Shrek 1 (Western Animation)

The Prince isn't charming. The Princess isn't sleeping. The sidekick isn't helping. The ogre is the hero. Fairy tales will never be the same.

Shrek: "Once upon a time, there was a lovely princess. But she had an enchantment upon her of a fearful sort, which could only be broken by love's first kiss. She was locked away in a castle, guarded by a terrible fire-breathing dragon. Many brave knights had attempted to free her from this dreadful prison, but none prevailed. She waited in the dragon's keep in the highest room of the tallest tower, for her true love... and true love's first kiss." [tears out page, chuckling] Like that's ever gonna happen! What a load of— [toilet flushing noise]^note

SomeBODY once told me the world was gonna describe me...

Shrek is a 2001 DreamWorks Animation CGI film produced by PDI/DreamWorks, which is very loosely based on the 1990 William Steig book of the same name. It was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, with a script by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman and Roger S. H. Schulman.

The film features Shrek (Mike Myers), a grumpy ogre living happily alone in his swamp, where he regularly frightens off villagers and lives the lazily luxurious life of an ogre. However, his perfect world is rocked when his loving home is invaded by fairy tale creatures simply seeking refuge after being cast into exile by the cruel-hearted Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow). When Shrek confronts Farquaad, he agrees to let the ogre live in peace if he can rescue the Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) from a dragon-guarded castle so that Farquaad can marry her and become a real king. With the aid of his new and obnoxiously garrulous self-proclaimed best friend, a talking Donkey named Donkey (Eddie Murphy), Shrek sets off on his quest to restore balance to the delicate fairy tale world he's living in.

Notorious for its modern twist on the Fairy Tale genre, the film became the first installment of the Shrek franchise, receiving four theatrical sequels and two spinoffs. It ushered in a new era of computer animated films to DreamWorks Animation, and the titular Shrek became the company's unofficial mascot.

"WHAT are you DOING in my TROPE PAGE?!"

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A-F

Aborted Declaration of Love: During a beautiful sunset, Shrek tries to confess his feelings to Fiona during their last day together before he's due to take her to Lord Farquaad. However, he gets cold feet and backtracks to instead ask if she's going to eat the last swamp rat. He finally gets the chance at the end of the movie.
Shrek: I... um... I was wondering... are you... are... are... [sighs] ...are you gonna eat that?
Accidental Hero:
- Donkey ends up saving the movie by charming a dragon. He realizes that the dragon about to eat him is a lady, and most castle visitors aren't nice to her. Flattered, Dragon changes course and cuddles with him instead, crying out in pain and sadness when he makes his getaway. Later, they reconcile when encountering each other by a river, and Donkey grows to like her as a romantic partner despite his initial reluctance. Donkey convinces her to help Shrek reconcile with Fiona, and she delivers the coup de grace to Farquaad when he overpowers Shrek and Fiona.
- Shrek himself never sets out to liberate the fairytale creatures from oppression, only from his swamp. He spends most of the film technically as Farquaad's "delivery boy"; and even his change of heart at the end is more about his growing affection for Fiona and friendship with Donkey than it is about any political change. The fact that Farquaad's death by Dragon ends up ending his oppressive regime is incidental.
Accidental Truth:
- When trying to justify why she, Shrek, and Donkey can't start the trek through the woods when the sun is about to set, Fiona comes up with "There's robbers in the woods!" The next day, when they enter they're accosted by Robin Hood and the Merry Men.
- When asked during the ceremony why Fiona can't marry Farquaad, Shrek blurts out that Farquaad is only marrying her so he can be king. It's unclear whether Shrek had actually figured this out or was just trying to come up with something big and convincing, but he's correct regardless.^note
Adaptational Attractiveness:
- Downplayed. Shrek is by no means handsome in the film, but he's certainly not as gruesome-looking as he was in the William Steig book.
- Fiona is a more interesting example. In the book, the princess is a hideous, pointy-nosed ogre and is described to be uglier then Shrek himself. Here, she's a beautiful human being who's cursed to become an ugly ogre every night. Regardless, her ogre form is still more attractive than her book counterpart.
Adaptational Heroism: Shrek in the original book was a Villain Protagonist who enjoyed making other people miserable with his ugliness and powers, all for his amusement. Shrek here starts out much more neutral, who only scares people away so he can be left alone. He then later becomes a hero as he bonds with Donkey and Fiona.
