Why Shrek is an Enduring Classic 

Look y'all, Shrek getting added to the Library of Congress happened the day after I finalized this video, don't leave me comments saying I forgot to mention it plz and thank u

Just to be clear, "Aladdin" was the animated film that made celebrity voices in animation a popular trend. Shrek made having your WHOLE CAST saturated with famous people popular.

I love how Shrek 4 is titled ‘Forever After’ and not Shrek 4 so you can just pretend Shrek the Third doesn’t exist and there isn’t a missing piece

"Why Shrek is an enduring classic" because Shrek absolutely fucking slaps, next question.

Everyone sleeping on how much Donkey is actually a great character. He may be an idiot but he's a true loyal friend. He was Shrek and Fiona's confidant, and calling bullshit on the two keeping their feelings from each other. When Fiona made him promise not tell Shrek about the real her, he actually keeps it, knowing it's not his secret to tell. And even forgave Shrek for all the times he treated him badly.

i can never ignore that farquaad's flag is the facebook logo.

Imagine seeing Shrek in theatres in 2001 with your kid. That must have been a fucking spectacular experience

First he gets blamed for ruining animation as a whole, then he gets his franchise ruined by dreamworks and now he’s about to get executed by illumination. Poor Shrek just can’t catch a break.

Imagine if there was a Lord Farquad spin off called "Shrunk".

"Ogres are like onions" "They stink?" "Yes....NO!" I'll never get tired of that joke

*Rest in Peace our All Star Steve Harwell (1967-2023)🧅*

I love how in Poland when Shrek was dubbed with Polish actors, they rewrote some lines to acclimate them more with Polish culture and still make the main story matter and not getting plot holes. Shrek is the only case when I love both original english dub equally with Polish dub.

I like the chill tone of this vid

The fact that Shrek is now considered a national treasure makes me unbelievably happy

All star was apparently just a placeholder initially but test audiences loved it so they kept it

Shrek 1: A beautiful movie that has true emotion while being a great parity Shrek 2: An absolutely godlike movie and a perfect sequel Shrek 3: [REDACTED] Shrek 4: The perfect conclusion to a series, but is overlooked due to that one fan fiction Jeffery Katsenberg (I can't spell) made.

Fun Fact: This movie was so culturally significant that the U.S. government decided it was worthy to be in the National Film Registry

I’m ashamed to admit that I’m only just now realizing the “SKG” in the Dreamworks logo is supposed to stand for “Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen” (the three founders of the studio).

I think an aspect that a lot of people just kinda gloss over with this movie is that Shrek (the character) is kind of clever. He formulates the tactic of tying down Dragon, he's resourceful during the Bad Reputation fight, and has extensive knowledge on the folklore of not just his race, but others like giants too. While he's no genius, he does have a notable degree of intelligence. He isn't just "big stonk oaf with masscle 4 brian"

Ironically, I think Puss in Boots the Last Wish was a huge step in undoing the Shrek mold. Yeah, the crude humor and parody is still there sometimes, and they basically just changed from copying Shrek to copying Spiderverse. But at the same time, when you described the old Dreamworls films as “adventurous journeys with original songs and emotional storylines” that’s Last Wish to a T. And since the movie’s doing well and people love it so much, Dreamworks is probably going to continue with that style. The Bad Guys definitely helped too, but Last Wish is a lot more noteworthy to me for being a Shrek spin-off that broke the mold.

My high school spanish teacher had a Shrek themed wedding. She's in her 60's.

14:31 Drek and Shronkey are my favorite characters from the whole -quadrilogy- trilogy

Donkey really is the MVP, and no one can ever tell me he isn’t.

Fun fact: My high school was going to do the Shrek Musical. But alas, our director got in a car crash on their way to rehearsal and it never saw the light of day. Also, he died.

Because of all the memes, lots of people forget that Shrek is an actually good and kinda deep movie.

