Shrek 2
Info and Spoiler
mainstream movie
Shrek 2, which was released in the US on May 19, 2004, is the 2004 sequel to the 2001 computer animated DreamWorks Pictures film Shrek. In April 2004, the film was selected for competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. There are more Shrek movies to follow, according to Jeffrey Katzenberg: "We didn't have the guts to tell anybody when we started out, we have two more chapters to tell. Not unlike Peter Jackson did with The Lord of the Rings. The difference is they did have the guts to make all three of them 'back to back to back'".
Shrek 2 scored the fourth largest three day opening weekend in US history, as well as the largest opening for an animated movie ever. As of 2006, it is the 3rd highest box office grossing film of all time in the United States. Worldwide, it is the seventh highest grossing film. It went on to be the most successful film in 2004. The associated soundtrack reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200.
Voice cast
Main article: Cast of Shrek
Main
cast
Mike Myers - Shrek the Ogre/Human Shrek
Cameron Diaz - Princess Fiona/Fiona
the Ogre
Eddie Murphy - Donkey/Donkey as a White Stallion
Julie Andrews
- Queen Lillian
Antonio Banderas - Puss in Boots
John Cleese - King Harold
Rupert Everett - Prince Charming
Jennifer Saunders - Fairy Godmother
Guillaume
Aretos - Receptionist
Kelly Asbury - Page/Elf/Nobleman/Nobleman's Son
Cody
Cameron - Pinocchio/ Three Pigs
Kelly Cooney - Fast Food Clerk
Larry King/Jonathan
Ross(UK version only) - Doris, the Ugly Stepsister
Chris Knights - Blind Mouse
Mark Moseley - Mirror/ Dresser
Alina Phelan - Maiden #1/ Generic Female
#2
Joan Rivers/Kate Thornton(UK version only) - Herself
Erika Thomas -
Maiden #2
Conrad Vernon - Gingerbread Man/Cedric/Announcer/Muffin Man/ Mongo
Aron Warner - Big Bad Wolf
Simon Cowell - Some people wouls say he is
the Boooo Big Bad Wolf as himself (DVD version only)
Production
Another
unusual item was Joan Rivers' cameo - this marked the first time that a real person
had been represented on screen by the Shrek animation team. The DVD version of
the film includes a second real life cameo with an appearance by Simon Cowell
in the "Far Far Away Idol" bonus feature.
Release
Shrek
2 was originally going to release in June 2004. A day before the movie went to
theaters, the first five minutes were shown on Nickelodeon's U-Pick Live.
It was the first film with over 4,000 theaters in overall count; over 3,700 theaters was its count for an opening day. SpiderMan 2 was the first film with over 4,000 theaters for an opening day and second for overall counts.
TV releases
This
film had its US network television premiere on November 24, 2006, airing on ABC
at 8 PM/7 PM ET/CT.
The film has not yet appeared on British terrestrial television.
The film appeared on FOX Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela,
etc.) on February 4, 2007, after intensive publicity since TV broadcast of Garfield
on December 31, 2006
The film was aired on TVN in Poland on March 2, 2007
The film was aired on ProSieben in Germany on April 6, 2007
Reception
Box office
Shrek 2 spent a total of 21 weeks in theaters, closing on November
25, 2004. It grossed about $440 million domestically (USA and Canada) and totaled
just under one billion USD worldwide. This puts the movie at third on the all-time
domestic box office list and seventh on the worldwide box-office list. It was
also the number one grossing movie of 2004. With DVD sales and Shrek 2 merchandise
are estimated to total almost $800 million USD, this is DreamWorks most profitable
movie to date.
Budget - $70,000,000
Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic)
- $108,037,878
Total Domestic Grosses - $441,226,247
Total Overseas Grosses
- $479,439,411
Total Worldwide Grosses - $920,665,658
Plot
SPOILER
Once
upon a time, there was a beautiful princess who had fallen under a curse to transform
her to an ogre every night at sundown. Her fairy godmother told her parents to
lock her in a tower guarded by a terrible, fire-breathing dragon until her true
love could rescue her and break her from the spell with his kiss. A man in armor,
Prince Charming (also the narrator in the first scenes), is shown racing to the
castle through adverse conditions, climbing to the Princess’ room —
only to find the Big Bad Wolf lounging in her bed and reading a magazine. Princess
Fiona is already rescued, married, and on her honeymoon.
