Shrek, the big green ogre who became the face of a multi-billion-dollar franchise, turned 25 this week, and the impact of its success is still being felt from here to Far Far Away. The DreamWorks Animation hit is impossible to ignore when considering the history of Hollywood animation, and the life it has taken has grown far beyond the cinema screen. From sequels and spin-offs to theme parks, internet meme culture, and themed club raves fueled by millennial nostalgia, the Shrek swamp party has never really stopped over the last 25 years.
That is, in large part, thanks to the smashmouth success of the 2001 original. It made a splash with $494 million at the box office. It even competed for the Palme d'Or at that year's Cannes Film Festival, before topping it all off by winning the very first Oscar for Best Animated Feature. But that fairytale ending for Shrek wasn't always a foregone conclusion – it came after a long rollercoaster of a production that nearly saw a very different version come to the screen. So, as the original adventure for Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona returns to big screens for the 25th anniversary, let's dive into the swamp that made up the journey to get Shrek from page to mega stardom.
Once Upon a Time...
DreamWorks – founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen in 1994 – was having something of a moment in the late 90s and early 00s. The live-action wing was coming off of two back-to-back Best Picture winners with American Beauty (1999) and Gladiator (2000) – and would make it three-in-a-row in 2001 with A Beautiful Mind. The animation wing, however, was a different story. With Katzenberg in charge, the animation division was keen to go toe to toe with the mighty mouse itself, Walt Disney Pictures, a rivalry stoked by the fact that Katzenberg had been fired from Walt Disney in 1994 by then-president and CEO Michael Eisner.
Their very first animated offering – the computer-generated Antz in 1998 – was released just one month before Disney and Pixar's Toy Story follow-up, similar insect-focused A Bug's Life, with the Disney-Pixar titans dominating the worldwide box office at the end of their runs (Antz grossed $171.8 million, A Bug's Life $363.3 million). Antz was followed up by more traditional hand-drawn animated offerings – The Prince of Egypt (well-reviewed and a modest financial success) and The Road to El Dorado, which received mixed reviews and was a big box office flop (it has, however, quite rightfully gained a cult following). Katzenberg needed a hit, but turning to Shrek wasn't the most obvious choice.
Getting 'Shreked'
Adapted from a 30-page children's book by William Steig, the movie had been in active development from the very early days of DreamWorks, but being assigned to it quickly became a shorthand for punishment at the fledgling DreamWorks Animation. 'It was known as the Gulag,' an animator told author Nicole Laporte for her book The Men Who Would be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies and a Company Called DreamWorks. 'If you failed on Prince of Egypt, you were sent to the dungeons to work on Shrek,' the unnamed source added. Employees at Dreamworks began calling it being 'Shreked.'
The film almost looked very different, too. Originally envisioned as a live-action project, the development then shifted to using an early version of motion-capture animation, which resulted in the now infamous Shrek – I Feel Good animation test. Not released publicly till 2023, the test features a very creepy-looking Shrek and a much darker tone. Animated by a crew known as the Propellerheads, which had future Shark Tale director Rob Letterman and mega-producer JJ Abrams in its ranks, it did not go down well with the powers that be, with Katzenberg stating, 'It looked terrible, it didn't work, it wasn't funny, and we didn't like it.' It did feature comedian and actor Chris Farley in the role of Shrek. The SNL star was originally cast in the role, and even recorded much of the dialogue for the project before he died of an overdose at age 33 in 1997. You can see a recording set to early storyboards that give you a sense of what Farley was bringing to the character, a much different but surprisingly vulnerable take on the big green ogre who would go on to be voiced by Mike Myers, fresh off the success of the Austin Powers movies.
Turning the Page
Around the time of Farley's passing, the movie was beginning to have a creative overhaul. Pacific Data Images PDI, the computer animation company that worked on Antz, took over the animation, and once Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson were confirmed as directors, joining the Shrek development team began to feel less like a punishment and a bit more punk rock. Discussing the film's anniversary with journalist Barry Levitt for Letterboxd, Jenson recalls, 'Because the spotlight's not on you for quite a while, there's a tremendous amount of focus. For so long, it was just this little movie we were working on up in Palo Alto, away from the DreamWorks mothership. It felt like we were making a movie in our garage.' The film also began to take shape as something that came to be the key to its success and tone, standing as a more satirical take on fairytales and of the movies produced by Walt Disney Pictures.