As a Scottish person, I can confirm we have a small, yet impressive colony of ogres. It was good of Shrek to respect that

Anyone else just find this movie extremely comforting? I used to fall asleep to it almost every night as a kid

It was absolutely amazing to see Shrek back when it was in theaters. Yes I can attest that it was always a big surprise how much they subverted expectations at the time. That bird exploding when singing with Fiona nobody expected that.

"It's impossible to picture Shrek without his distinct, unforgettable accent" Me, a Brazilian who watched all of Shrek dubbed in portuguese: uuuh.....

So I guess you could say that when it came to jokes about Farquad's height, Schaff's patience ran... short?

Funding for Schafrillas is provided by.... That line gets me ever single time

6:01 the reason for all the short jokes is that the voice actor, John Lithgow, is 6'4" and in a lot of the live action comedy roles he plays they make fun of how tall he is. They wanted to hammer home the irony that the role he plays is the opposite

I thought the height jokes about Lord Farquaad were meant to be height jokes for the kids and... a different kind of joke for the adults.

No better way to celebrate Shrek entering the national film registry than reviewing the film that started it all.😁

I'd actually argue that I like the scene at 6:03 because it's the first time Shrek and Donkey laugh at each other's jokes. The added layer of them laughing at Fiona's expense without her knowing.

When Fiona pushes Farquad's figure lower, that's not just a 'haha, he's short' joke. That's her illusion of her perfect Prince Charming having been shattered. She only sees Farquad for how he is, and he's a short guy, not this idealized figure of a certain height like the cake's figure implies.

If you watch Shrek backwards he pushes everyone away and ends up living alone in a swamp

"He thinks he's a monster because everyone else thinks he's a monster, so it must be true." That one hit too close to home.

Shrek: gets awarded as a national treasure Aliens: they are truly ahead of us

I cannot for my life remember this channel's name, so whenever I need to look it up I just search Shrek and it's the first vid that pops up...

"Imagine having surname" -John

"i used to think that my life was a cringe compilation, but now i realize its a try not to laugh challenge" -fiona, 2020

My favorite joke in this movie comes right after Fiona makes the bird explode with her singing. She looks at the eggs in the nest, and we're wondering what will happen to them now that their mother is dead. And what does the movie do? It slow-fades to Fiona frying those eggs. Dark comedy gold.

Believe it or not I was a teenager before I realized the ending song actually wasn't made for the movie lmao

"Instead of becoming quote-unquote 'beautiful'-" Cuz we all know the Beast's human form is an absolutely cursed image

Shrek the Third: Exists Schaff: You weren't supposed to do that.

I personally think the back and forth short jokes are a really funny scene. Good friends will naturally do things like this and compete back and forth with jokes trying to make each other laugh.

