♪ You belong to me...
- First it subverts True Love's Kiss: Shrek and Fiona finally confess their love for each other and kiss. Instead of the kiss freeing Fiona from being an ogress when the sun goes down, it makes her an ogress permanently. Fiona's puzzled (though not disappointed) because, as she claims, "I'm supposed to be beautiful." Shrek just smiles and says, with full and honest sincerity, "But you are beautiful." (Now CUE I'M A BELIEVER!!!)
- Fridge Brilliance at work here: ogres are considered ugly by human standards while it's also likely that ogres are see humans the same way when it comes to physical attractiveness. But Fiona as an ogress? Smoking hot by Shrek's standards! The rest of the franchise also plays up the fact that Fiona's clearly more at home in her skin as an ogress than she ever was as a human (and a princess at that). Being true to yourself is definitely more attractive than pretense.
- Realizing that a human woman wouldn't be all that attractive to an ogre makes the fact that Shrek fell in love with Fiona while she was still a human an especially sweet bit of Heartwarming Fridge Brilliance. Yet another nice, more subtle twist to the Beast and Beauty tale.
- And the point is driven home perfectly with the karaoke short when Shrek serenades her with Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are".
- Toward the end of the karaoke short, Shrek and Fiona sing part of "So Happy Together" to each other:Shrek and Fiona: I can't see me loving nobody but you for all my life.
- Just as they're about to kiss, the executioner takes one of the audience reaction cards and hurriedly scribbles "Aawww" on the back and holds it up for the audience.
- When Shrek and Donkey first meet, Shrek tries (in vain) to scare Donkey off. Soon he just flat-out asks why the little ass won't git:Shrek: Listen, little donkey, take a look at me! What am I?Donkey: Uhhh... Really tall?Shrek: No! I'm an ogre! You know, "Grab your torch and pitchforks!" Doesn't that bother you?Donkey: (shakes his head) Nope.Shrek: (Surprised) ...Really?Donkey: Really really.
- It's the look on Shrek's face that sells it. As we learn later on, Donkey's probably the first person to NOT treat Shrek like a menace to society upon first meeting him.
- Also a bit later, when Shrek laments that he's better off alone because people judge him before getting to know him.Donkey: You know what? When we met, I didn't think you were just a big, stupid, ugly ogre.Shrek: Yeah, I know.
- Afterwards, when Donkey asks if there’s any donkeys in the stars, Shrek answers there’s “Gabby The Small and Annoying.” Him confirming as much, after having spoke of ogres as the stars, is a nice, subtle hint he’s beginning to properly see Donkey as a friend.
- After Shrek and Donkey have their misunderstanding, Donkey still goes back to Shrek's swamp and is willing to reconcile with him, saying, "That's what friends do! They forgive each other!" Then later after Shrek apologizes for his treatment of Donkey, he says, "Hey that's what friends are for, right?" They shake hands and genuinely become best friends.
- The whole relationship between Shrek and Donkey is heartwarming. At first, Shrek sees Donkey as a nuisance and tries to shove him away. But Donkey likes Shrek and does everything he can to become his friend. His sincerity and persistence crack through Shrek's tough shell, allowing him to accept love in his life.
- When you really think about it, it's basically because of Donkey that Shrek and Fiona were able to confess their love for each other—if Donkey hadn't done what he did, Shrek and Fiona probably never would've seen each other after parting ways.
- When the dragon first attacks them and breathes fire at them, Shrek selflessly pushes Donkey out of the way, shouting, "Donkey, look out!" before barely dodging the fire himself, then grabs the dragon's tail to distract her away from Donkey.
- Right after Shrek frees Fiona from her room, he makes it a point to save Donkey first before escaping. Fiona asks why not leave now, and Shrek replies, "Well, I have to save my ass." Shrek could have just left Donkey there, gotten back his swamp, and finally been alone, not to mention this was before their heart-to-heart talk. Shrek probably felt indebted to Donkey for going on the entire journey with him.
- The scene when Shrek is practicing what he is going to say to Fiona when he admits his feelings to her. It's clear this is something he doesn't have much experience with. Shrek, someone who portrayed himself as the scarer, is now the scaree, tripping over his words. It's actually quite sweet.
- For the Karaoke Dance Party postscript, the moment when Shrek serenades Fiona with Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" is deeply charming with the opening lines like "Don't go changing to try and please me/You've never let me down before..."
- While taking a drink at a river, Donkey sees the now heartbroken Dragon crying and walks on over to console her. She immediately cheers up upon seeing him.
- It is double-heartwarming when you realize Donkey probably realized he treated Dragon the way people treated Shrek (when all she did was behave like what she is).
- When Shrek gives all of Farquaad's knights what amounts to a Curb-Stomp Battle, the way the crowd reacts with massive cheers a la a WWE match starting, Shrek playfully acts with it. It's truly heartwarming when you realize that this is probably the first time Shrek has ever gotten a positive reaction out of an established society, even after taking down the people meant to protect it. Cue Victory Pose and Large Ham from Shrek as he tries to milk the moment for what it's worth, at least until Farquaad's knights armed with crossbows ruin the moment.
- During the fight, Donkey asks Shrek to let him tag in and help. Amazingly, Shrek applies and lets Donkey knock out a few of the knights he's fighting. He's already starting to warm up to the beast of burden and realize they can make a good team.
- After Fiona discovers that Shrek is an ogre, she's initially as dismissive of him as everyone else. But after overhearing him telling Donkey how people judge him without even knowing him, she clearly realizes that she hasn't treated him fairly, so the next morning, she prepares breakfast as an apology.
- When Robin Hood is about to kill Shrek, Fiona saves Shrek by knocking Robin Hood unconscious and beating up his merry men. This is when they begin to fall in love with each other.
- When Fiona notices that Shrek got an arrow stuck in his butt after their encounter with Robin Hood and his merry men, she and Donkey react worse to it than Shrek does—while Shrek seems more annoyed by it than anything else, Fiona blames herself for Shrek getting hurt while Donkey goes into a full-on panic.
- The scene around the campfire as Shrek makes weedrats rotisserie style. Fiona sadly reflects on her upcoming marriage to Farquaad, saying how she won't be able to enjoy Shrek's cooking anymore, she perks up when Shrek gives her an open invitation to his swamp, mostly so she can see him again. They then share a held gaze and an Almost Kiss.
- The moment where Shrek apologizes to Fiona for how he treated her and confesses his love right when she's about to kiss Lord Farquaad. When Farquaad encourages the wedding guests to laugh at Shrek for an ogre loving a princess, Fiona, who was initially still upset with Shrek, gets an Everyone Has Standards moment. Realizing Shrek misunderstood her statements earlier, she lets go of Farquaad's hand, and tells Shrek she wanted to show him something. Cue the sun going down, and her transformation occurring, and Fiona makes a weak smile in her ogre form, confirming to Shrek that her statement of 'loving an ugly, hideous beast' was actually directed towards herself, not him. As first, Shrek is shocked, but upon finally understanding the point, he goes, "That explains a lot" and they give sweet smiles to each other.