Christopher Holliday, lecturer in film studies, Department of Liberal Arts, King's College London, wrote for The Conversation that 'Shrek was a milestone for American cartoons that paved the way for a unique brand of animated anarchy and sardonic irreverence that still holds sway across the industry today.' From pop-culture references ranging from the obvious Disney targets (the Duloc song riffing on It's A Small World) to the more adult-targeted (The Matrix fighting styles), Shrek's irreverent humour stood in stark contrast to the traditional model of family-friendly movies of the time, and that approach has reverberated over the last quarter of a decade.
The same can be said for its use of needle drops in the film, which replace the more traditional ballads and songbooks found in Disney movies. As Holliday observes, its signature hit, Smash Mouth's All Star, has a bombastic tone that 'fitted the film's playful anti-Disney sensibility. Shrek's frequent aims at the Mouse House's recognisable narrative formula and saccharine sentimentality were deemed a pointed dig at Katzenberg's former employers too.' But as Jenson is keen to point out, it was all about poking fun at Disney, which was something that was always on Katzenberg's mind, too. 'Obviously, we're poking at fairy tales, and Disney was the one who brought most fairy tales to the culture in a big way,' she says. 'And in a couple of cases, sure, we were. Like, the expectations of a princess. When we'd present something to Jeffrey that was especially pointed, he'd sit back in his chair and say, 'They're gonna blame me. But it's funny, go for it.' He was very out there about his dealings with Disney, and loved being on the phone with his lawyers, gloating. But he never sat us down and said this would be a middle finger to Disney. He knew the story came first. He wanted to make a great movie.'
An Enduring Appeal with Many Layers
But the film wouldn't have its enduring appeal if it also didn't offer characters in which to hook and a story that proved worthwhile, with its theme of not judging a book by its cover continuing to provide a sweetness and strong emotional arc that helps it resonate. Jenson points towards Cameron Diaz's Princess Fiona as a character who embodies the strengths of the movie to both unpack stereotypes and genre trappings to mine both humour and emotion. 'I think she continues to resonate because when we were working on the movie, all the rom-coms out there, women were only talking about getting married, and landing a guy. To watch someone in real time go from these expectations handed to her about what her life was supposed to be, and discovering who she really is, and finding someone who could see that and not judge her, is unique. She relaxed into her own true self.'
It's all these elements – including the buddy-movie banter between Shrek and Donkey – that helped the movie land with such a splash in the summer of 2001, becoming the fourth highest-grossing film of the year, as well as earning two Oscar nominations for best adapted screenplay and animated feature. It still boasts an impressive 88% Rotten Tomatoes score and continues to find fans, with nearly a million five-star reviews from users on Letterboxd, before even considering it would go on to spawn a franchise that to this date has earned over $4 billion worldwide.
Where to Watch Shrek
The original Shrek is currently showing in select cinemas across the UK in both standard 2D and 4DX formats. Otherwise, you can rent or buy it digitally from Amazon, Apple, Sky Store, Rakuten TV, and YouTube.
What's Happening with Shrek 5?
Speaking of that legacy, the long-rumoured and discussed Shrek 5 is finally on its way. While there have been three sequels and two Puss in Boots spin-offs, there hasn't been a feature film featuring Shrek since the release of Shrek Forever After in 2010. But you can't keep a good ogre (or IP) down for too long, with Shrek 5 currently slated for release on June 30, 2027, with a Donkey spin-off also in the works. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz are coming back, with Zendaya also joining the cast as Shrek and Fiona's daughter.
The first look at the movie left some fans in shock with the redesign of the characters, with some on social media calling for the creators to stay more in line with the original. 'Bring back old animation, WTF IS THIS,' Riccoo commented on Instagram. 'We're all excited for this comeback, but to be honest, it's not good. Bring back the old design,' Fernando added. That reaction only goes to show the level of affection that fans have towards the movie, particularly the people who have grown up with it over the last 25 years. With the original now back in cinemas for its birthday celebrations, and a new entry just over one year away, the swamp party is far from being over.