Honestly, I think it'd be nice to have a movie that's a parody or subversion of modern American animated films like Shrek was to Disney. With us getting stuff such as the stuff Illumination barfs out after Despicable Me, Dreamwork's Trolls, The Addams Family animated movie, Uglydolls, etc. There's a lot to make fun of in such films. Heck I think that had Illumination not gotten to do the Mario movie, an adaptation of the plumber himself would've been a good opportunity to do such a film considering Mario's a huge cultural icon so people could go see it on name value alone. Like we get a Mario movie where with a cast list such as: * Travis Willingham (Knuckles the Echidna, Roy Mustang, Guile) as Mario * Bryce Papenbrook (Eren Jaeger, Kirito, and Inosuke Hashibira) as Luigi * Laura Bailey (Lucina, Lust, and Chun-Li) as Peach * Cristina Vee (Shantae, Homura, and Noel) as Toad * Patrick Seitz (Ragna, Scorpion, and Endeavor) as Donkey Kong * Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker, The Joker, and Skips) as Cranky Kong * Jack Black (Po and Eddie Riggs) as Bowser * Kevin Michael Richardson (Principal Lewis, Trigon, Antauri, The Shreeder) as Kamek * John DiMaggio (Bender, Jake the Dog, Rath, Wakka, and Marcus Fenix) as Foreman Spike Notice how Jack Black and Kevin Michael Richardson are the only ones who are unchanged and that the rest of the cast are well experienced in voicing acting alongside the latter and even then Jack Black has some experience in voice work. It'd subvert the expectation that they'd get celebrities to voice most of the characters. Similar to how Shrek opens with All-Star, we could get a setup for use of a pop-music song, we'd have the rug swept under and we get an arrangement of either the Super Mario Bros theme or another track like the title theme of New Super Mario Bros. Wii or if you want to do a deep cut, the Forest Stage theme of Virtual Boy Wario Land set to a montage of what a typical day is for Mario and Luigi either when Bowser isn't kidnapping Peach or if it's their first adventure, before meeting Peach. Maybe the equivalent of a third act breakup happens not because of the Mario bros fighting but because of mutual agreement that Luigi should've stayed back and let his brother do all the work with a sequence of them going about to their destination and clearly unhappy about the situation set to Stickerbrush Symphony, a chase sequence could have the boss theme from Super Mario Land 2 Maybe have the minions be parodied by having the Mechakoopas act similar if only because they're malfunctioning and having Bowser's minions wanting them fixed since their malfunction is getting in the way of work, maybe having them taken out of the plot before returning and becoming genuine threats which could lead to that chase sequence I mention, the mutual agreement to separate could have the brothers go back on it as Mario faces threats Luigi wouldn't have struggled with while Luigi realizes the good that he did alongside Mario when meeting up with various characters that they met during the film like Young Cricket, DK, Geno, etc. with Luigi deciding that he can still help by rallying them to help Mario with them arriving to aid Mario when he's struggling against Kamek before the brothers decide to take on Bowser, initially struggling before they try to stall for time before their friends arrive, eventually leading to them turning the tides against Bowser, even after Kamek powers him up with the brothers dealing the final blow. Rather than ending with a dance party, Peach could bake a delicious cake and mentions a party being had after before the film ends without us seeing the party and we get a credits sequence on how the characters are doing after the events like Geno reporting to the Star Spirits that he found a leaked file of Bowser attempting to steal the Star Rod to set up a sequel, DK going back to his life on DK Island, Young Cricket returning to Diamond City to practice, and Mario and Luigi getting a job to fix the plumbing in Peach's castle. You could easily use Mario to do a film that could act as the Anti Modern Animated film like how Shrek acted as the anti-Disney but it would be risky. Still would be interesting and I'd be interested in what anyone here has for a film that could be the Shrek to modern animated films.

Everyone loves the rank 10 donkey confidant, it's when you can use a dragon to warp to palaces

Can I get either “Rango is a Underrated Gem” or a “Guardians of Ga’Hoole is an extremely underrated gem”?

The scene with the full moon and the mill where Donkey helps Shrek and Fiona respectfully are my favorites.

