Shrek 2

Shrek 2 is a 2004 American computer-animated, comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon. It is the sequel to 2001's Shrek and the second installment in the Shrek film franchise. The film stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz, who reprise their respective voice roles of Shrek, Donkey, and 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 her 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 swashbuckling cat named Puss in Boots to foil her plans.

Development began in 2001, and following disagreements with producers, the screenwriters from the first film 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.

Shrek 2 premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or, and it was released in theatres on May 19, 2004. Met with favorable reviews like its predecessor, the film grossed $919.8 million worldwide. It scored the second-largest, three-day opening weekend in US 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 worldwide. Shrek 2 is also DreamWorks' most successful film to date, and it held the title of being the highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide until 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 reached the Top 10 on the US Billboard 200. A sequel entitled Shrek the Third was released in 2007.

Plot
Newlyweds Shrek and Fiona return from their honeymoon to find they have been invited by Fiona's parents to a royal ball to celebrate their marriage. Shrek refuses to go at first, but Fiona talks him into it, and 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 both their daughter and son-in-law are ogres, with Harold particularly repulsed. At dinner, Shrek and Harold get into a heated argument over how Shrek and Fiona will raise their family, and Fiona, disgusted at Shrek and Harold's behavior, locks herself away in her room that evening. Shrek worries that he has lost his true love, particularly after finding her childhood diary and reading that she was once infatuated with Prince Charming.

Harold is reprimanded by the Fairy Godmother and her son Prince Charming by reminding him that Charming was to marry Fiona in exchange for his own happy ending, where he was transformed from a frog into a human in order to marry Lillian. She implores him to find a way of getting rid of Shrek. Harold arranges for Shrek and Donkey to join him on a fictitious hunting trip, which is actually a trap to lure them into the hands of an assassin, Puss in Boots. Unable to defeat Shrek, Puss reveals that he was paid by Harold and offers to come along and make amends. The three sneak into the Fairy Godmother's potion factory and steal a "Happily Ever After" potion that Shrek thinks will restore Fiona's love for him.

Shrek and Donkey both drink the potion and fall into a deep sleep, awakening the next morning to discover its effects: Shrek is now a handsome man while Donkey has turned into an elegant white stallion. In order to make the change permanent, Shrek must kiss Fiona by midnight. Shrek, Donkey and Puss return to the castle to discover that the potion has transformed Fiona back into her former human self as well. However, the Fairy Godmother, having discovered the potion's theft, intercepts Shrek and sends Charming to pose as him and win Fiona's love. At the Fairy Godmother's urging, Shrek leaves the castle, thinking that the best way to make Fiona happy is to let her go.

To ensure that Fiona falls in love with Charming, 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 guards and thrown into a dungeon. While the royal ball begins, several of Shrek's friends band together to free the trio with the help of The Muffin Man's monster-sized gingerbread man, which breaks through the castle's defenses. Shrek is too late to prevent Charming from kissing Fiona, but instead of falling in love with Charming, Fiona knocks him out with a headbutt. Harold reveals that he never gave Fiona the love potion, whereupon the now-enraged Fairy Godmother attacks Shrek. In the ensuing melee, Harold sacrifices himself to save Shrek; his armor ricochets a spell cast by the Fairy Godmother which disintegrates her, and Harold is turned back into the Frog Prince. Harold gives his blessing to the marriage and apologizes for his earlier behavior, admitting his use of the Happily Ever After potion years earlier.

As the clock strikes midnight, Shrek and Fiona happily let the potion's effects wear off and revert to their ogre forms, while Donkey changes back to his natural form as well. In the mid-credits scene, Dragon, who had previously romanced and married Donkey, reveals that they now have several dragon-donkey hybrid babies, much to his surprise.