Shrek and Fiona return from their honeymoon to find Donkey in Shrek’s house, where they learn he and Fiona's dragon guardian are having relationship problems so Donkey moved out since Dragon is becoming moody lately. Shrek disagrees, and as Donkey is thrown out, heralds from the kingdom of Far Far Away arrive to invite the Princess Fiona and Shrek to receive the blessing of her royal parents. Shrek balks and claims that her parents aren’t likely to accept him, but after a brief but heated argument, the couple and Donkey depart for Far Far Away, which bores Donkey and says "Are we there yet?" when they are at an area but they eventually made it to the kingdom and met with Fiona's parents, King Harold and Queen Lilian.
King Harold, Fiona’s father, confirms Shrek’s fears and becomes extremely angry when he discovers the truth about his daughter’s new husband. As Harold and wife Lillian settle down to go to sleep after a dinner argument, Fiona returns crying to her room. There, her Fairy Godmother appears, and after being somewhat surprised by Fiona’s ogre like appearance, promises to make everything better. Shrek appears and Godmother realizes what has happened, causing her to leave in something of a hurry.
Shortly thereafter, Harold is visited by the Fairy Godmother. She is angry with Harold for ‘allowing’ the marriage to take place (despite having had no control over it), and it is revealed that her son, Prince Charming, was supposed to marry Fiona as part of a deal between the Fairy Godmother and King Harold. As they stop at a fast food restaurant, the Fairy Godmother subtly suggests that Harold have Shrek killed, and Harold heads to an unsavory pub called the Poison Apple Bar to hire an "ogre killer".
Harold says he wishes to get a better start on their relationship and tells Shrek to meet him in the woods the next day, "to go hunting." There, Shrek and Donkey are jumped by the King’s assassin, Puss in Boots. After Shrek foils Puss’ attack, but does not attack him in return, Puss swears his life to Shrek, in thanks for Shrek sparing him. Taking an idea from Fairy Godmother’s business card (which was left with Fiona), the three decide to head to the Fairy Godmother’s office, which turns out to be a huge factory. They walk in on the Fairy Godmother preparing a potion, and are promptly dismissed after Fairy Godmother tells Shrek that there are no happy endings for ogres. Shrek and his friends disguise themselves as employees and break into the potion room. They set off an alarm and barely escape Fairy Godmother’s guards, but not before making off with a “Happily Ever After” potion.
Shrek, Donkey, and Puss begin walking back to Far Far Away. After some discussion, Shrek decides to drink the potion, but Donkey drinks it first to make sure it’s safe. After nothing immediately happens to Donkey, Shrek finishes off the bottle. It begins to rain and the three take shelter in a nearby barn. After some further argument, Donkey tries to cheer his best friend up but he suddenly collapses followed shortly by Shrek. Back at the castle, Fiona is worried about Shrek, who had left very early in the morning to meet Harold in the woods, and informs her parents she will find Shrek and they will go back to the swamp. However, at the door to the castle, she also collapses and is taken to her room by her parents.
During the rainy night, Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona undergo a transformation that is not revealed until the morning: Shrek into a handsome prince, Donkey into a stunning white stallion, and Fiona into her original human appearance from the first movie. Shrek rides off to Fiona’s parents' castle to greet her. However, at the castle, Shrek makes his way to Fiona's room and she makes her way to the castle entrance, but they have taken different routes and pass by each other. Inside Fiona’s room, the Fairy Godmother traps Shrek, while Prince Charming introduces himself to Fiona as the new, transformed Shrek. Fiona is initially confused, but uneasily accepts this as truth. Shrek, watching from the window as the scene of Fiona and Charming hugging then going back inside the castle, becomes dejected. He then takes the Fairy Godmother’s advice to let Fiona go and leaves.
