I am not going to be censoring anything in this blog. It’s Shrek. If you haven’t seen it by now you have bigger problems to face than reading spoilers. Because of this I am also going to skip the summary, this whole post will basically be a judged summary. So I will just go through the entire movie highlighting my favorite parts and parts I didn’t like.
The movie’s intro is simply showing the daily routine of a swamp-dwelling ogre named Shrek, while also providing some actor credits to the song “All-star” by smash mouth. It is a very funny intro. He also scares away an angry mob and then smiles, showing he knows he is not to be messed with and he likes being alone in his swamp. The mob runs away but drops a “Wanted” sign for fairy-tale creatures behind. This sparks his curiosity. The next scene is where Donkey is introduced. There is a big line full of villagers trying to cash in their rewards for capturing these creatures, and as a talking donkey, he qualifies.
Donkey manages to escape, but the Kingdom’s guards chase him right into Shrek, where Shrek then scares the guards away, and in Donkey’s eyes, saves him. This is where they first meet. I love the contrast between these characters. Shrek, a big, mean introverted ogre, seeking only isolation, and Donkey, a loud, humorous, outgoing extrovert, looking for friends. Donkey follows Shrek home as he frequently tells Donkey to leave him alone, but Donkey doesn’t take the hint and instead compliments Shrek, which catches him by surprise. Some Foreshadowing to a future friendship. Shrek still doesn’t manage to get rid of Donkey, so he makes him sleep outside. When night falls, Shrek becomes aware that all the fairy tale creatures have fled to his swamp as a safe-haven, which infuriates Shrek. He then decides to go to the king that is ordering the captures of all the creatures and put an end to it, in attempt to get rid of the unwanted visitors, taking Donkey along with him.
The next scene is the king, Lord Farquaad torturing the Gingerbread man for information about the location of the escaped creatures. He realizes he isn’t making progress so decides to get his “yes-man” (the magic mirror) to hype him up and make him feel better. Instead, the mirror tells him he isn’t the greatest king because he has no queen. He then orders a competition to see which of his knights is the best for him to send to rescue princess Fiona for him to marry. This is about the same time Shrek and Donkey show up. Shrek easily beats up all the knights and makes a deal that if he gets princess Fiona, then he has to remove all the creatures from his swamp. The king agrees and sends Shrek and Donkey on their way.
On the way to the tower, Shrek still tries to get rid of Donkey by insulting him, but Donkey shows his true loyalty to Shrek and stays with him. After saving the princess from the dragon guarded tower, Shrek tells her that he isn’t the man she will marry. She is confused because thats “not how its supposed to go” she has a secret that nobody knows about and it is that she turns into an ogre herself at night and to break the curse she must find “true love’s kiss” On their long journey back to Farquaad, the three of them bond the whole way. Shrek begins to take a liking to Donkey and also develops a crush on Fiona. They fight Robin Hood together to prevent her from being kidnapped and then camp for the night. She begins talking to donkey in private about her ogre self and asking if she will ever find love, Shrek over hears and thinks its about him, so he ends his second thoughts about delivering her to the King, and goes to get him. Then it shows Shrek going back to his swamp all heat broken and stuff and it shows Fiona prepping for her wedding, even though she doesn’t love him, she just wants to break the curse. Deep down they know they love each other though. Despite how Donkey was treated, he returns to Shrek because “that’s what friends do” and tells him Fiona wasn’t talking about him when she said those mean things. Them they decide to stop the wedding before its too late. Shrek bursts in and confesses his love. Fiona then shows him that she too is an ogre. Lord Farquaad is revolted and orders his guards to seize them two. Shrek then calls the dragon that Donkey brought from the tower that fell in love with Donkey and she ate Lord Farquaad. Shrek then marries Fiona and kisses her, which breaks the curse and keeps her as an ogre forever. Then they have a wedding party and its a happily ever after. Overall this is one of my favorite movies of all time. Donkey’s humor, Shrek’s character development and the use of all my childhood fairy tale creatures. All aspects of this movie are great.
Patrick Barton 