Cast

 * Mike Myers as Shrek
 * Eddie Murphy as Donkey
 * Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
 * Julie Andrews as Queen Lillian
 * Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots
 * John Cleese as King Harold
 * Rupert Everett as Prince Charming
 * Jennifer Saunders as Fairy Godmother
 * Joan Rivers (US) and Kate Thornton (UK) as Red Carpet Announcer
 * Larry King (US) and Jonathan Ross (UK) as Doris the Ugly Stepsister
 * Aron Warner as Big Bad Wolf
 * Cody Cameron as Pinocchio and The Three Little Pigs
 * Christopher Knights and Simon J Smith as Three Blind Mice
 * Conrad Vernon as Gingerbread Man, Muffin Man, Mongo, Cedric and Announcer
 * Chris Miller as Magic Mirror
 * Mark Moseley as Dresser
 * Kelly Cooney as Fast Food Clerk
 * Kelly Asbury as Page; Elf, Nobleman and Nobleman's son
 * Andrew Adamson as Captain of the Guard


 * Cameos
 * Joan Rivers' cameo marked the first time that a real person had been represented on screen by the Shrek animation team. Her part (though retaining her visual representation) was redubbed by presenter Kate Thornton for the United Kingdom release.
 * On the DVD special features and in the U.S. edition VHS (just before the credits), Simon Cowell appears as himself on Far Far Away Idol, a parody of American Idol. (see Home Media)

Production
In 2001, soon after the original Shrek proved to be a hit, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz negotiated an upfront payment of $10 million each for voicing a sequel to the film. That was significant rise from the $350,000 salary they were paid for the first film. According to Jeffrey Katzenberg, the executive producer of Shrek 2 and a co-founder of DreamWorks, who led the negotiations, the payments were probably the highest in the actors' entire careers. Each of the actors were expected to work between 15 and 18 hours in total. The film was produced with a US$70 million budget.

The screenwriters for the first film, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, insisted the film to be a traditional fairytale, but after disagreements with the producers, they left the project and were replaced by director Andrew Adamson. His writing of the film was inspired from Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, with the help of the co-directors for the film, who had spent most of the film's production in Northern California while Adamson spent most of the time with the voice actors in Glendale, California.

DreamWorks began production in 2001, which was actually before the first film was even completed. DreamWorks made sure there was something new to see in Shrek 2 by putting more human characters in the film than there were in its predecessor and improving their appearance, with the use of a few systems that dealt with hair and fur to improve its appearance and movement. The set up for all the characters was done in the first three years of production. Puss in Boots required a whole new set of tools in the film to handle his fur, belt and feather plume in his hat. The character also required an upgrade in the fur shader for his introduction in the film.

In an early version of Shrek 2, Shrek abdicated the throne, and called for a fairy tale election. Pinocchio's campaign was the "honesty" campaign, while Gingy's was a "smear" campaign. Director Andrew Adamson said it was overtly satiric and political, with many funny ideas, but "it was more intellectual than emotional".

According to production designer Guillaume Aretos, Shrek 2 appeared to be a lot darker than the original film; "There are a lot of medieval paintings and illustrations that we used quite a bit also. Other than that there are my own influences, which are classical paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries, but those are not as direct. In fact, nothing was absolutely direct. The design of Shrek is always a twist on reality anyway, so we tried to [pack] as much detail and interest as we could in the imagery."

Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack features the song "Accidentally in Love" by Counting Crows, which the band's singer and songwriter Adam Duritz believes "fits into the movie because it's the story of people who fall in love who weren't supposed to fall in love." The soundtrack was composed by Harry Gregson Williams.

