Movies: Shrek | Shrek 2 | Shrek the Third | Shrek Forever After | Puss in Boots | Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Other media: Shrek 4D | Shrek the Halls | Scared Shrekless | The Adventures of Puss in Boots | Shrek: The Musical
- Accidental Aesop:
- A Tumblr post once pointed out that the Third-Act Misunderstanding, where Shrek assumes Fiona's disgust with her own ogre form is directed at him, works as a warning for how Self-Deprecation can be Innocently Insensitive to people similar to yourself if it's misunderstood or taken too far.
- While Lord Farquaad is often mocked for his height, the movie also makes it clear that he's Compensating for Something. Whereas Shrek learns to love himself for who he is, Farquaad denies it until the very end. This can be taken away as "overcompensating for your flaws ironically just makes them more obvious".
- The intro sequence and the subsequent revelations of Shrek's character, can also be interpreted as there being a difference between being isolated because you genuinely prefer being alone vs being isolated because of other people ostracizing you. While Shrek does seem to be genuinely at peace with being alone at first, it's clear that a part of his issues stem from him being forced to be so as a result of his appearance.
- Adaptation Displacement: You probably won't find a lot of people who have even heard of Shrek! by William Steig (and if they did, it's likely they first heard of it by watching the credits of a Shrek film). So much was added to this little story that about the only thing it and the movies have in common is...a grumpy ogre named Shrek, a donkey (who is quickly forgotten about), a brief obstacle of a dragon, and a princess.
- Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Sure, Monsieur Hood definitely seemed like a French Jerk, but keep in mind he didn't know Shrek was a good guy. And his men only attacked Fiona in retaliation. Though this would put him in same category as Farquaad, judging Shrek by his appearance and not by his character.
- When Shrek brings Fiona to Duloc, Lord Farquaad keeps his end of the bargain by giving him the deed to his swamp and clearing out the encampment of fairy tale creatures. Was this because Farquaad, as despicable as he otherwise is, at least has some sense of honor? Was it to try and make himself look good to Fiona? Or did he think it would be unwise to pointlessly antagonize an ogre who he'd personally seen defeat a large number of skilled knights almost single-handedly?
- Was the ogre form Fiona's true form all along, or did she turn into an ogre because her true love was one?
- Angst? What Angst?: Fiona has been locked in the tower since she was a child, because according to her a witch cursed her, and only a hero willing to rescue her could give her a kiss of true love. We see she's fairly adjusted, despite the fact that Shrek points out how many knights were burned alive while trying to rescue her, and unlike Shrek, they didn't try to approach her tower first. Fiona's actually more upset that her rescuer was an ogre, and she gets over that fairly quickly in one night after hearing Shrek lamenting that no one ever gets a chance to know him. The sequel has Shrek more upset about it than Fiona is, saying that it was wrong for her own parents to put her in a Gilded Cage prison with only Dragon for company. What's even weirder is that the stage play shows Fiona in Go Mad from the Isolation mode due to being locked inside for twenty-three years, and Shrek Forever After shows that Fiona made multiple scratch marks on the wall before busting out as a Broken Bird.
- Animation Age Ghetto: Like The Flintstones and The Muppet Show did back in their day, the first Shrek was meant to appeal to both children and adults without seemingly favoring one group over the other, with its edgy humor and pop-culture references giving it a grittier vibe than other animated movies at the time - especially the Disney Animated Canon, which had a reputation for being "squeaky-clean". However, as time went on and Shrek became a Cash-Cow Franchise, marketing for the movies became more kid-focused even as the content of the movies was only slightly toned down. This caused the series to eventually gain a reputation of being "for kids", just like what happened to the Flintstones and Muppets. This is reflected in the evolution of the franchise's toyline: the first movie had a line of highly detailed collectibles by McFarlane Toysnote that could be appreciated by both kids and adults (just like the movie), while the toylines for the sequels (by Hasbro and MGA) were far cheaper and more gimmicky, and no longer targeted the Periphery Demographic of action figure collectors.