Donkey, Shrek, and Puss are all sitting dejected at the Poison Apple (the pub where Harold hired Puss) when Shrek spots a cloaked Harold sneaking into a private meeting room. He, Donkey and Puss go outside to spy through the window. They find out that Harold is meeting with Charming and the Fairy Godmother, who explain that Harold must slip Fiona a love potion so that when she kisses Charming, she will fall in love with him. Harold refuses until the Fairy Godmother threatens to take away his own “happily ever after”. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss watch quietly from outside the window, but when Charming addresses Fairy Godmother as “mother,” Donkey blows their cover. Shrek and his friends flee while the Fairy Godmother sends her men-at-arms after them.
Back at Shrek’s swamp, several of Shrek's friends from the first movie, the Three Blind Mice, the Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf, the Gingerbread man, and Pinnochio, are watching a broadcast of the red carpet at the royal wedding ball, using the Magic Mirror as a television. They catch a promo for an upcoming episode of “Knights,” (a parody of "COPS") which shows a white stallion, an orange cat, and a handsome man being chased and finally arrested. Shrek’s friends notice that these perpetrators are Shrek, Donkey and Puss being thrown into the prison wagon as Shrek identifies himself madly and asks for Fiona. They then set out to Far Far Away to rescue him.
Fiona is nervous about the upcoming wedding ball, citing displeasure with the “changes” in Shrek. Harold brings two cups of tea to her room (one of which is laced with love potion) and has a heart-to-heart with her in which she explains that she loved the old, “ugly,” uncouth Shrek for who he was. As she reaches for a cup of tea, Harold stops her and takes the cup she was going to drink from, explaining that he drinks decaffeinated or it will keep him up at night.
Shrek’s friends show up to spring him, Donkey, and Puss from the deepest, darkest dungeon where no escape is made, and they devise a plan to storm the castle and stop the royal ball. They head to Drury Lane where they have the Muffin Man, the Gingerbread Man's creator, make them a giant (though mentally simple) gingerbread man named Mongo. As Shrek rides Mongo to the castle to break in, Prince Charming begins dancing with Fiona and forcibly trying to kiss her (to activate the love potion), but she keeps rebuffing him. Shrek makes it to the castle, though Mongo is doused with boiling milk and falls into the moat where Gingerbread Man is left to mourn and lets the others in. Then, along with Puss and Donkey, Shrek races his way to a courtyard where a ball was taking place. The castle knights give chase, and Puss falls back to repay his debt to Shrek by holding them off so that Shrek may continue.
Just as Charming is about to kiss Fiona, Shrek arrives and stops them, enraging the Fairy Godmother. A struggle ensues in which many parties fumble to get Fairy Godmother’s wand away from her, but Donkey and Puss eventually get ahold of it. She uses a last ditch maneuver and tells Charming to kiss Fiona. It appears as though the love potion took effect, but Fiona headbutts Charming, and Harold reveals that he never gave her the potion. While Shrek and Fiona are reunited, Prince Charming gets a hold of the wand and tosses it to the Fairy Godmother. She proceeds to turn on Shrek, claiming once again that there are no happy endings for ogres. She sends a bolt of magical energy at him to take away his "happily ever after", but King Harold dives in front to save Shrek and is hit instead, sacrificing himself. The bolt also reflects off of his reflective metal breastplate and strikes the Fairy Godmother, causing her to turn into dozens of bubbles that pop and rain on the ground. King Harold is thought to be dead but since the bolt was only magic, he was transformed into a bullfrog, and reveals that he is the Frog Prince, whom the Fairy Godmother transformed into a human years ago so that he could win the love of Queen Lillian. He apologizes for his behavior and gives his royal blessing. Lillian forgives Harold and still accepts him as her husband.