Cultural references
Like its predecessor, Shrek 2 also acts as somewhat of a parody film, targeting adapted children's fantasies (mainly those adapted by Disney); and like other DreamWorks animated films, also features references to American popular culture:
 * The mermaid that washes up on Shrek in the beginning of the film bears strong resemblance to Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid.
 * The scene where Shrek makes Fiona a wedding ring replicates the scenes from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring where the rings are forged and where the Ring "falls" onto Frodo's finger.
 * The scene where Shrek is kissed by Fiona while hung upside down in a trap with mud on his face (which Fiona wipes off like a mask) is a reference to Spider-Man.
 * The trumpeter who continues playing after the rest of the group, when Fiona is receiving an invitation from her parents to return, is playing the original Hawaii Five-O theme song.
 * Elements and landmarks in the fictional kingdom of Far Far Away bear reference to elements and landmarks of Southern California, particularly those of the Los Angeles area and Hollywood. The kingdom features a "Far Far Away" sign modeled after the famous Hollywood Sign.
 * Several parodies of well-known businesses exist in Far Far Away, such as "Farbucks", a parody of Starbucks, "Baskin Robbinhood", a parody of Baskin Robbins, "Saxxon Fifth Avenue", a parody of Saks Fifth Avenue, "Burger Prince", a parody of Burger King, "Abercrombie & Witch", a parody of Abercrombie & Fitch, "Pewtery Barn", a parody of Pottery Barn, "Armani Armoury", a parody of Armani, "Barney's Old York", a parody of Barneys New York, "Tower of London Records", a parody of Tower Records, "Versarchery", a play on the designer label Versace, and "Old Knavery", a parody of Old Navy.
 * The scene where Shrek, Fiona, and Fiona's parents furiously shout each other's names (with Donkey cheerfully calling his own name) after their dinner is ruined is a reference to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
 * When the Fairy Godmother appears to Fiona on her balcony when she sheds a tear due to the fight at dinner, the gold dress in which she makes Fiona wear, blows upward in a reference to the Marilyn Monroe film The Seven Year Itch.
 * "Friar's Fat Boy" restaurant which King Harold, Fairy Godmother and Charming "drive-thru" references the Southern California restaurant chain, Bob's Big Boy.
 * The character Puss in Boots is based on Zorro, a character played by Antonio Banderas, who also voices Puss. His behavior references Zorro as he appeared in the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro.
 * When Puss is attacking Shrek and crawls through his shirt, he bursts out of the front, a reference to the chestburster scene from the 1979 film Alien.
 * Donkey yells out "I'm melting!" when it starts to rain, which is a reference to the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.
 * During a scene inside the bar The Poison Apple, Puss in Boots drinks a shot of milk and says, "I hate Mondays," a reference to the catchphrase of the comic strip cat Garfield.
 * The television show Knights, shown in the third act of the film, is a reference to the crime-centered reality show Cops, with Puss's catnip substituting for marijuana and pepper mills substituting for pepper spray.
 * When Shrek is being chased by the knights, the television announcer says Shrek is riding a "white bronco" (Donkey), a reference to when O. J. Simpson was chased in a white Ford Bronco.
 * When the fairy tale creatures rescue Shrek, Donkey and Puss, Pinocchio dives in the prison tower attached to puppet strings, a reference to Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible. The theme music can be heard in the background as well.
 * As the Muffin Man creates the giant gingerbread man, lightning flashes behind his house and Gingy shouts "It's alive!", a reference to Frankenstein.
 * Shrek calls the giant gingerbread man “Mongo,” a reference to the similarly dim-witted but incredibly strong character of the same name in Blazing Saddles.
 * When Mongo sinks into the moat in front of the castle, he says "Be good" to Gingy, referencing E.T. (Steven Spielberg, director of E.T., was a co-founder of Dreamworks).

Release
In April 2004, the film was selected for to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Shrek 2 was originally scheduled for release on June 18, 2004. The film was then moved forward from June 18, 2004, to May 21, 2004; however, due to "fan demand", it was released two days earlier from May 21, 2004, to May 19, 2004. A day before the film went to theaters, the first five minutes were shown on Nickelodeon's U-Pick Live.

Playing in 4,163 theaters over its first weekend in the United States, Shrek 2 was the first film with over 4,000 theaters in overall count; over 3,700 theaters was its count for an opening day.

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 Studios in 2018.

Home media
Shrek 2 was released on VHS and DVD on November 5, 2004 and on Game Boy Advance Video on November 17, 2005. A 3D-converted version of the film was released exclusively with select Samsung television sets on Blu-ray on December 1, 2010, along with the other three films of the series. A non-3D version was released on December 7, 2010, as part of Shrek: The Whole Story, and a stand-alone Blu-ray/DVD combo pack was released individually on August 30, 2011, along with the other two films of the series. A stand-alone 3D Blu-ray version of the film was released on November 1, 2011. The DVD release features two full-length commentary tracks, one by co-directors Conrad Vernon and Kelly Asbury, and a second by producer Aron Warner and editor Michael Andrews.

Far Far Away Idol
Far Far Away Idol is a special feature on the DVD and VHS release based on American Idol and guest starring Simon Cowell. Taking place right after Shrek 2 ends, the short features characters from Shrek compete in a sing-off while being judged by Shrek, Fiona, and Cowell.

