CARTOON EVOLUTION #38 — SHREK
I take a look at the history and evolution of Shrek! Spawning from a 1990 novel by acclaimed author William Steig, the ugly green ogre Shrek saw a pretty swift transition from book to screen. Spending a decade in production hell, the original DreamWorks film went through many hands, including Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg; and numerous iterations, including one which would have seen him voiced by the late Chris Farley. After a last minute over-haul, Shrek went on to be one of the most influential animated films ever, and the character himself, under the lead of Mike Myers, one of the most beloved cartoon characters in history – forging one of the most successful – and successfully memed – animated franchises of all time.
I take a look at how Shrek and his pals; Donkey, Fiona, and Puss in Boots have evolved and how animators changed their look, personality and visual style over the years.
Here’s my look at Shrek through the years!
SHREK Media
Getting to Know William Steig (Scholastic Documentary)
Shrek
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party
Shrek 2
Shrek 4D / Shrek 3D / The Ghost of Lord Farquaad
Shrek the Third
Shrek the Halls
Shrek: The Musical
Shrek Forever After
Donkey’s Caroling Christmas-Tacular
Shrek’s Yule Log
Scared Shrekless – The Bride of Gingy / Boots Motel / The Shreksorcist
The Pig Who Cried Wolf / Werewolf
Puss in Boots
Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Adventures of Puss in Boots
Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale
Mike Myers’ The Pentaverate
Shrek Memes
MISC Media / Movies
We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Story
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
Back to the Future: The Animated Series
Balto
Saturday Night Live
Billy Madison
Waynes World
Waynes World 2
Tommy Boy
Beverly Hills Ninja
Beverly Hills Cop III
Titanic (1997)
Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996)
Con Air
Face/Off
So I Married an Axe Murderer
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Austin Powers in Goldmember
The Mask
Charlie’s Angels
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone / Sorcerer’s Stone
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Persepolis
It’s a Wonderful Life
Despicable Me 3 – Minions
DREAMWORKS Media / Movies
The Prince of Egypt
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmeron
Antz
The Bad Guys
DISNEY Media / Movies
Waking Sleeping Beauty
The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Sleeping Beauty
Cinderella (1950)
Toy Story
Monsters Inc.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
#Shrek #PussInBoots #DreamWorks
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Hope you all loved the Shrek Evolution! Let me know what YOUR favourite Shrek movie or appearance is right here!!
coool
SHReK is the most memorable character Icon for DreamWorks Animation and a beloved classic for the DreamWorks lexicon
25:46 Wrong, Katzenberg Wanted Shrek To Be Originally a Franchise of Five Films.
PDI wasn't split off of DreamWorks – DreamWorks BOUGHT them out and merged them into themselves.
Why create a whole new division from scratch when you already have one available?
You forgot mrbeast burger shrek collab?
Shrek is the best character in Dreamworks
The movie version of Shrek
Hey Dave I need you to do me a favor and check out my comment from your channel community from the 3rd era DreamWorks video 4 months ago, see I suggested a concert list and title for the 4th era DreamWorks video and I need your approval.
Since your technically talking about a book franchise in this video do you think you could do curious George next?
Sherk
Believe it or not, at one point chris Farley was actually going to play captain underpants in a live-action movie in the late 90s after the original book came out, but that got cancelled due to his death and obviously became an animated movie produced by dreamworks in 2017. Imagine how things would’ve been different if he never passed away.
Where's shrek 5!😭😭😭😭
I always loved watching the Movie Shrek, but it never changed the fact that members of DreamWorks we're unlucky to work on Shrek if they did something wrong in their other projects
I don’t usually condone stealing valuable information or resources from any film or game studio, but if anyone out there has ANY of either Chris Farley’s original Shrek recordings or Mike Myers’ original Shrek Canadian voice, go ahead and upload it to the internet! It’s always so great to learn more information on the production of films we all know and love, and really helps us appreciate them more than ever. You may risk getting copyright strikes or cease and desists, but they are worth it for preservation of our favorite pieces of media.
As much as I love Mike Myers Shrek I REALLY wish we could've got Chris Farley's version, I recently heard on a podcast the first Shrek videogame is apparently based on the original version of Shrek (Chris Farley version of the movie).
With Shrek being such a universally beloved, landmark film, I really wonder why no bit of footage of either Chris Farley’s version or Mike Myers old voice recordings before he came up with the Scottish accent have been released publicly. I can’t tell if it’s because of legal issues with the families of both actors or if it has to do with them not being proud of the preliminary version of the movie, similar to how Pixar is not proud of the early iteration of Toy Story before Woody was reworked to be more appealing. Just like how with that movie, even a single seen of the early animatics managed to make it to home video, for historical sakes I think it’s important to see some of it officially someday.
It’s really interesting how Shrek and Toy Story’s development stories are very much alike. They both were very different early on, the main characters were unrecognizable from how we know them, and they both could have ended up being disasters. But luckily with some reworking of their stories and their protagonists and perseverance, they ended up being huge sensations, and two of the most influential animated films of all time. They are both in my eyes very inspirational stories, and show how if you’re working on something and it doesn’t work, don’t ever give up and have a great team alongside you to make something great.
