Shrek the Halls is a 2007 Christmas Special from Dreamworks Animation starring everyone's favorite green ogre, Shrek.
Shrek discovers on the day before Christmas Eve that Fiona and their children — despite Shrek's insistence to Donkey that they don't care about Christmas — are excited for Christmas. Shrek has never celebrated Christmas before, and immediately runs out and buys a book about how to make the perfect Christmas for his family. Everything works out according to plan... well, until Donkey and the others barge into their house for a wild Christmas party.
Tropes featured in this special:
- At Least I Admit It: Somehow Shrek manages to catch up with the rest of the crew and admits that he may not be nice all the time, but he does care a lot too.Donkey: Even still, Shrek didn't have to be so...Shrek: What?! Pigheaded, stubborn, mean. Well maybe I am all those things, but I'm an ogre, okay?
- Bad Vibrations: Dragon, innocently dancing like Snoopy. She makes the ground shake rhythmically every second or so, causing snow to rain down and decorations to sway.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- The opening shot appears to be a snow-capped green mountain, but is actually an extreme close-up of the bare butt of one of the triplets as Shrek sprinkles it with baby powder.
- The next scene where the gang tries to douse Shrek's butt that was one fire, only to accidentally douse him in the face, we get a close-up of him about to lose it with a teapot whistling in the background, which there actually was.
- Big "NO!": Gingy releases one after seeing Santa eat his girlfriend.
- Bilingual Rhyme: Puss in Boots, while singing a parody of "Feliz Navidad" called "Fleas Navidad", rhymes "Navidad" ("Christmas" in Spanish) with "sad".
- Both Sides Have a Point: While Shrek owes his "guests" an apology for yelling at them and essentially kicking them out, Shrek wasn't wrong to feel frustrated at them for impeding on his attempts to have an ideal Christmas. And although they were no better, Shrek's collective friends were only trying to help him celebrate (even in their own ways).
- Breath Weapon: When Shrek and Fiona are decorating the swamp Fiona uses her breath to shock a red and white striped snake and straighten it out before she bands the top into a candy cane.
- Christmas Creep: Donkey starts announcing the days until Christmas to Shrek in the middle of summer.
- Disaster Dominoes: After Shrek tries to grab the book from Donkey, it goes flying and knocks a mounted head off the wall, which then crashes into the dinner table and flips it over. One piece of food flies into one of the pig's mouths, choking him, and when the others attempt the Heimlich maneuver, the piece comes flying out and knocks over the tree, setting it (and Shrek's rear end) ablaze. The group proceeds to dowse him with water, which finally puts him over his Rage Breaking Point.
- Disappointed in You: Fiona express disappointment in Shrek for kicking everyone out and not understanding the true meaning of Christmas.
- First Snow: Apparently, the triplets are out in the snow for the first time at the beginning.
- The Grinch: Shrek starts off as this, then goes crazy trying to create a perfect Christmas for his family... then serves as this again when Donkey and the others barge in and Hilarity Ensues.Shrek: The thing is, this is my first Christmas too. […] Ogres don't celebrate Christmas… Ogres don't celebrate anything.
- Hammerspace: When Shrek drops his Christmas for Village Idiots book in front of everyone, it seems to just… pop into thin air near Shrek’s body and drop on the the ground.
- Her Code Name Was "Mary Sue":
- Puss in Boots' version of "The Night Before Christmas" has him as a dashing "Santa Claws".
- Shrek's version features himself as "the vile, the foul... and handsome, Ogre Claus."
- Jerkass Realization:
- Shrek regrets throwing Donkey and the other guests out after Fiona calls him out on it.
- Donkey and the others eventually realize that, even if Shrek didn't handle the situation very well, they were also at fault for being incredibly annoying and inconsiderate towards Shrek.
- Left the Background Music On: Done with a sound effect — when Shrek becomes very, very angry, we hear a tea kettle going off. And then it's revealed that the sound is coming from an actual tea kettle.