Adaptational Wimp: Believe it or not, Shrek actually has the ability to breathe fire, swallow lightning, and shoot Eye Beams in the original book. In the film, none of these powers are present. His ability to breath fire would be used in the XBox video game.
Adaptation Dye-Job: In-universe. Despite the opening storybook ostensibly being about her, the redheaded Fiona is depicted as blond.
Adaptation Expansion: Adapted from a children's book approximately 500 words long; almost nothing in the movie other than the characters of Shrek, Donkey, an ogre princess and a dragon actually came from the book. Some of the other characters from the book appear in the sequels such as The Knight who would be Prince Charming.
Admitting to Fear: When Shrek and Donkey arrive at the castle where Princess Fiona is locked up, Donkey confesses to Shrek that unlike ogres, donkeys don't have layers and are more open about being afraid. Shrek helps him get across the rickety bridge over the lava he's afraid of, tricking him into reaching the other side when his fear stops him halfway.
Agony of the Feet: On the way to the castle, during the Travel Montage, Shrek hurts his foot trying to stamp out what's left of the campfire, forcing Donkey to put it out by urinating on it.
Air Quotes: Fiona asks Shrek and Donkey about Lord Farquaad; after the two crack some jokes about Farquaad's short stature, Fiona tells them that they are just jealous because they cannot measure up to a great ruler like Farquaad. Shrek responds to this while doing the air quotes that she may do the "measuring" when she meets him tomorrow.
All Balloons Have Helium: Happens when Shrek and Fiona inflate a frog and a snake, respectively, that then float like helium balloons.
Allegory Adventure: The film begins with the eponymous ogre reading a traditional fairy tale and saying, "Like that's ever going to happen." Despite the fact that the film is a parody of fairy tales, the plot is roughly the one used in the film.
All-Natural Fire Extinguisher: It's easy to miss, but when Shrek's shoe is set alight thanks to a campfire, Donkey puts it out by peeing on it.
Almost Kiss:
- Farquaad is about to kiss Fiona when Shrek barges in and yells, "I OBJECT!"
- Shrek and Fiona have two. The first time, it's interrupted by a Moment Killer and Mood Whiplash courtesy of Donkey. The second, Shrek Breaks the Fourth Wall by covering the camera with his hand, so we don't see the kiss.
Altar Diplomacy: Lord Farquaad wants to marry Fiona purely so he can become king.
Amazon Chaser: After watching her beat up Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Shrek starts to fall in love with Fiona.
Analogy Backfire:
- The titular character tries to illustrate how ogres have hidden depths by telling Donkey that "ogres are like onions," only for Donkey to latch onto various aspects of onions that, while valid, aren't what Shrek was going for, as well as several foods with layers that otherwise have very little in common with either onions or ogres. Shrek also completely misses the point in that onions don't have hidden depths at all - every layer is the same right down to the core, which is also just more onion—making it work better as a metaphor for Jerk with a Heart of Jerk than Jerk with a Heart of Gold. The onion metaphor originated in the play Peer Gynt, where it stood for the irredeemable Villain Protagonist's soul. In-universe he used the analogy because he just happened to have an onion in his hand at the time; when Donkey grasps his meaning he suggests cake and parfait as better analogies.
- Later in the film, when Shrek is rescuing Fiona, she learns that he didn't slay the dragon yet. She starts chastising him for it and stated that the previous knights had attempted to do it, in which Shrek points out that they all got killed, and even pass by their charred remains.
  Fiona: But this isn't right! You're meant to charge in, sword drawn, banner flying! That's what all the other knights did!
  Shrek: (Looking at a burned skeleton) Yeah, right before they burst into flame!
Anachronism Stew: A big source of the film's humor. While the medieval fairy tale setting is generally consistent with how low tech it is, there are pop culture anomalies inserted that fly in the face of it for laughs. These include the Magic Mirror hosting a Dating Show (and Farquaad later using him like a TV with a VCR), Disney World-style parking lots and loudspeakers at Duloc, Shrek making offhand comments like "Hold the phone!", Shrek's outhouse having modern plumbing, and Fiona being skilled in Eastern Martial Arts, right down to performing a parody of The Matrix, and the use of a modern drumset and microphone in the Dance Party Ending. The heavy use of popular music in the soundtrack also gave the film a very contemporary feel (for the early 2000s, at least).
And There Was Much Rejoicing: Farquaad's death is met by the people of Duloc with roaring approval and relief that they are finally freed from their tyrannical ruler. They then watch Shrek confess his love to Fiona and go "awww" when they kiss, at the imploring of the executioner, no less. Some are later seen at Fiona's wedding to Shrek (it's even the same minister as was preparing to marry her to Farquaad).
