The film stars Myers as a large, strong, solitude-loving, intimidating ogre named Shrek (from the German word “Schreck” meaning “terror” or Yiddish word ????, meaning “fear”), Diaz as the beautiful but very down-to-earth and feisty Princess Fiona, Murphy as a talkative donkey named Donkey, and Lithgow as the villainous Lord Farquaad.

It was critically acclaimed as an animated film worthy of adult interest, with many adult-oriented jokes and themes but a simple enough plot and humor to appeal to children. It made notable use of pop music—the soundtrack includes music by Smash Mouth, Eels, Joan Jett, The Proclaimers, Jason Wade, The Baha Men, and Rufus Wainwright.

The film was extremely successful on release in 2001 and it helped establish DreamWorks as a prime competitor to Walt Disney Pictures in the field of feature film animation, particularly in computer animation. Furthermore, Shrek was made the mascot for the company’s animation productions.

Shrek was ranked second in a Channel 4 poll of the 100 greatest family films, losing out on the top spot to E.T..

In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its “Ten top Ten”— the best ten films in ten “classic” American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Shrek was acknowledged as the 8th best film in the animated genre, and the only non-Disney-Pixar film on the top 10.

Cast

• Mike Myers – Shrek
• Eddie Murphy – Donkey
• Cameron Diaz – Princess Fiona
• John Lithgow – Lord Farquaad
• Conrad Vernon – Gingerbread Man
• Chris Miller – Geppetto / Magic Mirror
• Cody Cameron – Pinocchio / Three Little Pigs
• Michael Galasso – Peter Pan
• Christopher Knights – Blind Mouse / Thelonius
• Simon J. Smith – Blind Mouse
• Aron Warner – Big Bad Wolf
• Jim Cummings – Captain of the Guards
• Jerome De Guzman – Blind Mice
• Vincent Cassel – Robin Hood
• Kathleen Freeman – Old Woman, Donkey’s ex-owner