detail and interest as we could in the imagery."

Soundtrack

Main article: List of songs featured in Shrek#Shrek 2

Singer and songwriter Adam Duritz from Counting Crows said that his band's song, "Accidentally in Love", "fits into the movie because it's the story of people who fall in love who weren't supposed to fall in love." Composer Harry Gregson Williams operated the sound of the score on different levels which Harry said as "Fun". His score came out as an Eels song into a very romantic scene with Shrek and Fiona, or a funny scene with donkey. John Powell had been left out to compose the score for the film with Williams due to a conflict.

Release

In April 2004, the film was selected for competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Shrek 2 was originally going to release on June 18, 2004. The film then planned to release on May 21, 2004. Though, Shrek 2 released on May 19, 2004 (two days before). A day before the film went to theaters, the first five minutes were shown on Nickelodeon's U-Pick Live.

It was the first film with over 4,000 theaters in overall count; over 3,700 theaters was its count for an opening day. Spider-Man 2 was the first film with over 4,000 theaters for an opening day and second for overall counts. When the film was released on DVD on November 5, 2004, it was the second Shrek film to be presented in its original ratio of DVD.

Home media

Shrek 2 was released on VHS and DVD on November 5, 2004 and on Game Boy Advance Video on November 17, 2005. A 3D-converted version of the film was released exclusively with select Samsung television sets on Blu-ray on December 1, 2010, along with the other three films of the series. A non-3D version was released on December 7, 2010, as part of Shrek: The Whole Story, and a stand-alone Blu-ray/DVD combo pack was released individually on August 30, 2011, along with the other two films of the series. A stand-alone 3D Blu-ray version of the film was released on November 1, 2011.

Far Far Away Idol

Far Far Away Idol is an extra on the DVD and VHS release based on American Idol and guest starring Simon Cowell. Taking place right after Shrek 2 ends, the characters from Shrek compete in singing popular songs while being judged by Shrek, Fiona and Cowell.

After the performances, on the DVD release, the viewer gets to pick the winner. However, if any character outside of Shrek (along with Princess Fiona), Donkey, or Puss were selected, Cowell would refuse to accept the winner and proclaim himself the victor, leaping onto a table and performing his "own" rendition of "My Way". At the end of the VHS release, it gives a link to a website where the viewer can vote for his favourite to determine the ultimate winner. DreamWorks Animation announced on November 8, 2004, three days after the DVD and VHS release, that after over 750 thousand votes cast, the winner of the competition was Doris.

Reception

Box office

The film opened at #1 with a Friday-to-Sunday total of $108,037,878, and a total of $128,983,060 since its Wednesday launch, from a then-record 4,163 theaters, for an average of $25,952 per theater over the weekend. At the time Shrek 2s Friday-to-Sunday total was the second-highest opening weekend trailing only Spider-Mans $114,844,116. In addition, Saturday alone managed to obtain $44,797,042, making it the highest single day gross at the time, beating Spider-Mans first Saturday gross of $43,622,264. It also ranked #1 in its second weekend, grossing $95,578,365 over the 4-day Memorial Day weekend, narrowly beating out the $85,807,341 4-day tally of new opener The Day After Tomorrow. The film spent a total of 10 weeks in the weekly top 10 remaining there until Thursday July 29, 2004, and stayed in theaters for 149 days (roughly 21 weeks), closing on November 25, 2004.

The film grossed $441,226,247 domestically (US and Canada), and $478,612,511 in foreign markets, making a total of $919,838,758 worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of both 2004 and in its franchise. This also puts the film at 8th on the all time domestic box office list and 26th on the worldwide box office list.

The movie also took away the highest worldwide gross made by an animated feature which before held by Finding Nemo, although the latter still had a higher overseas-only gross. With DVD sales and Shrek 2 merchandise are estimated to total almost $800 million, the film (which was produced with a budget of $150 million) is DreamWorks' most profitable film to date.

In August 2010, Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 3 surpassed Shrek 2 to become the highest-grossing animated film worldwide ($1.063 billion), but Shrek 2 still holds the record for the highest-grossing animated film at the American and Canadian box office as well as the highest-grossing animated PG-rated film at this box office. Disney's 3D re-releases of The Lion King (in 2011) and Finding Nemo (in 2012), respectively, surpassed Shrek 2 and relegated it as the 4th highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Critical response

The film was well received by a number of critics, many rating it as good as its predecessor, and some rated it even better. Based on reviews collected from 209 critics by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 89% gave Shrek 2 a positive review. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average rating of 75 out of 100 based on 40 professional reviews published in newspapers, magazines and in highly regarded Internet sites, which indicates "generally favorable reviews."

Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars saying it's "bright, lively, and entertaining," while Robert Denerstein of Denver Rocky Mountain News called it "Sharply funny." James Kendrick praised the plot, who called it "familiar, but funny."

In contrast to the praise it received, even in some positive reviews, some critics said that the film wasn't as good as the original film. Peter Rainer of New York Magazine stated the film "manages to undo much of what made its predecessor such a computer-generated joy ride."

Awards and nominations

Shrek 2 won five People's Choice Awards: Favorite Animated Movie, Favorite Animated Movie Star for "Donkey" (Eddie Murphy), Favorite Movie Comedy, and Favorite Movie Villain for "Fairy Godmother" (Jennifer Saunders), and Favorite Sequel. It also won two Teen Choice Awards: Choice Movie: Animated/Computer Generated and Choice Award Choice Movie - Comedy. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to The Incredibles. One of the film's songs, "Accidentally in Love" received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

The American Film Institute nominated Shrek 2 for its Top 10 Animated Films list.

Other media

Video games

See Shrek video games for more information

Shrek 2 (Shrek 2: Team Action) (2004)
Shrek 2 Activity Center: Twisted Fairy Tale Fun (2004)
Shrek 2: Beg for Mercy (2004)
Shrek Super Slam (2005)
Shrek Smash n' Crash Racing (2006)

Sequels and spin-offs

See Shrek (franchise) for more information Shrek 2 has two sequels; they are Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After. A spin-off film Puss in Boots was released on October 28, 2011, and focuses on the character of Puss in Boots, who was introduced in this film.