Man the trivia for this movie on Amazon Prime is incredible. Did you guys know Shrek has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? Shrek as a production was a very long labour of love, first conceived in 1996 and taking 4 and a half years to make. It took so long to make it was able to reference stuff that didn’t exist back when it was first conceived, like The Matrix, which came out in ‘99. We all know and love the beginning to Shrek, but originally the filmmakers planned on opening the film with the DreamWorks logo fading into the outhouse door, which has a crescent moon, DreamWorks’ logo, but thankfully decided against it. One of my personal favourite facts, the effects department actually took mud showers to study how to realistically portray mud in the film. Kinda like the effects department for HTTYD taking actual flying lessons to incorporate that realism into dragon riding and the effects of flight in the HTTYD movies. Shrek was Kathleen Freeman’s (the woman who tried to sell Donkey) final feature film before her death four months later. R.I.P. As Schaffrillas already pointed out, Chris Farley was originally cast as Shrek, but Mike Myers got the role after Farley’s death. Shrek’s “air quotes” in the film is an homage to Farley, whose character Bennett Brauer also used air quotes. Prior to release, the movie was reviewed by lawyers since there was concern Disney would sue over the movie’s not so subtle satirical references to the company’s films and theme parks, as if Disney owns all fairytale creatures, honestly. That famous line “What are you doing in my swamp?!” had never been read, and Myers was in New York City, so producer Jeffrey Katzenberg flew all the way to NYC and had Myers read the line in the back of a limo. Donkey annoying Shrek with his singing was one of the first scenes to be animated, Fiona’s fortress was the second. The song “Welcome to Duloc” is not only a parody of Disney’s “It’s a Small World”, but is in the same key and has the same beats per minute as the Disney song. The film’s art director Douglas Rogers visited a magnolia plantation in Charleston, South Carolina to do research for the look of Shrek’s swamp. He ended up getting chased by an alligator. Robin Williams was going to have a role in the movie, but had a bitter falling out with Katzenberg when Katzenberg still worked at Disney and refused to work with him. An armour expert was brought in to show the animators a variety of armours that they could use for inspiration in the film. The animators tried on armour, studied how they moved with the armour on, and also took turns flailing different swords. The scene where Princess Fiona burps was written after a recording session where Cameron Diaz burped after drinking Coca-Cola. Eddie Murphy improvised Donkey’s response to Shrek, “She’s as nasty as you are”! Cameron Diaz, having undergone Kung Fu training after the making of Charlie’s Angels (2000), became very physical when recording her kung fu moves for Fiona’s fight with Robin Hood and his merry men, and at times even broke out into Cantonese. “Shrek” means “monster” in Yiddish, and is derived from the German word “Schreck”, which means “terror” or “fright”. Mike Myers actually read opposite his (then) wife Robin Ruzan when recording his lines for the climactic love scene at the end of the movie. Storyboard artist Cody Cameron provided the voices for Pinocchio and the Three Little Pigs. In fact, several of the artists voiced the smaller characters for which they drew the scenes. During a voiceover session, Cody Cameron suggested that Cameron Diaz marry him “... so you can become Cameron Cameron”. It’s facts like these that make me love Shrek even more, and I hope you all enjoy them. There are more facts, but I’ll leave those to you guys.

“It’s one thing being alive when no one wants you to be. but showing up un-invited!” Idk if any shrek villain can top that line

damn i just realized how hurt shrek was in forever after when donkey runs away, since the first person (er, donkey) to really accept him just ran away.

Happy 20th anniversary to this amazing franchise.

Donkey getting with dragon isnt baffling. Donkey is voiced by Eddy Murphy who voices Mushu the dragon in Mulan

A story related to Donkey: Back in the mid-2000s when I was in art school at Ringling, one of the (rising) computer animation seniors managed to program a button in Maya over summer break that actually automatically generated a basic character skeleton. The animation skeleton goes inside of a character model and is anchored to major points of movement, and that skeleton is manipulated to animate the character (along with a fuck ton of other stuff but that's the simplest explanation). Usually that skeleton had to be built from scratch, and it was a tedious process. My roommate was a CA major so I saw that tedium firsthand. So needless to say, this guy just _inventing a literal skeleton generating button for Maya_ was an act of god. Once he got back to campus for his senior year, word got out to the usual animation studio recruiters that he had invented that button and he was INUNDATED with job offers. Dreamworks basically said "If you come work for us, YOU CAN _HAVE_ DONKEY in the next Shrek film!" He went with Dreamworks.

One minor thing I like about the first Shrek movie that I've never seen anyone touch upon is how in the oGrEs aRe lIkE oNioNs scene when Donkey doesn't get it, he's directly comparing ogres to things that people do like, furthering pushing the "big, stupid, ugly, scary" stereotype out of the picture before Shrek has even opened up to him. In fact, it could be seen as laying the groundwork for that scene. Donkey is obviously missing the direct point being made, failing to see how an onion can be deep or anything but what it seems.. It's probably too much inferring on my part, but: If you take the comedy away from this scene, it's Donkey implying that someone will come along and see Shrek as something just as nice as a cake or a parfait. Telling Shrek that he doesn't _have_ to see himself as an onion. Just my interpretation though, thought I'd share.

Your opening analysis of how Shrek works both as a parody and as a feature in its own right is exactly why I love the game Overlord. Literally parodies every fantasy trope it can think of, yet is an engaging story about corruption and power itself.