What’s my favorite Shrek line?
I got to say, in the scene from the first film where they save Fiona and she and Shrek have just met, the line “Well I got to save my ass.” really gets me. The way how Shrek is of course referring to Donkey, but Fiona takes often as she thinks he means saving himself, to me, it’s adult humor done right.
Funnily enough, Nicholas Cage did eventually star in another dreamworks franchise. That being the croods. Which worked out so much better in the long run. Still hoping for a 3rd movie someday.
It’s gonna be really interesting to see if Cameron Diaz will eventually come back to voice Fiona in the shrek 5 revival. I really hope she does. The franchise won’t be the same without her!
I’m so glad Mike Myers gave shrek a Scottish accent. The character wouldn’t be as iconic without that voice at all!
Personally I hope the eventual shrek 5 does bring back the idea of his parents or his side of the family as that’s what the original story would’ve been for the movie if it had released back in 2013. Now that puss in boots the last wish is almost out, anything is possible. I really want to see more of kitty softpaws and the new dog character piretro too. He really is a scene stealer I think!
I still haven’t watched the adventures of puss in boots Netflix series yet. But I absolutely loved all hail king Julian, a prequel to the Madagascar series. Clover was my favourite character in it.
The penteverate waa definitely a bizarre series lol
The new dreamworks logo is absolutely incredible! If that’s not a sign the franchise is making a true comeback, I don’t know what is!
Somebody once told me …..
this franchise will never die
hey Dave, have you ever thought about making a new series about animation companies or companies in general like maybe one about Walt Disney since it is turning 100 and that's a BIG deal
Hey there Dave! My favorite Shrek Film is Shrek 2 (2004) of course!
SOMEBODY…
Is there going to be anime evolution Vids.
Will you do a evolution of Thomas
What’s always stood out to me is just how much of Farley there was in the original design.
Who know there is going to be a fifth or reboot movie of Shrek?
So for Shrek 1,
Shrek: Mike Myers
Donkey: Eddie Murphy
Fiona: Cameron Diaz
Farquad: John Lithgow
So for Shrek 2,
Shrek: Mike Myers
Donkey: Eddie Murphy
Fiona: Cameron Diaz
Puss in Boots: Antonio Banderas
King Harold: John Cleese
Queen Lilian: Julie Andrews
Prince Charming: Rupert Everett
Fairy Godmother: Jennifer Saunders
So for Shrek 3,
Shrek: Mike Myers
Donkey: Eddie Murphy
Fiona: Cameron Diaz
Puss in Boots: Antonio Banderas
King Harold: John Cleese
Queen Lilian: Julie Andrews
Prince Charming: Rupert Everett
Arthur Pendragon: Justin Timberlake
Merlin: Eric Idle
So for Shrek 4,
Shrek: Mike Myers
Donkey: Eddie Murphy
Fiona: Cameron Diaz
Puss in Boots: Antonio Banderas
Rumplestiltskin: Walt Dohrn
So for Puss in Boots,
Puss in Boots: Antonio Banderas
Kitty Softpaws: Salma Hayek
Humpty Alexander Dumpty: Zach Galifanakis
Jack: Billy Thornton
Jill: Amy Sedaris
So for Puss in Boots the last wish,
Puss in Boots: Antonio Banderas
Kitty Softpaws: Salma Hayek
Perrito: Harvey Guillen
Goldilocks: Florence Pugh
Papa Bear: Ray Winstone
Mama Bear: Olivia Colman
Baby Bear: Samson Kayo
Big Jack Horner: John Mulaney
Death Wolf: Wagner Moura
Shout Out to Father of the Pride if you look at Donkey
Regarding the book, I remember seeing a copy of it when my 6th grade English class was prepping for a poem/short stories assignment. My classmates and I were surprised to learn about said book since it was about a year or two after the first film debuted. Though speaking of its author, I remember reading "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" as a kid, which was an interesting 'be careful what you wish for' type of story that also featured donkeys.
As for the movies, the first two were amazing, the third installment was okay, the fourth one was decent, and "Puss in Boots" was a solid spinoff. Heck, I liked some of the products that came with the first movie, especially the 'Ogre-sized' M&Ms. I also really can't wait for "The Last Wish."
I reckon these Evolutions might happen in 2023:
Pepe Le Pew (Featuring Penelope Pussycat) (1945-2023)
The Smurfs (1958-2023)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-2023)
The Incredible Hulk (1962-2023)
The Simpsons (1987-2023)
Transformers (1984-2023)
Mario (1981-2023)
Ludwig von Drake (1961-2023)
Rocky and Bullwinkle (1959-2023)
Top Cat (1961-2023)
Droopy (1943-2023)
To think of all the things that needed to happen for Mike Meyers to win the role of shrek is to ponder the reality of fate, even as a non-fatalist
Shrek will always be one of my favorite movies. The sequel is top tier.
Dang that title makes me feel old (I was born end of 89)