Shrek
Film Series
(2001 - )
Directed by:
Andrew Adamson,
Vicky Jenson, Kelly Asbury,
Conrad Vernon, Chris Miller & Mike Mitchell
Based on Shrek!
By William Steig
Shrek
(2001)
Director:
Andrew Adamson
& Vicky Jenson
Produced by:
Aron Warner,
John. H Williams & Jeffrey Katzenberg
Written by:
Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio,
Joe Stillman & Roger S. H. Schulman
Shrek 2
(2004)
Director:
Andrew Adamson,
Kelly Asbury & Conrad Vernon
Produced by:
Aron Warner,
David Lipman & John H. Williams
Screenplay by:
Andrew Adamson, Joe Stillman,
J. David Stem & David N. Weiss
Shrek 3
(2007)
Director:
Chris Miller
Produced by:
Aron Warner
Screenplay by:
Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman,
Chris Miller & Aron Warner
Story by:
Andrew Adamson
Shrek Forever After
(2010)
Director:
Mike Mitchell
Produced by:
Gina Shay & Teresa Cheng
Written by:
Josh Klausner & Darren Lemke
The Film Series’ Successes,
Contribution to Cinema & Legacy
Shrek
The Film Series (2001 - )
Greatly commercially and critically successful, the Shrek film series is the 2nd Top Grossing Animated Film Series and the 17th Top Grossing Film Series of all time, with The New York Times in May 2010 having described the film and its characters as “brilliantly realized” and stated that even with “nearly a decade after the first Shrek film they remain as vital and engaging fusions of image, personality and voice as any characters in the history of animation”.
Commercially successful with each film, Shrek and Shrek 2 are the most successful overall, however, both commercially and critically, while Shrek 3 and Shrek Forever After received mixed critical reviews.
Shrek (2001)
Shrek on release in 2001 was a great commercial success, marking the 4th top grossing film of the year, and a huge critical success with it nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, earning six BAFTA nominations, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival and competing for the Palme d’Or – the first animated film to do so since Disney’s Peter Pan, winning the Best Adapted Screenplay BAFTA and winning the 1st Academy Award in the Oscars history for Best Animated Feature. It was commonly praised for its story, writing and humour which catered to adults and children as well as for its animation, voice performances and soundtrack.
Shrek’s overall success as a film series made DreamWorks Animation into a major competitor to Disney and Pixar in computer animation feature films.
In 2020, Shrek was titled “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Today, Shrek is strongly rated on Rotten Tomatoes at 88% with its critical consensus stating: “While simultaneously embracing and subverting fairy tales, the irreverent Shrek also manages to tweak Disney’s nose, provide a moral message to children, and offer viewers a funny, fast-paced ride”.
Shrek 2 (2004)
Shrek 2 on release in 2004 was a massive commercial and critical success, marking the #1 top grossing film of the year worldwide, the 2nd largest three-day opening weekend in U.S. history and the largest opening for an animated film at the time of its release, while also receiving two Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song and its associated soundtrack charted in the Top 10 on the US Billboard 200.
Today, Shrek 2 is DreamWorks Animation’s most successful film to date and it held the title of being the #1 Top Grossing Film of all time worldwide until Toy Story 3 surpassed it in 2010.
Today, it stands on Rotten Tomatoes at 89% with its critical consensus: “It may not be as fresh as the original, but topical humor and colourful secondary characters make Shrek 2 a winner in its own right”.