As the clock strikes midnight, Shrek tells Fiona that if they kiss, they will remain as they are. Fiona tells Shrek that she loved him for who he was and that he didn’t need to change for her. Within a matter of seconds, the potion wears off and Shrek and Fiona begin to transform back into their ogre forms and the potion makes Donkey, to his dismay, turning back into his original appearance. The movie, like its prequel, ends with a musical montage, with cast members (led by Puss and Donkey) singing and dancing to Ricky Martin’s "Livin' La Vida Loca".
Before part of the credits roll, a feeling-lonely Donkey is shown alone crying and singing “All By Myself”; Dragon arrives at the area and is reconciled with Donkey. Then, Dragon shows her husband a group of six dragon-donkey babies, implying that her previous moodiness were signs of pregnancy. After the screen turns black, Donkey comically says, "I gotta get a job".
Other
When Shrek
attempts to crowdsurf but lands on the dog, the dog wets itself just before being
squashed by Shrek.
The music on Shrek and Fiona's arrival at the castle is
in the style of Handel.
The character Puss in Boots speaks a lot of Spanish
dialogue, due to the Spanish nature of Antonio Banderas. For example, when he
falls off Donkey after stealing clothes for Shrek he says "¡Eh, tú,
pedazo de carne con patas! ¡¿Cómo te atreves a hacerme esto?!"
which translates as "Hey, you piece of meat with feet! How dare you do this
to me?!"
Antonio Banderas himself did the dubbing for his character in
Spanish in the 2 versions for Latin America and Spain.
Fiona has a poster
of a knight named Sir Justin. Cameron Diaz's boyfriend at the time was Justin
Timberlake. According to the filmmaker commentary, they didn't know that they
were dating at the time.
When Shrek's ring for Fiona lands on her finger and
glows "I Love You", the ring collection sound from the Sonic the Hedgehog
games can be heard.
When Mongo (or as Shrek refers to him at one point, "Ye
great stupid pastry!") tries to drink out of a massive decorative coffee
cup on top of a Farbucks (Starbucks), the patrons inside flee across the street...directly
into another Farbucks (a play on the seeming omnipresence of Starbucks). This
also references one of Lewis Black's stand-up performances, where he saw a Starbucks
across from a Starbucks, and the story of two character's first meeting in the
film Best in Show.
In the King and Queen's bedchamber is a poster of Link
riding Epona from the game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (This was used
without permission from Nintendo who owns the rights to The Legend of Zelda franchise.
Burger King was the host for inflatable Shrek promotions on top of their buildings.
Nationwide, 2 were stolen, in which one was used as a senior prank and set on
the entrance to the local high school in Charlotte, Michigan
This is dedicated
in memory of William Steig, who passed away during production.
Far Far
Away Idol songs
At the end of the Shrek 2 DVD, Shrek, Fiona, and Simon Cowell
(main judge on both Pop Idol and American Idol) judge a Pop Idol like contest
called Far Far Away Idol. Here were the numbers:
Donkey sings The Trammps'
"Disco Inferno", with his wife, a dragon from the first movie, blowing
fire
Pinocchio sings Styx's "Mr. Roboto"
Doris, the Ugly Stepsister
(voiced by Larry King) sings Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun"
The Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs sing Duran Duran "Hungry Like
a Wolf"
Prince Charming sings Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy"
The Three Blind Mice sing Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now"
Gingerbread Man (also known as Gingy) and a fairy (Most likely Tinker Bell
from "Peter Pan") sings The Archies' "Sugar, Sugar"
Captain
Hook sings Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling"
Puss in Boots sings
Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"
Shrek and Fiona
sing The Romantics' "What I Like About You"
If someone other than
Shrek and Fiona, Donkey, or Puss in Boots wins, Simon Cowell sings Frank Sinatra's
"My Way."
Shrek and Fiona won the online Far Far Away Idol.
An error occurs during Shrek's transformations: When he becomes human, he retains and subsequently discards his ogre clothes. However, when he transforms back, his ogre clothes reappear, as does Fiona's green dress. Also, since Donkey drank some of the potion, it could have affected his love, Dragon, as well. According to commentary on the DVD they had originally planned for Dragon to show up in her new form: a pretty, pink Pegasus but decided against it.
Film
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