Shrek 2

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Shrek 2 movie poster

Shrek 2 is the 2004 sequel to the computer-animated 2001 DreamWorks Pictures movie Shrek that was released in the United States on May 19, 2004. In April 2004 the film was selected for competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. There are more Shrek movies to follow, as according to Jeffrey Katzenberg, "We didn't have the guts to tell anybody when we started out, [but] 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.'" [1] Shrek 3 is scheduled for release in 2006.

Shrek 2 scored the second-largest three-day opening in history, as well as the largest opening for an animated movie ever, and as of 2004, is the 3rd highest box office grossing film of all time. It went on to be one of the most successful films in 2004. The associated soundtrack reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200.

Contents

1 Plot

2 Cast

3 Fairy tale and Nursery Rhyme Support

4 Box Office and Critical Response

Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

After Shrek and Princess Fiona return from their honeymoon, they receive an invitation from her parents to visit them. Princess Fiona has not told her parents, King Harold and Queen Lilian, that she has married an ogre and has become one herself.

When the Fairy Godmother discovers that Fiona is married to Shrek, she reminds King Harold of a deal they had made for Princess Fiona to marry her son Prince Charming. Prompted by her urgings, and his discomfort at having an ogre as a son-in-law, he hires Puss in Boots to kill Shrek.

Cast

The cast and other significant credits for the project include:

Shrek - Mike Myers
Donkey - Eddie Murphy
Princess Fiona - Cameron Diaz
King Harold - John Cleese
Queen Lilian - Julie Andrews
Puss in Boots - Antonio Banderas
Prince Charming - Rupert Everett
Fairy Godmother - Jennifer Saunders

Fairy tale and Nursery Rhyme Support

Box Office and Critical Response

As of 27 June 2004, Shrek 2 had achieved $390 million at the US box office and $383 million at the world box office.[2] The film has earned millions more in merchandising. As the budget for the film was $70 million in production costs and $50 million in publicity and advertising, the film has already proved to be highly profitable for Dreamworks.

Metacritic has developed an average rating of 73 out of 100 based on 39 professional reviews published in newspapers, magazines and in highly regarded Internet sites [3]. Users of the Internet Movie Database gave an rating of 7.7 out of 10 to the movie. [4]

Movie trivia

The giant gingerbread man is a spoof of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. His name, Mongo, is named after Alex Karras's dim-witted strongman in Blazing Saddles. Also, the scene in which he first appears knocking down palm trees is similar to the T-Rex-invading-city scene in Jurassic Park 2. He also lets out a Godzilla roar when his gum drop button is shot off and tells the little Gingerbread Man to "Be good" in imitation of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Dancing furniture looks remarkably similar to those in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
At the start of the movie, when Shrek is caught in a trap and hanging upside down, he lands in some mud that covers his face. Fiona wipes off the mud to reveal his mouth and kisses him. This is a spoof of the Spider-Man movie, where Spider-Man is hanging upside down and Mary Jane Watson half-takes off his mask and kisses him in the rain.
Early in the film, a golden ring is forged for Fiona, which is tossed in the air and lands on her finger in a spoof of a similar scene in The Lord of the Rings. However, instead of being inscribed with the Ring-inscription (One ring to rule them all...), it simply reads "I love you".
In the UK, the parts of the Ugly Stepsister and the entertainment correspondent (originally voiced by Larry King and Joan Rivers, respectively) were re-dubbed by Jonathan Ross (among other things, the presenter of the BBC's Film show) and Kate Thornton. They are credited at the very end of the original credits.
Spoof of Impossible when Pinocchio is lowered down the well.
The scene with Shrek and Fiona kissing on the beach is a spoof of the beach scene with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity. When the wave washes over them Fiona's place is momentarily taken by a mermaid who looks suspiciously like Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid. Then Fiona throws her to the sharks.
When Fiona beats up several people at the very beginning of the film, the moves she does are carbon copies of Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick and Ken's Dragon Punch from the video game series Street Fighter 2.
During the scene where Puss in Boots first encounters Shrek, he rips out of Shrek's shirt, in the same manner as aliens 'hatch' out of human bodies in the Alien franchise. This leads to a continuity error: in subsequent shots Shrek's shirt is unripped.
In the same scene, Puss in Boots inscribes the letter "P" into a tree using three strokes of his sword, parodying the character of Zorro where the callsign of the hero Zorro is slashing the letter "Z" using three sword strokes. Incidentally, Antonio Banderas, the actor voicing Puss In Boots, played Zorro in the 1998 film, The Mask of Zorro.
During the first Fairy Godmother scene there is a reference to Marilyn Monroe's dress scene in The Seven Year Itch.
In the scene where Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots are drinking in the tavern, Puss in Boots says "I hate Mondays", a line often used by Garfield the cat in Jim Davis's Garfield comic strip.
The Fairy Godmother's first song is reminiscent of "A Spoonful of Sugar", one of the songs from the music Mary Poppins, which starred Julie Andrews, who provides the voice of Fiona's mother in this film.
John Cleese and Julie Andrews recorded most of their dialogue in the same studio, at the same time, which is considered unusual for a production like this which usually records its voice actors separately.
Joan Rivers' cameo marks 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.
The love potion that the Fairy Godmother gives King Harold to give to Fiona is labeled "IX", a reference to the 1959 pop hit Love Potion #9, by The Clovers.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Shrek 2 was released in May 2004 in the US, to accompany the film. It reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and #1 on the soundtrack albums as well as reaching the top 40 of the Australian album charts. The lead single "Accidentally in Love" by the Counting Crows has reached the top 10 of the Billboard Adult Top 40 and the top 20 of the world soundtrack singles charts as of June 27, 2004. The soundtrack also features two versions of the 1980s hit by Bonnie Tyler "Holding out for a Hero".

Track Listing

"Accidentally in Love" by Counting Crows
"Holding out for a Hero" by Frou Frou
"Changes" by Butterfly Boucher & David Bowie
"As Lovers Go" by Dashboard Confessional
"Funkytown" by Lipps Inc
"I'm on my Way" by Rich Price
"I Need Some Sleep" by Eels
"Ever Fallen in Love" by Pete Yorn
"Little Drop of Poison" by Tom Waits
"You're So True" by Joseph Arthur
"People Ain't No Good" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
"Fairy Godmother Song" by Jennifer Saunders
"Livin' la Vida Loca" by Antonio Banderas and Eddie Murphy
"Holding out for a Hero" by Jennifer Saunders

External links

it:Shrek 2 fr:Shrek 2 hu:Shrek 2. de:Shrek 2 sv:Shrek 2