Animal Lover: Princess Fiona seems to like birds and donkeys. She's afraid of dragons, but that's understandable since she was locked in the keep of a dragon since childhood.
Annoying Arrows: The titular ogre is literally inhumanly tough and doesn't realize he has an arrow on his rear until it is pointed out. Fiona has difficulty pulling it out, but only because Shrek won't stand still.
Anti-Hero: At the start, Shrek is by no means a paragon of virtue. He's selfish, antisocial and an all around cynical person who only goes to rescue Fiona so he can continue living alone in his swamp—but the fact that he's a social outcast to begin with due to normal people judging him by his appearance sure gives him plenty of reasons to. It takes his love of Fiona and Donkey's friendship to bring out the best in him.
Anything but That!: Gingy, while being interrogated by Lord Farquaad, says the following:
Gingerbread Man: Not my gumdrop buttons!
Apology Gift: Fiona makes breakfast for Donkey and Shrek as an apology for being an Ungrateful Bastard the day before. She tells Shrek that she made a bad first impression and that he deserves a thank-you for rescuing her.
Arc Words:
- Really really!
- Also, "perfect", or some variant. Said almost every time by Farquaad regarding himself or Duloc.
Armor-Piercing Question: Shrek becomes completely disarmed, which is about as good as confessing himself. If it isn't already obvious enough that Shrek is trying to stop the wedding.
Shrek: He's not your true love!
Fiona: Well what do you know about true love?
Armor-Piercing Response: When Donkey refuses to leave Shrek alone, Shrek first tries to scare him away and then when that fails, points out that he's an ogre. Donkey's response leaves Shrek stunned for a moment.
Shrek: I'm an ogre! Y'know, "grab your torch and pitchforks"...! Doesn't that bother you?
Donkey: [shakes head] Nope.
Shrek: ...Really?
Donkey: Really really.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Given the source, one of the lines from one of the Three Little Pigs about Lord Farquaad.
Pig: He huffed, und he puffed, und he... signed an eviction notice.
Ascetic Aesthetic: In an otherwise medieval setting, Duloc's buildings are all white, clean and precisely proportioned, decorated only with royal banners, glossy photobooths and puppet shows chirping about how perfect it all is. This helps underscore Lord Farquaad's authoritarianism and perfectionism.
Asshole Victim: Lord Farquaad is eventually defeated and killed by Dragon eating him alive. And considering Farquaad was a racist douchebag who despised fairytale creatures, planned to put Shrek in a position where he would beg for death to save him and threatened to have Fiona locked back in Dragon's Keep for good, it is very obvious nobody is going to miss him at all, especially since the people of Duloc cheered greatly at how they were finally free of him after Dragon ate him.
Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption:
- When Shrek and Donkey enter the Dragon's Keep to rescue Fiona, Shrek finds the tallest tower rather easily (mainly because it's the only room with the lights on).
  Shrek: Well, at least we know where the princess is. But where's the—
  Donkey: DRAGON!!!
- After Fiona fights off the Merry Men, Shrek and Donkey are astounded, asking her how she learned kung-fu.
  Fiona: When one lives alone, one has to know these things in case there's... there's an arrow in your butt!
  Shrek: What? [looks to see that indeed, there is an arrow sticking out of his backside] Oh, will you look at that.
Award-Bait Song: Played straight, though somewhat out of place in a movie that took the mickey out of tropes popularized by the Disney Animated Canon, with "It Is You (I Have Loved)" by Dana Glover, the only non-instrumental song on the soundtrack written specifically for the movie.
Backhanded Apology: Shortly before the climax, when Shrek returns to his swamp heartbroken, he and Donkey have a fallout, resulting in this dialogue:
Shrek: [to Donkey] Well, if I treated you so bad, how come you came back?
Donkey: Because that's what friends do — they forgive each other!
Shrek: Oh, yeah. You're right, Donkey. I forgive you — for stabbing me in the back!
"Back to Camera" Pose: Used at a poignant moment. Just after Shrek's heated discussion with Donkey ending in his sad declaration that people take one look at him and say "Help, run, a big stupid ugly ogre!", he and Donkey are viewed from behind, gazing at the moon.
Bad Boss: Farquaad has a moment of this during the climax, as he calls his guards morons at one point. He also shows a blatant disregard to the knights volunteering to go rescue Fiona for him, saying some might die trying but "it's a sacrifice [he's] willing to make."