- My Instincts Are Showing: Puss' story is interrupted when "Santa Claws" notices the pompom at the end of his hat. His eyes grow wide and he starts pawing at it intently. Cut to Puss pawing at a decoration before noticing the others and walking away in shame.
- Parodies for Dummies: To prepare for Christmas, Shrek buys a book titled Christmas for Village Idiots.
- The Parody Before Christmas: The entire special deals with the characters telling their own version of the story:
- Donkey's version involves him wandering around in a Christmas-wonderland with a parade and lots of food. Santa himself is a giant statue made of waffle, which Donkey then eats.
- Puss doesn't even get into the story, because he spends the whole time describing Santa as a "hot, Latin cat" and is then distracted by the fluff on the end of his hat.
- Gingy's version is a horror story about himself and his girlfriend being terrorized by Santa while hanging out at a Make-Out Point.
- Shrek's version feature himself as "Ogre-Claus", who shows up to make the house more disgusting, befitting an ogre-family Christmas.
- Pseudo-Santa: In Donkey's "Night Before Christmas" parody, Santa is made of waffles, in Puss's, he's a Latin cat like himself who's distracted by his own hat, and in Shrek's, he's a gross ogre named Ogre Claus. Only Gingy depicts an actual Santa in his poem.
- Rage Breaking Point: Shrek reaches this when he is doused in the face with water after his house is destroyed. He takes his anger out on the guests in the process.Shrek: OUT!! I want everyone out of my house, right now!
- Rump Roast: After the Disaster Dominoes moment, Shrek accidentally bumps the Christmas tree into the fireplace and it burns his butt.
- Shout-Out:
- Donkey refers to Shrek as "Ebenezer Shrek".
- In Gingy's story, Santa roars like Godzilla.
- At one point, the Dragon does the same dance that Snoopy does in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Donkey mentions early on that "without marshmallows, sweet potatoes are nothing!" Later, when Shrek is shopping at the village, he sees late shoppers in a panic, and one of them is saying the same thing.
- Terror At Makeout Point: In Gingy's story, he and his girlfriend are enjoying a night in their car when a huge Santa Claus appears and eats the girlfriend.Donkey: That is the most ridiculous story I've ever heard. And you know that's not how it goes.Gingy: You weren't there!
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Donkey really calls Shrek out on kicking the Fairytale gang out of his house after they put him up to the limit.Donkey: Yeah? Well, that's a real nice way to treat your guests on Christmas. And if you think, I'm gonna give you a present now, you are sadly mistaken!
Shrek: You wanna give me a present, then go away! That's all I wanted!
Donkey: Fine! I'm going.
Shrek: Good! Then go!
Donkey: You go and have yourself a Merry Christmas... Ebenezer Shrek!
Shrek: And a "Bah, Humbug" to you, too! - Following this, Fiona becomes disappointed in Shrek after he takes his anger out on his friends by throwing them out on Christmas.Shrek: Fiona? Where are you going?
Fiona: Shrek, you just kicked everybody out on Christmas.
Shrek: That wasn't Christmas. That was chaos!
Fiona: Look, I know it didn't go as you wanted.
Shrek: What I wanted was a perfect Christmas for me and my family.
Fiona: That was our family!
Shrek: You call that a family? That was a natural disaster!
Fiona: On Christmas, that's how it works. Yes, it was crowded. Yes, it got a little out of hand.
Shrek: Fiona, they lit me on fire!
Fiona: Shrek...
Shrek: I had everything under control until they showed up and ruined my Christmas!
Fiona: Your Christmas?
Shrek: I mean our Christmas, for you and the babies.
Fiona: Christmas isn't just about you or me, or even the babies. You just don't get it. I have to go. I need to apologize to our friends.
Shrek: Fiona, wait...
- Donkey really calls Shrek out on kicking the Fairytale gang out of his house after they put him up to the limit.
