Shrek

Story

Shrek, a grumpy ogre, lives a peaceful life in his swamp, ALONE. However, his peace is soon shattered by an invasion of annoying fairy tale characters, who have been banished from their kingdom by Lord Farquaad. Determined to get his swamp back, Shrek agrees to rescue Princess Fiona and bring her back to be Farquaad’s bride. But the beautiful princess hides an ugly secret…

Why we chose it

Shrek is a humorous and inventive re-imagining of traditional fairy tales with a green ogre for a hero, a princess with attitude and a supporting cast of unusual fairy tale characters.

Where it came from

The film is loosely based on a picture book called Shrek! (1990) by William Steig, a cartoonist for The New Yorker. The name ‘Shrek’ is derived from the Yiddish word for “fear” or “fright”. Most of the film’s other characters are based on classic fairy tales, although Donkey was modelled on a real miniature horse called Pericles.

Where it went next

Shrek won the first ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002 along with numerous other awards. The film has been adapted as video games, comic books, and a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical.

Associated stories

As well as numerous spin-offs, the film was followed by three sequels: Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), and Shrek Forever After (2010). Other Dreamworks franchises include Madagascar (2005), Kung Fu Panda (2008) and How to Train Your Dragon (2010) - based on the books by Cressida Cowell).