The Bad Kingdom: Duloc, though it is emphatically not a Kingdom, is by all accounts an independent monarchy under the rule of Lord Farquaad. He comes across less like the traditional Feudal Overlord he by all rights ought to be, and more like a medievalized Orwellian Dictator. His realm's white, clean, and perfectly-geometrical buildings belie the horrifying underbelly; the ethnic cleansing of all magical creatures from his realm. His human citizenry also seem to live miserable, rigid lives beneath the saccharine facade, and loudly rejoice at his death.
"Back to Camera" Pose: Used at a poignant moment. Just after Shrek's heated discussion with Donkey ending in his sad declaration that people take one look at him and say "Help, run, a big stupid ugly ogre!", he and Donkey are viewed from behind, gazing at the moon.
Bait-and-Switch Comment: After the Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure, Donkey returns to Shrek's swamp to say he forgives him for acting like such a jerk to him earlier. Shrek, who thinks Donkey and Fiona have dismissed him as a "hideous, ugly beast", isn't having it:
Shrek: If I treated you so bad, how come you came back?
Donkey: Because that's what friends do! They forgive each other!
Shrek: [calmer] Oh... yeah. You're right, Donkey. I forgive you. ...For stabbing me in the back!
Balcony Speech: Lord Farquaad is a fan of this. Possibly because no one could see him at all if he weren't elevated so far over everyone's heads...
Banister Slide: Done by Shrek facing forward, and has to deal with the finial problem the hard way. Fortunately, ogres are tough.
Beast and Beauty: Shrek and Fiona, though it's subverted when Fiona becomes an ogre full-time.
Beautiful Singing Voice: In a rather vicious parody of Disney Princess conventions, Princess Fiona displays one in a duet with a random songbird...at least until her ability to hold a note causes the bird to explode. She then takes its orphaned eggs and cooks them for breakfast.
Beauty Is Relative: Fiona, who was born human and cursed to transform into an ogre at night, was afraid that Shrek would reject her ogre form as ugly, as humans do. It never occurred to her that an ogre would have different beauty standards, and when he sees her, he thinks she's beautiful.
Because You Were Nice to Me:
- Donkey becomes obsessed with breaking through Shrek's cold exterior and befriending him after the ogre stops Farquaad's knights from capturing him. He succeeds.
- Dragon becomes smitten with Donkey because he's the only castle visitor that has showered her with compliments. Later, he starts returning her feelings.
Becoming the Mask: Shrek simply intended to rescue Fiona and deliver her to Farquaad to get back his home, never wanting to have a romantic relationship. He ends up falling in love with her anyways.
Before I Change My Mind: There's an example of the "deal-between-hero-and-villain" variant:
Lord Farquaad: [to Shrek] Very well, ogre, the deed to your swamp, cleared out as agreed. Take it and go, before I change my mind.
Belated Injury Realization: The eponymous ogre doesn't notice there's an arrow on his butt until it's pointed out.
"Be Quiet!" Nudge: Shrek has to silence Donkey before he'd made an innuendo that isn't child-friendly.
Fiona: That's Duloc?
Donkey: Yeah, I know. You know, Shrek thinks Lord Farquaad is compensating for something, which I think means he has a really — [Shrek stamps on his hoof] OW!
Big Damn Heroes: Dragon and Donkey save Shrek and Fiona from being captured by Farquaad's guards upon hearing Shrek whistle, Dragon even eating Farquaad for good measure.
The Big Damn Kiss: Shrek and Fiona have two. The first breaks Fiona's enchantment after Farquaad is killed by the dragon. The second is during their wedding in the final scene. After Shrek's Break the Fourth Wall moment, we cut to them at their own wedding during the kiss.
Big "NO!": Shrek, a couple of times when he's angered by Donkey, such as twice during the "Ogres are like onions" scene. He also does one after three Little Nos when he sees the crowd of fairy tale creatures in his swamp.
Big Shadow, Little Creature: The shadows of the Three Blind Mice when Shrek first sees them on his table (and first sees that they're there) make them appear much bigger than they actually are.
Big "SHUT UP!": Donkey has enough of Shrek putting him down and gives him one of these in the middle of a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
Donkey: Well, guess what? Now, it's MY turn, so you just shut up and pay attention!
Big Word Shout:
- As they're exploring the castle...
  Shrek: At least we know where the Princess is, but where's the...
  Donkey: DRAGON!