- Award Snub: There was serious buzz about Eddie Murphy becoming the first voice actor to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which seemed to be a sure thing after the acclaim and the fact his performance became the very first voice acting role nominated for a BAFTA. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
- Badass Decay: Fiona goes from being able to take down Robin Hood's entire band of outlaws...to being helpless against one guard and Lord Farquaad wielding only a small dagger, in the space of half a movie. To be fair, Shrek is also rendered helpless against the guard, but he at least gets some good hits in, which they could've easily let Fiona do. Luckily she gets better in the sequel.
- Base-Breaking Character:
- Donkey. He's either hilarious, lovable, and part of the charm and soul of the series, or just plain annoying to the point of being The Load at times, especially in the sequels where his annoying tendencies are flanderized. Overall, the fanbase's opinion of Donkey is much like Shrek's own.
- Fiona's human form. Some find her design to be adorable, beautiful, sexy, and more conventionally attractive than her ogre form, and wish that human Fiona would make a reappearance of some sort.note Others find human Fiona to be unnecessarily uncanny due to dated CGI, and not as unique, iconic or endearing as ogre Fiona.
- Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The appearance of Robin Hood and his Merry Men in the first movie. In addition to having no bearing on the plot, the scene also turns the traditionally-English Robin Hood into a French Jerk stereotype for no clear reason, and the scene ends with Princess Fiona revealing herself to be a One-Man Army and single-handedly defeating all the Merry Men despite her never displaying anything remotely close to such skill at any other point. Averted with the sequels, where her martial arts skills from this scene get brought up constantly.
- Demographically Inappropriate Humour:
- Lord Farquaad's name is a Punny Name on "Fuckwad".
- One song has a Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion for "ass" (in the sense of buttocks, not donkey).Keep off the grass, shine your shoes, wipe your... face.
- Another song has a Bait-and-Switch gag where it seems like they will say, "He likes to get laid", but someone interrupts them with "paid" instead.
- One scene implies that Farquaad has an erection.
- Do Not Do This Cool Thing: The film intends to show Shrek's initial reclusive lifestyle as being lonely and unfulfilling, with Shrek needing companionship to find happiness. But the opening scene, by far the most iconic moment of the entire franchise, presents his simple, laid-back life in such a comfortable and fun manner, that many viewers have felt unironically inspired by how Shrek enjoys his own company.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Gingy and Pinocchio are very popular with kids and adults alike despite their secondary role, especially Gingy, whose interrogation scene
is considered a highlight of the first movie. For this reason, Gingy is often an Advertised Extra and plays a major role in the TV specials and games, while Pinocchio becomes an Ascended Extra in Shrek: The Musical. - Fandom Rivalry: With Beauty and the Beast. Both films have similar premises involving a beautiful lead female character and a lead male character with a monstrous appearance, both of whom bond over their Hidden Depths that they'd wish people would appreciate over their surface level traits. Fans of the Disney film cite it as proof positive that Shrek is a Shallow Parody since the seemingly "subversive" themes that Shrek was lauded for were in fact explored by a Disney film a decade prior, and that the only thing unique that Shrek has to offer are its Toilet Humor and mean-spirited Take Thats towards Disney. Shrek fans, on the other hand, argue that even if Disney films have had similar ideas, they still appreciate the film for it’s darker, more irreverent tone in contrast to the usual sanctimonious and squeaky-clean Disney style.
- Franchise Original Sin:
- While some people point to the first movie breaking its own "appearances don't matter" message by having the characters mock Lord Farquaad's height, it was a minor thing that could easily be glossed over. Shrek: The Musical made it less minor by making him half-dwarf. Mocking his height, which is a result of him being the son of a dwarf, runs directly counter to the "let your freak flag fly" moral in a way that's significantly more difficult to ignore.
