What if DreamWorks Pictures/DreamWorks Animation was founded in 1934?/Shrek

Shrek is a 2001 American computer animated adventure fantasy comedy film produced by DreamWorks Pictures, loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book of the same name and directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson in their directorial debut. It stars the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow, and somewhat serves as a parody of other films adapted from numerous fairy tales and children's literature classics, mainly some animated Disney films and animated films DreamWorks Pictures had produced in the past. The film focuses on an ogre named Shrek who finds his swamp overrun by fairy tale creatures who have been banished there by order of the evil Lord Farquaad. In order to get his swamp back, Shrek makes a deal with Farquaad to bring him a queen in exchange for the deed for his swamp. Shrek sets out with a talking Donkey and rescues Princess Fiona. While they take Fiona to Farquaad so she can marry him, Shrek starts to fall in love with the princess and soon discovers a shocking secret about her.

The rights to Steig's book were originally bought by Steven Spielberg in 1991, before acquiring DreamWorks, when he thought about making a traditionally animated film based on the book. However, John H. Williams convinced him to bring the film to DreamWorks in 1994, the time the studio was acquired after founder Dream Elysian Works' retirement, and the film was put quickly into active development by Jeffrey Katzenberg after the rights were bought by the studio in 1995. Chris Farley was originally cast as the voice for the title character, recording about 80%–90% of his dialogue. After Farley died in 1997 before he could finish his work, Mike Myers was brought in to voice the character, who, after his first recording, decided to record his voice in a Scottish accent. The film was also originally planned to be motion-captured, but after poor results, the studio decided to recruit Pacific Data Images to help Shrek get its final computer-animated look.

Shrek established DreamWorks Animation as a prime competitor to Pixar Animation Studios in feature film computer animation, and grossed $484.4 million at the worldwide box office against its $60 million production budget. It was 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. Shrek won the first ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated for six British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Eddie Murphy for his voice performance as Donkey, and won the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The popularity of the film has led to it being re-released theatrically twice, in 2004 and in 2007, respectively. After the success of the 3D re-releases of Trolls and Puss in Boots, the film was reissued in 3D in 2014.

A direct-to-video sequel, Shrek Forever After was released on 2010.

Plot
On his 17th birthday, two ogre parents send their son Shrek out of their house and into the world to make his living. They warn him that because of his looks, humans will hate him, and the last thing he will see is an angry mob before he dies. Some years later, an embittered, grown up Shrek is living contentedly alone in a swamp, loving his solitude there and scaring away angry mobs who try to kill him. However, his solitude is disrupted when countless fairytale creatures show up on his property. They explain of their banishment from the Kingdom of Duloc, by order of the obsessive and fairytale-hating Lord Farquaad, who exiled them for being freaks, under penalty of death if they ever return.

Shrek leaves the swamp to ask Lord Farquaad for the return of his privacy. He brings along a talking Donkey, who is the only fairytale creature willing to guide him to Duloc. Meanwhile, Farquaad tortures the Gingerbread Man into revealing the whereabouts of the remaining fairytale creatures until his guards rush in with an object Farquaad has been searching for: the Magic Mirror. The Mirror tells him that Farquaad can only become a real king by marrying a princess. The Mirror gives him three princesses to choose from including Cinderella, Snow White, and Princess Fiona. Farquaad chooses Fiona and silences the Mirror before he can mention "the little thing that happens at night".

Shrek and Donkey arrive at Lord Farquaad's palace in Duloc, where they find themselves in the midst of a tournament; the winner will have the "privilege" of attempting to rescue Fiona from a castle surrounded by lava and protected by a fire-breathing dragon so that Lord Farquaad may marry her. Shrek (with some help from Donkey) easily beats the other knights in a fashion that resembles a wrestling match and Farquaad agrees to remove the fairytale creatures from the swamp if Shrek rescues Fiona.

Shrek and Donkey travel to the castle and split up to find Fiona. Donkey encounters the dragon and sweet-talks the beast to save himself before discovering that the dragon is female. Dragon takes a liking to Donkey and carries him to her chambers. When Shrek finds Fiona, she is appalled at his lack of romanticism. As they are leaving, Shrek manages to save Donkey, caught in Dragon's tender clutches, and causing her to become irate, chasing Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey out of the castle. At first, Fiona is thrilled to be rescued but quickly becomes disappointed when she finds out that Shrek is an ogre. The three make their return journey to Farquaad's palace, with Shrek and Fiona finding they have more in common with each other along the way, and falling in love. However, at night, Fiona refuses to camp with them, taking shelter in a nearby cave until morning. Shrek and Donkey stay awake and watch the stars while Shrek informs Donkey that he plans to build a wall around his swamp when he returns. When Donkey persists as to why Shrek would do this, Shrek tells him that everyone judges him before they know him, therefore he is better off alone.

The next night, Fiona takes shelter in a nearby windmill. When Donkey hears strange noises coming from the windmill, he finds Fiona has turned into an ogre. Fiona explains she was cursed as a child and turns into an ogre every night, which is why she was locked away in the castle, and that only a kiss from her true love will return her to her proper form. Shrek, about to confess his feelings for Fiona, overhears part of their conversation and is heartbroken as he misinterprets her disgust at her transformation into an "ugly beast" as being disgusted with him. Fiona makes Donkey promise not to tell Shrek about the spell, vowing to do it herself, but when the next morning comes, Shrek has brought Lord Farquaad to Fiona. The two return to the castle, while a hurt Shrek returns to the now-vacated swamp.

