“The greatest fairy tale never told.” That was the tagline on the Shrek poster, perfectly describing the film, which, hard as it is to believe, celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary this month.
The film was DreamWorks’ first bona fide blockbuster, grossing $267 million domestically, won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in the spring of 2002, and began a franchise for the studio that continues beyond the screen to theme parks, Broadway, TV specials, merchandise, spin off movies, sequels (including a fifth planned for next year) and now sits squarely as an immensely popular part of our pop culture.
In the mid-’90s, Producer John H. Williams’ children had been reading author and cartoonist William Steig’s picture book Shrek! and Williams brought the book to Jeffrey Katzenberg’s attention.
Katzenberg, as Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios, was part of the team that had shepherded Disney through that studio’s animation renaissance of the 1990s (with such groundbreaking blockbusters as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King). He left Disney in 1994, in a highly publicized exit, then partnered with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen to form the new studio, DreamWorks SKG.
Shrek would go on to famously skewer much of Disney’s fabled worlds. The film’s princess warbles in such a high-pitched voice (a la Snow White) that one of the birds singing along explodes. The kingdom greets visitors with cheerily singing audio-animatronic figures straight out of “It’s a Small World’ (including a “souvenir photo” at the end of their performance).
Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, the film centered on the title character, a cynical, solitary, grumpy ogre (voiced by Mike Myers), who finds his swamp home threatened when the evil Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) banishes fairy tale creatures to the same swamp.
Storyboard sketch
DreamWorks partnered with the computer animation studio Pacific Data Images (which DreamWorks had purchased in 2000) on the film version of Shrek. Initially, comedian Chris Farley was cast as Shrek and had recorded most of his dialogue before his untimely passing in 1997. Myers (Farley’s co-star on Saturday Night Live) was then recast as the ogre, ultimately deciding on a Scottish accent (like his “Fat Bastard” character from his Austin Powers franchise of films) for the character.
In addition to satire, there was plenty of contemporary pop-culture humor that was woven into the film’s script by Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S.H. Schulman, as well as the many story artists. Farquaad’s Magic Mirror informs him about Fiona via a Dating Game parody. And Donkey constantly belts out a string of Top 40 hits, including The Monkees’ classic “I’m a Believer,” in the film’s upbeat finale.
Shrek opened in theaters on May 18, 2001, receiving praise from critics, including Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwarzbaum. Twenty-five years later, her words sum up just how fresh and innovative Shrek was. She wrote: “This charmingly loopy, iconoclastic story about a crotchety ogre, a rakish donkey, a princess with a beauty secret, and a contemptible nobleman with a Napoleon complex isn’t only a funny, sprightly fable for all ages about not judging a book by its cover; it’s also a kind of palace coup, a shout of defiance, and a coming-of-age for DreamWorks, the upstart studio that shepherded the project with such skill and chutzpah.”
Michael Lyons is a freelance writer, specializing in film, television, and pop culture. He is the author of the book, Drawn to Greatness: Disney’s Animation Renaissance, which chronicles the amazing growth at the Disney animation studio in the 1990s. In addition to Animation Scoop and Cartoon Research, he has contributed to Remind Magazine, Cinefantastique, Animation World Network and Disney Magazine. He also writes a blog, Screen Saver: A Retro Review of TV Shows and Movies of Yesteryear and his interviews with a number of animation legends have been featured in several volumes of the books, Walt’s People. You can visit Michael’s web site Words From Lyons at: 
I stumbled onto this movie by default. I had gone to the movie theatre for another film that was sold out, and so I took this one as a consolation prize. It was early in the run. There hadn’t been any buzz built around it yet, at least not in my circles. Right away I could tell it was something different. And with my love of all things Disney, I found it the perfect sendup. So many Disney tropes and fairy tale tropes are parodied in this film, and yet it functions as a world in its own right, not simply as a derivation. Normally, I don’t like it when a film depends on prior knowledge of other stories or other films, but this film seems to work even if the viewer is not familiar with the elements that are under fire. Kids who don’t know the references have still been amused. This is largely due to the compelling (and convincing) vocal performances. Plus, the sheer dynamic energy of the storytelling. There is always something to admire, appreciate, empathize with, or laugh at.
And for once, a franchise duplicated its success in its second installment. I found “Shrek II” (which I went to on purpose) to be as rich and entertaining as its predecessor, to the extent that I think of the two movies as being of one piece. This is also largely due not only to the rapier-sharp writing but to the vocal cast (and adding Julie Andrews to the mix certainly didn’t hurt).
Today, I don’t remember what movie I originally went to see. But it hardly matters, because I came away satisfied and with the laughs and chuckles lingering.
The crapping on the Disney Fairytale Musical™ formula is only the dressing. The core of Shrek is a tale of a man cast out from society, learning to love himself again, with the help of a friend. Who just happens to be voiced by Eddie Murphy. The sequel was just as good, not better, not worse.
3 is a perfect ending (with Shrek learning to accept that he can be a good father despite never having one). Yeah yeah, it is not a very funny 3rd part. But it was never all about the jokes.
Amen to the first part of your comment!
Shrek was a blessing and a curse for the animation industry
Twenty-five years is exactly right: my wife and I saw “Shrek” not long after we got married, and we just celebrated our silver anniversary. I enjoyed the movie, but I haven’t seen it since then, and to tell you the truth I don’t remember it particularly well. While it was pleasant enough as entertainment, it lacked the emotional impact of the Disney features that it sent up.
My brother-in-law used to complain that every time he visited his grandchildren, there was always a video of “Shrek” playing in the background. Nobody ever paid any attention to it, but God help you if you tried to put on something else…..