- Dreamworks' heavy reliance on pop-culture references for humour was already evident in both Shrek and Shrek 2, but most viewers didn't see this as a problem because they were generally cleverly written jokes and the movies still had strong stories with interesting characters. Later Dreamworks movies, including the later sequels, would come to rely more and more on references as a crutch at the expense of coherent plots or character depth, and it would come to be seen as one of their movies' greatest weaknesses. It also helped that the references in the first two movies were largely based on iconic children's stories that the target audience would easily recognize. Many later Dreamworks movies would be built around references to things that kids would be unlikely to have even seen, like Shark Tale homaging mob movies or the dialogue in Bee Movie imitating Jerry Seinfeld's stand-up, while at the same time being too juvenile to appeal to adults, leaving it unclear who the jokes were even supposed to be appealing to.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Lord Farquaad's emblem, a large white F against a blue background, predates the Facebook logo by three years. Made even funnier after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg used an extra-large cushion to appear taller during a Congressional Hearing, much like Farquaad's numerous attempts to obfuscate his short stature.
- The use of "Bad Reputation" during the sequence of Shrek beating all Faarquad's knights in a manner akin to a pro wrestler. Ronda Rousey would end up using the song for her entrance theme after joining up with the WWE.
- After he reveals to Fiona that he's an ogre, Shrek sarcastically remarks that she must have been expecting Prince Charming. The sequel would later introduce Prince Charming, and reveal that he actually was intended to be Fiona's rescuer.
- One of the jokes MAD made about the first movie was Donkey and Dragon having half-donkey, half-dragon babies...which is exactly what happened in the second movie.
- Game of Thrones fans can't help but chuckle at how Jaime Lannister is a dead ringer for Prince Charming. The fun doesn't end there - Tyrion is an eccentric, red-clad Deadpan Snarker dwarf lord just like Farquaad and has a similar voice, Sansa is a redheaded princess like Fiona and even has a similar green dress and hair braid in Season 7, Syrio is a Fantasy Counterpart Culture Spaniardnote who's proficient with a sword like Puss and compares his style to a cat...
- Lord Farquaad's emblem, a large white F against a blue background, predates the Facebook logo by three years. Made even funnier after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg used an extra-large cushion
- Hollywood Homely:
- Fiona as an ogress. Repeatedly told to be ugly, repulsive, disgusting, every synonym imaginable, in the first movie as well as the sequels. While she certainly looks a bit plump and more frightening, most fans think she does look pretty cute even by ogre standards, and Forever After depicts her as a borderline Amazonian Beauty.
- How about Shrek himself? His green skin and odd ears don't make him ugly, and aside from that, he looks like an average stocky bald guy with a potbelly. Sure, he's no Prince Charming but he hardly lives up to the Mirror-Cracking Ugly hype he gets In-Universe.
- Hype Backlash: While there are few who would call the film outright terrible, some feel that while this film has some good jokes, there are other films who did the "snarky fairy tale deconstruction" better such as The Princess Bride, The Emperor's New Groove, and even this film's own sequel, and thus see it as more So Okay, It's Average than the masterpiece of comedy many build it up to be.
- It Was His Sled: If you've seen the other movies or other adaptations after the first film, you'd know Fiona is also an ogre and she marries Shrek.
- Love to Hate: Lord Farquaad is possibly the most beloved villain in the series for his cool voice and for being Laughably Evil, which is only helped by his omnipresence as Shrek's antithesis in Brogre memes.
- Memetic Badass: Brogre memes depict Shrek as a bizarre supreme deity who is able to kill and maim bullies and non-believers with ease.
- Memetic Molester:
- In the Brogres' copypasta stories, many of Shrek's blessings and powers are activated through intercourse of some sort, which is depicted as immensely pleasurable for his followers and painful for his enemies. By proxy, Donkey, Fiona and Puss have seen their share of this when they appear.
- Lord Farquaad gets a fair share of this as well. Considering that he's all but straight-up stated to be jacking off to Fiona's image on the magic mirror in the bed scene, it's not exactly an unreasonable interpretation.
- Memetic Mutation: Shares a page with the rest of the series.
- Moral Event Horizon: The first thing that Lord Farquaad does in the film is have the poor Gingerbread Man waterboarded in milk as an interrogation technique and has his legs ripped off. A Freeze-Frame Bonus also reveals that he had Mama Bear killed and turned into his personal rug. The moment when he's truly made 100% irredeemably evil comes right at the film's climax when upon Fiona's reveal, he calls her "disgusting" and splits her from Shrek, assuring the latter that he will be sentenced to a life of torture and will be begging for death to save him, and tells Fiona that she'll be locked back in her tower for the rest of her life, all while threatening her with a knife to her throat. He truly deserved getting eaten by a dragon shortly after.
