Shrek is a 2001 computer-animated American comedy film, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and starring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!, the film was produced by DreamWorks Animation. Shrek was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a category introduced in 2001. It was released on VHS and DVD on November 2, 2001.
The film stars Mike Myers as a large, strong, solitude-loving, intimidating Scottish ogre named Shrek, from the German word "Schreck" meaning "terror" or Yiddish word שרעק, meaning "fear". Shrek also features Cameron Diaz as the beautiful but very down-to-earth and feisty Princess Fiona, Eddie Murphy as a talkative donkey named Donkey, and Lithgow as the villainous Lord Farquaad.
The film was extremely successful on release in 2001 and it helped establish DreamWorks as a prime competitor to Pixar in the field of feature film animation, particularly in computer animation. Furthermore, Shrek was made the mascot for the company's animation productions. 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 popular music—- the soundtrack includes music by Smash Mouth, Eels, Joan Jett, The Proclaimers, Jason Wade, The Baha Men, and Rufus Wainwright (covering Leonard Cohen).
During June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"— the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community Shrek was acknowledged as the eighth best film in the animated genre, and the only non-Disney-Pixar film on the top ten.[2][3] It is also third on Bravo's 100 funniest movies. Shrek was also ranked second in a Channel 4 poll of the "100 Greatest Family Films", losing out on the top spot to E.T..[4]
Cast
Dragon, Snow White, Cinderella, Pied Piper, The Three Bears and several other characters are not speaking roles and are thus uncredited
Soundtrack
Two soundtracks were released for the original motion picture:
Influences
Previous films and TV shows, such as Fractured Fairy Tales and The Princess Bride, have parodied the traditional fairy tale. However, Shrek itself has noticeably influenced the current generation of mainstream animated films. Particularly after Shrek 2, animated films began to incorporate more pop culture references and end-film musical numbers. Such elements can be seen in films like Ice Age 2, Robots, and Chicken Little. It also inspired a number of CG-animated films which also spoofed fairy tales, or other related story genres, often including adult-oriented humor, most of which weren't nearly as successful as Shrek, such as Happily N'Ever After, Doogal, Igor, and Hoodwinked!.[5]
Other media
Books
Original story on which the film is based:
Video games
Several video game adaptations of Shrek have been published on various game console platforms.
Comic books
Broadway
A musical version of Shrek, with music by Jeanine Tesori and a book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, opened on Broadway at The Broadway Theatre beginning previews on November 9, 2008 and opening December 14, 2008. It stars Brian d'Arcy James in the title role, Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona, Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad, Daniel Breaker as Donkey, and John Tartaglia as Pinocchio and the Magic Mirror. The musical had a tryout in Seattle, Washington in August and September 2008. The musical received eight Tony Award nominations including Best Musical[7] as well as twelve Drama Desk Awards nominations,[8] ten Outer Critics Circle Award nominations,[9] and three Drama League Award nominations.[10] It won the Tony Award for Best Costume Design.
Reception
Shrek was received well. It holds an 89% positive response rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 169 professional reviews.[11] The film made $42,347,760 during an opening weekend averaging $11,805, making it the highest grossing film that week beating The Mummy Returns on its third week with $20 million. The film stayed in cinemas for more than 29 weeks (roughly over 206 days) with following Shrek 2 at 21, and Shrek the Third with 12. It made $267,665,011 domestically, international reaches $216,744,207, for a worldwide total of $484 million, making it the second highest-grossing animated film of the year behind Monsters Inc. It is the fourth highest-grossing film of 2001 behind Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Monsters Inc.
The film was entered into the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.[12]
Sequels and Spin-offs
See also
References
- ^ "Shrek". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=shrek.htm.
- ^ American Film Institute (June 17, 2008). "AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 10 Classic Genres". ComingSoon.net. http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=46072. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
- ^ "Top Ten Animation". www.afi.com. http://www.afi.com/10top10/animation.html. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
- ^ "100 Greatest Family Films". http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/microsites/F/greatest-familymovies/results/5-1.html.
- ^ "Is Shrek Bad for Kids?". Time Magazine. May 10, 2007. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1619573,00.html.
- ^ "Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Shrek TPB". http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=12-541.
- ^ Gans, Andrew and Jones, Kenneth."Nominations for 2009 Tony Awards Announced; Billy Elliot Earns 15 Nominations",playbill.com, May 5, 2009
- ^ Broadway.com Staff.Headlines: 9 to 5, Shrek Lead 2009 Drama Desk Nominations April 27, 2009
- ^ Gans, Andrew."Billy Elliot and Shrek Top Outer Critics Circle Awards Nominations",playbill.com, April 20, 2009]
- ^ Gans, Andrew."75th Annual Drama League Award Nominees Announced",playbill.com, April 21, 2009]
- ^ "Shrek (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shrek/. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Shrek". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/1100045/year/2001.html. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
External links
