for: Shrek (film series)

Shrek is a 2001 computer-animated American comedy film, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and starring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!, the film was produced by DreamWorks Animation. Shrek was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a category introduced in 2001. It was released on DVD and VHS on November 7 2001.

The film stars Myers as a large, strong, solitude-loving, intimidating ogre named Shrek (from the German word "schreck" meaning "terror" or Yiddish word שרעק, 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 film on the top 10.

Plot

The story begins with Shrek (Mike Myers) peaceably enjoying life within his home: a swamp. This is shattered when he inadvertently rescues the stubborn and talkative Donkey (Eddie Murphy) from soldiers sent by the short Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow). Farquaad is obsessed with ruling a "perfect kingdom", without any fairy tale creatures in it, and uses the Magic Mirror to select a princess bride to marry to become king. He chooses Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), who is held captive in a castle surrounded by lava and guarded by a fire-breathing dragon.

Much to Shrek's chagrin, Lord Farquaad has relocated all the fairy tale creatures to his swamp. Shrek and Donkey head off to the Kingdom of Duloc so they can complain to Farquaad and Shrek can get his swamp back. When Shrek and Donkey get to the Kingdom, they interrupt a tournament Farquaad is holding in order to select a knight worthy of rescuing Princess Fiona. Lord Farquaad then sends the knights to kill Shrek, but Shrek easily defeats them. Lord Farquaad proclaims Shrek the winner of the tournament and agrees to remove the fairy tale creatures from the swamp if Shrek rescues Fiona.