"It is you I have loved" is still to this day one of my favorite songs from Shrek. The amount of raw emotion that Dana Glover puts on it is just without comparison. Probably one of the most sincere and heartwarming love songs I listened to in the last two decades. I'm so glad this movie exists.

Can we just take a second to realize how amazing Shrek looks for an animated film made almost 20 years ago? Toy Story 1 and A Bug's Life came just a few years before this, but those films haven't stood the test of time in the animation department. Meanwhile, Shrek still holds up as decent even by today's standards.

I'd argue the celebrity voice actor issue started with Robin William's Genie in Aladdin. Shrek and Aladdin do have the commonality of good ol' Jeff K. stickin his nose where it doesn't belong.

now that i think about it... Donkey and that dog from the new Puss in boots 2 are both implementing almost the same role in their movies. Both stick to a closed guy even if they get rejected, and show pure positivity throughout the journy.

I remember hearing the "John........." joke in Jacksfilms' video on that fanfiction and I didn't realize he was referencing something real until I saw this video and realized that this is literally how John Lithgow was credited on the IMDb page

Farquad is supposed to be f*ckwad? Oh - that actually makes sense 😂

Is "somebody" going to be the new "that was his mistake" "You maniac"

19:34 'I love how he says "the trilogy" as he doesn't even acknowledge Shrek the Third's existence.

The Shrek series is a perfect example of the saying "One bad apple ruins the whole bunch" I know you've said this before, but if The Shrek Movie who must not be named didn't exist, everyone would remember that, yeah, Shrek WAS a good franchise

"Hoodwinked is great, but wow the animation aged like milk". Fuck, I want a hoodwinked video now.

Dude, I kid you not...I was planning on pulling up your Shrek 4 review to listen to when I planned to start editing videos later tonight. Then I got the notification for this video! This was a great Hump Day miracle!!!

Shrek 1 is actually my favorite of all Shrek movies, it’s the only movie where I can laugh and cry. It has the best jokes and still very emotional scenes. Shrek 2 had the good jokes but it’s not as emotional as Shrek 1 or 4. Shrek 4 was extremely emotional but had hardly any jokes at all compared to the other two. I just love everything about this movie and I personally dont think that we will get any movie close to the greatness of Shrek ever again, it’s just something special.

The Chris Farley version was going to be more dramatic than the usual Chris Farley work. There's actually a storyboard of it and you can see how much more dramatic it is.

Shrek is like the equivalent of when a RU-vidr makes a diss-track and it ends up sounding great unironically.

Schaf honestly has such a way with words, he's really good at getting his points across in such a compelling way

Shrek despite being one of the best movies is also one of the most misunderstood. It deserves a lot more.

Shrek was such an original masterpiece. Nothing like it exists

I'm Still waiting for "Why Shrek 2 is a Perfect Sequel: The Sequel" on Christmas....

Alright so I'm hispanic. We grew up with Shrek in spanish. And let me tell you: all of us know this movie line by line. Its without a doubt of the most amazing dubs in animation history to a point we as adults still reference it and laugh about it to this day, memes included. Comes to show how much they cared for this film, even for the dubs as well. What a legend Also I didn't know Shrek had a scottish in english accent till I was 18, so it trips me out to listen to him

drinking game: take a shot every time Schaffrilles says "sOmEbOdY oNcE ToLd mE"

God I love Fiona. When people talk about strong female characters it’s her. Not cuz she does fuckin karate or whatever. It’s because her character arc actually addresses the way she experiences femininity: the expectations that she not only endures, but also internalizes is so fucking refreshing. If I have to watch another bland-ass super-strong take-no-shit marvel character and have people tout that as the pinnacle of feminine representation… gag. It’s so tiring. It’s not that women can’t be that way, it’s that the writing is shit and now every female character on screen is literally just a puppet for media companies to point to and go “see??? we love women!” Idk. Shrek just nailed it in so many ways. Props to these guys for keeping it real. There’s a reason why the film is still so culturally relevant, and it’s not because of the fucking IP.

