Shrek 2

2004 film directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon

Shrek 2 is a 2004 animated comedy movie and is the second movie in the Shrek movie series. It was directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad and stars Mike Myers as Shrek, Eddie Murphy as the Donkey, Cameron Diaz as Fiona, Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots, Julie Andrews as Fiona's mother, Rupert Everett as Prince Charming, John Cleese as Fiona's father and Jennifer Saunders as Fairy Godmother. Like the first movie, this one is a parody of fairy tales. It was followed by Shrek the Third. After inflation, it’s the eighth highest grossing animated movie in the world.

Shrek 2
Directed by
Screenplay by
Story byAndrew Adamson
Based onShrek!
by William Steig
Produced by
Starring
Edited by
  • Michael Andrews
  • Sim Evan-Jones
Music byHarry Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed byDreamWorks Pictures[2]
Release dates
  • January 14, 2004 (2004-01-14) (Cannes)
  • February 20, 2004 (2004-02-20) (United States)
Running time
92 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States[2]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$150 million
Box office$928.7 million

Shrek and Princess Fiona return from their honeymoon to find they have been invited by Fiona's parents to a royal ball to celebrate their marriage. 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 the ogres, with Harold particularly repulsed. Shrek worries that he is losing Fiona, particularly after finding her childhood diary and reading that she was once in love with Prince Charming.

Harold is confronted by the Fairy Godmother, as her son, Prince Charming, was to marry Fiona in exchange for Harold's own happy ending. She orders him to get rid of Shrek, so Harold arranges for Puss in Boots to kill him. Unable to defeat Shrek, Puss reveals that he was paid by Harold and offers to be an ally. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss sneak into the Fairy Godmother's factory and steal a "Happily Ever After" potion that Shrek thinks will make him good enough for Fiona. Shrek and Donkey both drink the potion. Shrek becomes a human while Donkey becomes a horse. Meanwhile, Fiona also becomes a human.

In order to make the change permanent, Shrek must kiss Fiona by midnight. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss return to the castle. However, the Fairy Godmother has sent Charming to pretend to be Shrek as a human. 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 knights. While the royal ball begins, the fairy tale creatures whom Shrek and Donkey had met during their previous adventure arrive at the dungeon to rescue the three of them and they all break into the royal ball.

Charming kisses Fiona, but instead of falling in love, she knocks him out; Harold reveals that he swapped Fiona's tea that has the love potion with another tea. The Fairy Godmother tries to kill Shrek with her magic wand, but Harold jumps in front of it, reverting into the Frog Prince; the spell bounces off his armour and kills the Fairy Godmother. As the clock strikes midnight, Fiona rejects Shrek's offer to remain human, and they revert into ogres, while Donkey also returns to normal.

Soundtrack

change

Singer and songwriter Adam Duritz from Counting Crows said that his band's song, "Accidentally in Love", "fits into the movie because it's the story of people who fall in love who weren't supposed to fall in love." Composer James Horner operated the sound of the score on different levels which James said as "Fun". His score came out as an Eels song into a romantic scene with Shrek and Fiona, or a funny scene with Donkey.[4] George Bruns did not compose the film score with Horner, due to a conflict.[5]

References

change
  1. 1.0 1.1 "Shrek 2". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Archived from the original on November 28, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Shrek 2 (2004)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  3. "SHREK 2 (U)". British Board of Film Classification. May 26, 2015. Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  4. The Music of Shrek 2 - Shrek 2 DVD. Retrieved July 8, 2011
  5. Alex Ben Block, Lucy Autrey Wilson (March 30, 2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. p. 976. ISBN 978-0061778896. LCCN 2010279574. OCLC 310398975.