- Another one occurs during the castle escape sequence, where Shrek uses a sword to pin the dragon's chain, runs around the corner in slo-mo and yells "RUN!" (with an echo accompanying it) to Donkey and Fiona.
- Shrek has another one at the end when he interrupts the wedding: "I OBJECT!"
Black-and-White Morality: While Shrek is in a gray area at the start, the film unambiguously paints Farquaad's treatment of the fairy tale characters as being in the wrong, and Shrek eventually comes around to being the hero in the end.
Black Comedy Animal Cruelty: During their Falling-in-Love Montage, Shrek and Fiona catch a frog and a snake, and inflate them with their breath to turn them into floating balloons.
Black Comedy Predation: As Fiona is singing in the forest, she sees a bird chirping along with her. Then she hits a high note that causes the bird to pop. She winces, looks at its nest with three unhatched eggs... and cut to those eggs being fried for breakfast.
Blatant Lies: Shrek heads away from the mill after Fiona goes inside, and when Donkey asks where he's going, he replies, "To get... more firewood." Donkey knows he's lying because there's still a huge stack of firewood next to the fire.
Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The three princesses the Magic Mirror presents to Farquaad as candidates for his bride are Cinderella (blonde), Snow White (brunette), and Fiona (redhead).
Bloodless Carnage: Played straight during the tournament with all the injuries the knights sustain, possibly justified since they're all wearing armor. Averted in the arrow scene, as Donkey believes he's seeing blood on the arrow after Fiona rips it out of Shrek's butt, causing him to faint.
Blunt "Yes": Fiona has this response after Shrek reveals his face to her.
Shrek: Oh, you were expecting Prince Charming?
Fiona: Well, yes, actually...
Bookends: Done with actual books. The storybook opening kicks off the film, and finishes with the last page of another book (the first book does not have the title on it like the second one does) before it closes, seconds before cutting to the credits.
Boomerang Bigot: In the DVD Commentary, the creators noted this for Farquaad. He hates fairy tale creatures for being different, not realizing that his height (or lack thereof) qualifies him as a "freak" by his own standards. Shrek: The Musical makes it even more explicit: he's half dwarf.invoked
Boring Return Journey: Inverted. The journey to the tower where Princess Fiona is imprisoned passes by quickly in a montage. The return trip encounters more friction, from arguments with Fiona to a tussle with Robin Hood’s Merry Men.
Bowdlerise:
- When the movie is shown on the Disney Channel, the line about Snow White not being easy is taken out, as are all of the "ass" puns. However, Shrek still calls Donkey a stubborn jackass.
- When the movie is shown on Cartoon Network, any line featuring the words "damn" or "ass" were either cut, re-dubbed to remove the words or just muted entirely (which made it obvious to the most naive viewer that something was edited). In 2017, Cartoon Network started airing a version with these words intact.
Breaking the Annoying Instrument: While Fiona is performing her defensive moves against Robin Hood and his merry men, she punches through the bellows of Friar Tuck's accordion, while he is playing it.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: A brief moment of this happens at the end. Shrek goes in to kiss Fiona after the curse is broken, but stops, notices the camera, and covers it with his hand.
Briar Patching: Shrek grabs Dragon by the tail, and she angrily flicks him away and sends him flying into Fiona's tower, where he wanted to go in the first place.
Brutal Honesty: Donkey references the trope soon after he and Shrek first meet, after Shrek says it's no wonder he doesn't have any friends. Donkey says only a true friend would be that cruelly honest.
Bullet Time: In a scene that parodies The Matrix (1999), Princess Fiona "goes Trinity" on Robin Hood and His Merry Men, complete with the rotating camera angle — and a mid-air pause while she fixes her hair.
Bullying a Dragon: Shrek shows how powerful he is many times, yet guards and knights and angry mobs still attempt to murder him.
Burp of Finality: Combined with Spit Out a Shoe (crown) after the Dragon eats Lord Farquaad alive, she burps up his crown.
Cake Toppers: This film provides the trope image. Fiona looks at her wedding cake with figurines of herself and Farquaad on the top, and she pushes his figurine down into the cake to more accurately show his height (originally the two figurines were the same height). Gingy is later seen at the end of the movie attempting to completely jam Farquaad's figurine into the cake by hitting it with his cane.
"Can Hold Her Own" Moment: When Robin Hood and his Merry Men attempt to abduct Fiona for the reward and kill Shrek, the princess beats up every single one of them... without even messing up her hair! However, after she has become an ogress in Farquaard's castle, it seems that she cannot escape when she is being restrained by the knights.