Shrek finds that despite his privacy, he is miserable and misses Fiona. Donkey shows up attempting to seal off his half of the swamp with stone boulders, which Shrek rebuffs. In turn, Donkey angrily berates Shrek for his reclusive and stubborn habits, even to the point of driving off Fiona. An angered Shrek reveals he heard her talking about a hideous creature the night before, and Donkey retorts that they were not talking about him, but of "someone else". When a confused Shrek inquires who it was, Donkey, wanting to keep his promise, and still cross with Shrek, refuses to talk. When Shrek apologizes and extends his friendship, Donkey forgives him.

They are able to travel to Duloc quickly thanks to Dragon, who had escaped her confines and followed Donkey. They interrupt the wedding before Farquaad can kiss Fiona, but not before the sun sets, which causes Fiona to turn into an ogre in front of everyone. While her transformation causes Shrek to fully understand what he overheard at the windmill, Farquaad, disgusted over the change, orders Shrek killed and Fiona imprisoned, but Dragon bursts in and devours Farquaad. Shrek and Fiona admit their love for each other and share a kiss; Fiona is bathed in light as her curse is broken, but is surprised to find that she has remained an ogre. Shrek calms her by assuring her that she is still beautiful. The two of them get married in the swamp and depart on their honeymoon while the rest celebrate by singing "I'm a Believer".

Cast

 * Mike Myers as Shrek / the Narrator
 * Eddie Murphy as Donkey
 * Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
 * John Lithgow as Lord Farquaad
 * Vincent Cassel as "Monsieur" Robin Hood
 * Conrad Vernon as Gingerbread Man
 * Chris Miller as Geppetto / Magic Mirror
 * Cody Cameron as Pinocchio / The Three Little Pigs
 * Simon J. Smith as Three Blind Mice
 * Christopher Knights as Three Blind Mice / Thelonius
 * Aron Warner as Big Bad Wolf / The Fox
 * Jim Cummings as Captain of the Guards
 * Kathleen Freeman as Old Woman (Donkey's ex-owner)
 * Andrew Adamson as Duloc Mascot (a man dressed in a suit that looks like Lord Farquaad)
 * Bobby Block as Baby Bear from the Three Bears
 * Michael Galasso as Peter Pan
 * Elisa Gabrielli as additional voices

Cultural references
There are many places the film references classic books and movies.

Literature references
At the end of the film, the Gingerbread Man at the end with a crutch (and one leg) says "God bless us, everyone" which is a reference to Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol.

Disney references
When Tinker Bell falls on Donkey and he says "I can fly" and people around including the Three Little Pigs say "He can fly, he can fly"; this is a reference to Disney's Peter Pan. This scene is also a reference to the Disney film Dumbo, where Donkey says, while flying, "You might have seen a house fly, maybe even a super fly, but I bet you ain't never seen a Donkey fly" The scene where Fiona is singing to the blue bird is a reference to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The transformation scene at the end of the film strongly references to Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

In addition, Lord Farquaad's theme park style kingdom Duloc heavily mimics Disneyland, even in so far as parodying the famous 'It's A Small World' musical ride in the scene with the singing puppets

Classic DreamWorks references
As an tribute to the late Dream Elysian Works, there are many cameos of characters from many classic DreamWorks animated shorts and films made an appearance as exiled fairytale creatures in the scene where Shrek discovers them and other fairytale creatures in his swamp, such as:
 * Goldy Locks and The Goat Kids from the Dreamtoons series
 * The Fox from Headin' South (who appears as the Fox from Carlo Collodi's novel Pinocchio)
 * The orphan twins from Toyland
 * Rapunzel
 * Alma and Elefriend from Elefriend
 * Tin the soldier and Belli the ballerina from The Tin Soldier
 * King Midas
 * Lancy, Rascal and Battly
 * Longtail and Gee from The New Home Search
 * Poppy and Branch from Trolls
 * The emperor from The Emperor's New Clothes
 * TBD from Caps for Sale
 * Mr. and Mrs. Bird from The Best Nest
 * Hansel and Gretel from The Story of Hansel and Gretel
 * TBD from Alley Cats
 * Wooly from Lost Little Lamb
 * Burro and Bella from Burro
 * Frosty and Karen from Frosty the Snowman (only appeared in the film's 2014 3D re-release)
 * Odette from Swan Lake
 * Papageno and Papagena from The Magic Flute
 * TBD from Fantasy of Symphony
 * TBD from Discover America
 * The Mad Hatter and the March Hare from Wonderland
 * Bre'r Rabbit and Bre'r Fox from The Bre'r Rabbit Tale
 * TBD from Tiger's Tale

Other references
In the scene where the Magic Mirror gives Lord Farquaad the option to marry three princesses, it parodies popular American television show The Dating Game featuring: Cinderella and Snow White.

When Shrek crosses the bridge to the Castle and says, "That'll do, Donkey, that'll do", this is a reference to the movie Babe. The scene where Princess Fiona is fighting the Merry Men is a lengthy reference to the film The Matrix.

Sequel
TBD