Shrek 2

Shrek 2
Official Logo
Directed by
Screenplay by
  • Andrew Adamson
  • Joe Stillman
  • J. David Stem
  • David N. Weiss
Story byAndrew Adamson
Based onShrek!
by William Steig
Produced by
  • Aron Warner
  • David Lipman
  • John H. Williams
Starring
Edited by
  • Michael Andrews
  • Sim Evan-Jones
Music byHarry Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed byDreamWorks Pictures
Release dates
  • May 15, 2004 (2004-05-15) (Cannes)
  • May 19, 2004 (2004-05-19) (United States)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$150 million
Box office$933.8 million

Shrek 2 is a 2004 American computer animated fantasy comedy movie loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book Shrek! by William Steig and produced by DreamWorks Animation. Directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon from a screenplay by Adamson, Joe Stillman, and the writing team of J. David Stem and David N. Weiss, it is the sequel to Shrek (2001) and the second installment in the Shrek film series. The film stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz, who reprise their respective voice roles of Shrek, Donkey, and Princess Fiona. They are joined by new characters voiced by Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett, and Jennifer Saunders. Shrek 2 takes place following the events of the first film, with Shrek and Donkey meeting Fiona's parents as the zealous Fairy Godmother, who wants Fiona to marry her son Prince Charming, plots to destroy Shrek and Fiona's marriage. Shrek and Donkey team up with a sword-wielding cat named Puss in Boots to foil her plans.

Development began in 2001, and following disagreements with producers, the first film's screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were replaced with Adamson. The story was inspired by Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), and new animation tools were utilized to improve the visual appearance of each character, particularly Puss in Boots. The lead actors also received a significant bump in salary to $10 million, which at the time was among the highest contracts in their respective careers. Like its predecessor, Shrek 2 also parodies other films based on fairy tales and features references to American popular culture. The film is dedicated to the memory of Shrek creator William Steig, who died on October 3, 2003, seven months before the film was released.

Shrek 2 premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2004, where it competed for the Palme d'Or, and was released in theaters on May 19, by DreamWorks Pictures. Like its predecessor, it received positive reviews from critics and is considered by many to be one of the best sequel films ever made. The film grossed $933.8 million worldwide, and scored the second-largest three-day opening weekend in United States history and the largest opening for an animated film at the time of its release. It went on to become the highest-grossing film of 2004 and the fifth-highest-grossing film overall at the time of its release. Shrek 2 is also DreamWorks Animation's highest-grossing film to date and the highest-grossing film released by DreamWorks Pictures, and it held the title of being the highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide until Pixar Animation Studios' Toy Story 3 surpassed it in 2010. The film received two Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, and its associated soundtrack charted in the Top 10 on the US Billboard 200. Two sequels—Shrek the Third (2007) and Shrek Forever After (2010)—had soon followed, with an upcoming sequel, Shrek 5, scheduled to be released in June 2027. The film's character Puss in Boots has also received his own series of spin-off media—Puss in Boots (2011), The Adventures of Puss in Boots (2015–2018), and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)—following his debut.

Plot

Shrek and Princess Fiona return from their honeymoon to find they have been invited by Fiona's parents to a royal ball to celebrate their marriage. Along with Donkey, they travel to the Kingdom of Far Far Away. They meet Fiona's parents, King Harold and Queen Lillian, who are shocked to see the ogres, with Harold particularly repulsed. Shrek worries that he is losing Fiona, particularly after finding her childhood diary and reading that she was once in love with Prince Charming.

Harold is confronted by the Fairy Godmother, as her son, Prince Charming, was to marry Fiona in exchange for Harold's own happy ending. She orders him to get rid of Shrek, so Harold arranges for Puss in Boots to kill him. Unable to defeat Shrek, Puss reveals that he was paid by Harold and offers to be an ally. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss sneak into the Fairy Godmother's factory and steal a "Happily Ever After" potion that Shrek thinks will make him good enough for Fiona. Shrek and Donkey both drink the potion. Shrek becomes a human while Donkey becomes a horse. Meanwhile, Fiona also becomes a human.

In order to make the change permanent, Shrek must kiss Fiona by midnight. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss return to the castle. However, the Fairy Godmother has sent Charming to pretend to be Shrek as a human. The Fairy Godmother gives Harold a love potion to put into Fiona's tea. This exchange is overheard by Shrek, Donkey, and Puss, who are arrested by the royal knights. While the royal ball begins, the fairy tale creatures whom Shrek and Donkey had met during their previous adventure arrive at the dungeon to rescue the three of them and they all break into the royal ball.

Charming kisses Fiona, but instead of falling in love, she knocks him out; Harold reveals that he swapped Fiona's tea that has the love potion with another tea. The Fairy Godmother tries to kill Shrek with her magic wand, but Harold jumps in front of it to save him, reverting into the Frog Prince; the spell bounces off his armour and kills the Fairy Godmother. As the clock strikes midnight, Fiona rejects Shrek's offer to remain human, and they revert into ogres, while Donkey also returns to normal.

Soundtrack

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 James Horner operated the sound of the score on different levels which James said as "Fun". His score came out as an Eels song into a romantic scene with Shrek and Fiona, or a funny scene with Donkey. George Bruns did not compose the film score with Horner, due to a conflict.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Shrek 2 (2004)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Shrek 2". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  3. ↑ "Shrek 2 (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 26 May 2004. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Shrek 2 (2004) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  5. ↑ Sharma, Devansh (30 June 2020). "Remembering Shrek 2: How Kelly Asbury and team played around with the idea of a subversive Disney fairy tale". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  6. ↑ Anderton, Ethan (25 January 2017). "You May Have Forgotten How Many Movies 'Shrek' Parodied". Slashfilm. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  7. ↑ Ross, Dalton (5 November 2004). "Shrek 2". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  8. ↑ Cheney, Alexandra (29 July 2014). "DreamWorks Animation Q2 Earnings Fall Short of Estimates, SEC Investigation Revealed". Variety. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  9. ↑ "The 10 best movie sequels of all time". GQ. 22 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  10. ↑ "Why Shrek 2 Is a Perfect Sequel". CBR. 13 March 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  11. ↑ "Shrek 2 Actually Holds Up Much Better Than the Original and Here's Why". Movieweb. 13 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  12. ↑ Gray, Brandon (24 May 2004). "'Shrek 2' Lands Far, Far Ahead of Summer Pack". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  13. ↑ "Box Office History for Digital Animation Movies". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 10 June 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  14. ↑ "2004 DOMESTIC GROSSES". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 25 April 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  15. ↑ Sperling, Nicole (13 August 2010). "Toy Story 3 becomes highest-grossing animated flick of all time". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  16. ↑ The Music of Shrek 2 - Shrek 2 DVD. Retrieved July 8, 2011
  17. ↑ Alex Ben Block, Lucy Autrey Wilson (30 March 2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. p. 976. ISBN 978-0061778896. LCCN 2010279574. OCLC 310398975.
  1. 1 2 In July 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount Pictures (owners of the pre-2005 DreamWorks Pictures catalog) and transferred to 20th Century Fox before reverting to Universal Pictures in 2018.