After the performances, on the DVD release, the viewer gets to pick the winner. However, if any character outside of Shrek (along with Princess Fiona), Donkey, or Puss were selected, Cowell would refuse to accept the winner and proclaim himself the victor, leaping onto a table and performing his "own" rendition of "My Way". At the end of the VHS release, it gives a link to a website where the viewer can vote for their favorite to determine the ultimate winner. DreamWorks Animation announced on November 8, 2004, three days after the DVD and VHS release, that after over 750,000 votes cast, the winner of the competition was Doris.

Box office
The film opened at #1 with a Friday-to-Sunday total of $108 million, and $129 million since its Wednesday launch, from a then-record 4,163 theaters, for an average of $25,952 per theater over the weekend. At the time Shrek 2s Friday-to-Sunday total was the second-highest opening weekend, only trailing Spider-Mans $114.8 million. In addition, Saturday alone managed to obtain $44.8 million, making it the highest single-day gross at the time, beating Spider-Man's first Saturday gross of $43.6 million. The film remained at No. 1 in its second weekend, grossing another $95.6 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, narrowly beating out the $85.8 million four-day tally of new opener The Day After Tomorrow. It spent ten weeks in the weekly Top 10 and remaining there until July 29, and stayed in theaters for 149 days (roughly twenty-one weeks), closing on November 25, 2004. The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2004, and topped the country's box office for the next two weekends, before being dethroned by Spider-Man 2.

The film grossed $441.2 million domestically (US and Canada) and $478.6 million in foreign markets for a total of $919.8 milion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of both 2004 and in its franchise. This also puts the film at 14th on the all-time domestic box office list and 42nd on the worldwide box office list. The film sold an estimated 71,050,900 tickets in the US.

The film also took away the highest worldwide gross made by an animated feature, which was before held by Finding Nemo (2003), although the latter still had a higher overseas-only gross. With DVD sales and Shrek 2 merchandise estimated to total almost $800 million, the film (which was produced with a budget of $150 million) is DreamWorks' most profitable film to date.

Shrek 2 remained the highest-grossing animated film worldwide until the release of Toy Story 3 (2010), and held the record for the highest-grossing animated film at the North American box office until the release of Finding Dory (2016) as well as the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film at this box office. Disney's 3D re-releases of The Lion King (in 2011) and Finding Nemo (in 2012), Despicable Me 2 (in 2013), Disney's Frozen (also in 2013), Minions (in 2015), Zootopia (in 2016), Finding Dory (also in 2016), Despicable Me 3 (in 2017), and Incredibles 2 (in 2018) respectively, surpassed Shrek 2 and relegated it as the eleventh-highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Critical response
On film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 234 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It may not be as fresh as the original, but topical humor and colorful secondary characters make Shrek 2 a winner in its own right." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, saying it is "bright, lively, and entertaining", and Robert Denerstein of Denver Rocky Mountain News called it "sharply funny". James Kendrick praised the plot, calling it "familiar, but funny". J. R. Jones of the Chicago Reader called it "unassailable family entertainment", similar to the first film. Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post called it "better and funnier than the original".

Though he wrote that it is not as good as the first film, Kevin Lally of Film Journal International described it as "inventive and often very funny". Peter Rainer of New York magazine stated the film "manages to undo much of what made its predecessor such a computer-generated joy ride."

Accolades
Shrek 2 was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. It won five awards at the 31st People's Choice Awards: Favorite Animated Movie, Favorite Animated Movie Star for "Donkey" (Eddie Murphy), Favorite Movie Comedy, and Favorite Movie Villain for "Fairy Godmother" (Jennifer Saunders), and Favorite Sequel. It also won a Teen Choice Award in the category of Choice Award Choice Movie – Comedy. The film was nominated at the 3rd Visual Effects Society Awards in the category of "Outstanding Performance by an Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture."

Along with Shark Tale, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to The Incredibles. One of the film's songs, "Accidentally in Love" received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated the film for its Top 10 Animation Films list.

Video games

 * Shrek 2 (Shrek 2: Team Action) (2004)
 * Shrek 2 Activity Center: Twisted Fairy Tale Fun (2004)
 * Shrek 2: Beg for Mercy (2004)
 * Shrek Super Slam (2005)
 * Shrek Smash n' Crash Racing (2006)

Sequels and spin-offs
Shrek 2 has two sequels; they are Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After. A spin-off film Puss in Boots was released on October 28, 2011, and focuses on the character of Puss in Boots, who was introduced in this film.