I appreciate the artistic choice to present the shrek trilogy in a noncronological fashion

Are we just gonna ignore that farquaad or one of his minions tore off gingy’s legs

4:44 indeed, in that one scene in the castle with dragon, she actually ran down a set of stairs while doing that line

R.I.P. Steve Harwell

“you can't imagine Shrek without his accent” Me, having always watched it in spanish: ajá si

"It's impossible to picture Shrek without his distinct, unforgettable [scottish] accent." *Me who has always only seen the movies in spanish*: I'd beg to differ

Today (April 22) is the day where Shrek premiered for the first time in Fox Village Theatre 20 years ago MAN I FEEL OLD #ItsNeverOgre

"Shrek is love Shrek is life"

Your discussion of Donkey demonstrates how screwed up our culture's understanding of love is. We use "love" only in the romantic sense, when the emotion is far more complex. Shrek and Donkey are an example of non-romantic love, particularly non-romantic love between men, on par with Aubrey/Maturine or Sam/Frodo. They start with an antagonistic relationship, but Shrek learns to accept Donkey as he is--flaws and all, and comes to view him as a valued companion and friend. Donkey, in turn, comes to trust Shrek and how to help Shrek be his best self. Importantly this transition is pretty far along before they rescue Fiona (evidenced by Shrek risking his life to save Donkey). Shrek's problem at first is that he doesn't view himself as worthy of love; by coming to love Donkey despite Donkey's flaws, Shrek learns that flaws don't make one unworthy of love. By seeing himself through Donkey's eyes, Shrek learns to see his good side. Both were necessary for him to love Fiona. And Donkey isn't unchanged. The Donkey putting up the fence in the swamp toward the end is a different, deeper character than the vapid Donkey we get in the beginning. Donkey doesn't change as much as Shrek, but it's clear the relationship affects them both. You can also see the theme of love explored in Farquad. Where Shrek needs to learn to love himself, Farquad ONLY loves himself. His attraction to Fiona is third-hand--he's only interested because it will make him look good. For a movie about a talking donkey and an ogre, this movie also functions as a surprisingly good examination of masculine relationships--with each other and with themselves.

“You there...Ogre.” Is a very underrated line.

Shrek Franchise Cronology: 1.Shrek (2001) 2. Shrek in the the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001) 3. Shrek 4-D (2003) 4. Shrek 2 (2004) 5. Far Far Away Idol (2004) 6. Shrek the Third (Turd) (2007) 7. Shrek the Halls (2007) 8. Shrek Forever After (2010) 9. Scared Shrekless (2010) 10. Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular (2010) 11. Thriller Night (2011) 12. The Pig who cried Werewolf (2011) 13. Puss in Boots (2011) 14. Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos (2012) 15. The Adventures of Puss in Boots (2015) 16. Puss in Book: Trapped in a Epic Tale (2017) 17. DreamWorks Theatre (2018) 18. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

23:37 i think Dreamworks should be knownfor their uncanny ability to take books that NO ONE knows about & turn them into movies that EVERYONE knows about. Shrek, How to train your dragon, Boss baby, Over the hedge etc NOTE: Captain underpants doesn't count sense the books had a large fan base before the movie was made

that moment, at the end of the movie when Fiona says something to the effect of "I don't understand. I'm supposed to be beautiful." that small little head shake from Shrek is so, incredibly wholesome. at 23:10. Honestly, it's little details like that, that make this movie so good.

The fact that Shrek was brought into the Library of Congress a couple days before this video came out just adds to it

I love that balloon bonding and fiona fighting scene. came completely out of nowhere and I loved it.

The thing I love most about Shrek is how deep it secretly is under all of its *layers.* Most particularly the first and second film, it's a story about self love.

We must collectively poke the crab until a Shrek the musical video comes out.

Schaff: Maybe I should talk about Chicken Little some time. Me: [Softly] Don't.

Funny thing about this movie, I used to watch it so much as a kid that I could recite entire portions of the script. Drove my parents insane but made for some nice inside jokes with my siblings

So nobody's gonna talk about the EPICO All-Star cover? 6:32