- Once Original, Now Common:
- When the first Shrek movie came out, it was considered a witty and refreshing break from the then-formulaic Disney Animated Canon fare, and it put DreamWorks Animation on the map. Nowadays Shrek's often blamed for killing traditional animated films and starting a trend of rather mediocre CGI fims overly reliant on Anachronism Stew, World of Snark and innuendo. It didn't help that DreamWorks would not only give Shrek three sequels, but rehash the formula for most of their other films until they Grew the Beard with Kung Fu Panda. Other studios then followed suit - instead of making Shrek ripoffs, they started more frequently producing original and well-liked CGI movies. Even Disney, the very firm Jeff Katzenberg sought to overthrow, would eventually make a return to sincere fairy tale films, having not only learned from this film but, arguably, improving on its humor and style.
- The CGI itself also falls into this. in 2001, the animation for the movie was arguably much more visually appealing than Pixar at the time, in part due to making the environments and lighting more lived-in than the comparatively clean-looking Monsters, Inc. released around the same time. PDI also managing to get the look of the various fluid and fire effects down before Pixar could achieve it in their films (they were, at the time, a VFX company and specialized in such effects). Flash forward to 20+ years on and almost everyone, Pixar included, has managed to do everything the film did and more to the point where even amateur hobbyists can achieve similar results at home with enough time and practice.
- One-Scene Wonder:
- Robin Hood and his merry men get a lot of attention from fans despite their very brief screen time.
- Donkey's original owner who tries trading him in to Lord Farquaad's men, notable for being voiced by Kathleen Freeman in her final role before her death.
- Signature Scene: Many a meme has been made from the opening scene, showing Shrek emerging from an outhouse and going through his morning routine, all set to "All-Star" by Smash Mouth.
- Suspiciously Similar Song: The main theme, "Fairytale", bears more than a passing resemblance to "Nocturne", the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest winner. The leitmotif also sounds a lot like that of "Fire Treasure" and its variations from 1979's The Castle of Cagliostro. It's arguably most noticeable in "Variation 3"; it even plays when Lupin is rescuing a princess locked in a tower.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Apart from Donkey, the fairy tale characters aren't given very much to do, existing mainly to provide quick gags and exposition before returning at the end for Shrek and Fiona's wedding and the Dance Party Ending. Audiences would have to wait until the sequels to see them get more defined personalities and active roles.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The fairy tale characters' plight of being persecuted, and Farquaad's reasons for believing they don't fit into his "perfect world," are never explained or expanded on. Their relocation to the swamp only exists to give Shrek a reason to confront Farquaad and agree to rescue Fiona for him.
- Unintentional Uncanny Valley:
- Human Fiona, one of the many reasons some people prefer Fiona's ogre form over her human form. The CGI for her human character model hasn't aged well, especially when you see it again in the sequel, which featured much more cartoony looking humans. This carries over to Harold and Lillian when they appear in subsequent sequels. This is downplayed in that most fans still find all three characters to be likable and endearing. Conversely, ogre Fiona can evoke this reaction in the first movie, especially in first-time viewers, due to some people being so accustomed to Fiona as a human. Most of the human characters in general can invoke this to a new watcher given the time period the film was produced and released in (late-90s to early-2000s) and human models were still somewhat difficult to manage in CGI.
- "Shrek's Merry Fairy Tale Journey", a Theme Park Version retelling of the first movie at Motiongate Dubai, depicts the characters as giant animatronic marionettes that unironically evoke the deliberately uncanny animatronics from Five Nights at Freddy's. It's probably for the better that human Fiona (described above) and Snow White, the most realistic human characters, have unmoving faces and mouths.
- Ugly Cute: Shrek, Donkey and most of the other characters follow this design philosophy, with grotesque, exaggerated features but enough charm and personality to make them lovable. Taken up to eleven with ogre Fiona, who's less conventionally attractive than human Fiona but looks even cuter in spite of that fact.
- What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The film has swearing and adult jokes and gruesome deaths. Yet kids seem not to care.
