This is where the story about the famous (or should I say, infamous) green ogre begins.

Shrek is reading a book about a princess who was locked away in a tower guarded by a dragon. Then he goes outside and does his morning routine using gross and unsanitary methods, such as bathing in mud.

A group of men are also gathering their torches and rakes to attack Shrek. They meet him, and he successfully scares them away.

Meanwhile, different fairytale creatures are being taken away. An old lady is leading Donkey and tells the authorities that he can talk. But Donkey won’t speak, so the authorities won’t believe the woman. Thus, she is arrested.

Donkey then receives some accidental dust from a fairy, and flies away. The authorities chase after him until he runs into Shrek. Shrek scares the authorities away. Donkey is interested in being friends with him. But he refuses and keeps demanding him to go away because he wants to be alone.

That evening, Shrek finds various fairytale characters in his swamp, and is outraged. The others explain that Lord Farquaad forced them there. Shrek commands that they leave by a certain time. And surprisingly, they are happy about that.

Shrek and Donkey go to Lord Farquaad’s castle grounds, where they enter the coliseum. There, Lord Farquaad is about to host a dangerous tournament in which the winner will earn the privilege of rescuing Princess Fiona. That way, he can marry her and become king of Duloc. 

But when he sees Shrek and Donkey, he changes his plan: whoever kills Shrek will win, and the second-place winner will be the runner-up to take his place should he fail to rescue Fiona. 

The tournament begins. Shrek wins. So, Lord Farquaad sends him to save Princess Fiona.

Shrek and Donkey travel the distance to where Fiona is located. That is a dragon-guarded fortress, in the highest room of the tallest tower.

Shrek and Donkey walk across the fragile bridge over a trench of lava. The dragon attacks them. Donkey ends up being left behind while Shrek saves Fiona and helps her escape.

He finds Donkey, who is now in love with the dragon. The dragon soars everyone out to safety.

Fiona requests Shrek to remove his helmet, which he refuses since he is worried about her reaction. But she forces him to, and so he does. Of course, Fiona is shocked and denies this whole thing since she was supposed to be rescued by her true love. Shrek tells her that Lord Farquaad asked him to save her. So, the three make their way back to Duloc. 

However, it will take a couple of days. That worries Fiona since she wants to hide something embarrassing from Shrek and Donkey–something that occurs to her after sunset every day.

Eventually, Donkey discovers that Fiona was cursed with the involuntary ability to turn into an ogress every night. She asks Donkey not to tell Shrek. But as she complains about herself, Shrek eaves in on the conversation. Fiona uses words that mislead Shrek into thinking that he is a hideous ogre that no one should marry. That hurts him, so he gives up on her.

The next day, Lord Farquaad shows up with his men to take Fiona and marry her. Fiona hesitates but agrees to go with him. Little does she know that he is only marrying her so that he can be king.

My Thoughts

As with the other Shrek movies, this film contains lots of slapstick humor. But oddly, it doesn’t have as much as the sequel or third installment.

And what I really disliked was how Shrek was practically a villain during the first several minutes of the movie. I know–that is the whole point of the premise–he believes in the default stereotype of what an ogre should be like. But that made me loathe him a lot. I think it’s because I got used to him being a good guy in the next couple of movies.

Another flaw was how revolting the opening was. I know–that defines Shrek’s character at first. But the disgusting things Shrek did grossed me out so much that I constantly covered them up.

That being said, the movie was still a good watch. Its level of humor stayed true to the premise of the series. It also contains some innuendos. What especially surprised me was the few profane words used. Each time, I said out loud, “Hey, let’s keep this PG.”

It is typical for the Shrek movies to have a lot of adult content, but it usually glosses over kids’ heads. I first saw this film in the theaters when I was 7. And I missed the explicit words.

But I would advise any parent with kids under, say, 9, to consider their maturity levels before letting them watch Shrek. Even though this movie is geared toward a broad audience, particularly children, it is important for them to learn not to say those specific words.

Aside from that, I think this movie would please kids very much. I don’t know about other people, but I also saw some scenes that mirrored those in the film, Ice Age, which came out a year later. A big one is when Donkey is running from being attacked, bumps into Shrek, who saves him, but then keeps pushing him to leave, despite how he wants to be with him. You probably remember that similar scene in Ice Age, where Sid is running away from the rhinos whom he angered, bumps into Manny, who also saves him, but wants to be left alone, which Sid doesn’t respect. But I think that’s most likely just a coincidence.

The characters’ growth and development really enhanced the story, especially with Shrek, who decided to change his ways. Fiona starts off as a stereotypical fairytale princess longing for her true love’s kiss (she even talks in Shakespearean language) but is also able to fight off men who try to abduct her.

Unlike many other movies, this one doesn’t have as many twists or turns. But it still has enough to keep the audience curious.

Overall, aside from the beginning, I enjoyed Shrek. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.