Canon Foreigner: Shrek, Donkey, Dragon, and Fiona^note are the only characters who appeared in the original book. Lord Farquaad and the numerous fairy tale creatures were introduced specifically for the film.
Can't Live With Them, Can't Live Without Them: Shrek has this happen after he rescues Fiona, when he believes she can't care for him because he's an ogre. He receives the deed to his swamp and returns to it, but feels very empty inside. Eventually, Donkey makes him realize he does love Fiona. Cue a rush to beat her Wedding Deadline to Lord Farquaad.
Cardboard Prison: Invoked; Fiona explains to Donkey that with her martial arts skills she could have escaped the tower and Dragon at any time. In fact, she does that in the fourth movie's Alternate Timeline when Shrek never appears to rescue her. The problem is that it wouldn't solve her actual problem, that she is cursed to become an ogress at night. Only True Love's Kiss can do that, and those tend to come from princes or knights. Hence, she stayed in the hopes of breaking the curse.
Celestial Deadline: Sunset and sunrise are important times for Fiona. They are, respectively, the time of day when she transforms into an ogre and the time when she turns back into human. This cycle only lasts until she receives a True Love's Kiss (at which point she'll assume the form that aligns with that true love).
Chairman of the Brawl: When Shrek is fighting against a LOT of knights, who are under orders to kill him to win a chance to rescue a princess, he ends up in a setup remarkably similar to a wrestling arena. Egged on by a bloodthirsty granny no less, he employs this trope on an unfortunate knight, much to the audience's delight.
Granny: The chair! Give him the chair!
Chekhov's Gun:
- The mill that Shrek and Donkey approach on the hill after the "ogres are like onions" scene is where they stop at with Fiona on the way back, where we find out about Fiona's curse, where Shrek misinterprets Fiona's words and comes to think she hates him, and where Farquaad meets Fiona to bring her back to Duloc.
- Fiona's enchantment. Described first by Fiona when she's first seen as an ogress in the mill, then comes back again during the wedding when it's revealed to Shrek and Farquaad. Farquaad's reaction leads almost directly to his own death.
- Donkey tells Dragon he'll whistle if he needs her. During the fight with Farquaad, when all seems lost, Shrek remembers this and breaks free enough to whistle for Dragon, who promptly breaks in and eats Farquaad.
Chekhov's Gunman: The dragon. Chekhov's Gunwoman, in fact, making it two spoilers in one.
Climax Boss: The Dragon, being the guardian of the castle imprisoning Princess Fiona; Shrek is tasked by Lord Farquaad to rescue Fiona in exchange for getting the exiled Fairy Tale creatures away from Shrek's swamp. Shrek does just that, but in a Bait-and-Switch, Farquaad is revealed to be the Big Bad wanting to be king of Duloc by marrying Fiona and maintaining an oppressive rule over the creatures, whereas the Dragon eventually reforms after falling in love with Donkey.
Combat Pragmatist: Fiona complains that Shrek is this when he helps bust her out from the tower before slaying the dragon and tells her to find a safe hiding place while he goes to save Donkey. Shrek points out the other knights who did that got burned to a crisp. His method at least lets them escape with their lives, if a bit singed.
Comedic Sociopathy:
- Shrek and Fiona making nearby animals into balloons for each other and then letting them float away, and allowing a tree Donkey is walking on to snap back and fling him away.
- In addition to the balloon animals, Fiona also causes a bird to spontaneously combust when it tries to hold a note as long and loud as the one Fiona sings... then, she cooks the bird's eggs.
- Notice at the end of the movie, only two of the three bears - Papa Bear, and Baby Bear, specifically - are freed with the other fairy tale creatures. If you look closely, Farquaad made a rug out of Mama Bear.
Compensating for Something: When they first see Lord Farquaad's huge castle, Shrek asks Donkey "Do you think maybe he's compensating for something?". Kids take away the meaning of compensating for being short, and adults take away the other. With all the other jokes in the movie specifically directed at Farquaad's height, viewers might reasonably have dismissed it as Accidental Innuendo were it not for this reprise:invoked
Fiona: That's Duloc?
Donkey: Yeah, I know. You know, Shrek thinks Lord Farquaad is compensating for something, which I think means he has a really — [Shrek stamps on his hoof] OW!
Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Fiona is initially impressed with her rescue but becomes quickly petulant when Shrek refuses to take off his helmet and kiss her, denies being her true love, mocks her naivete, and finally disappoints her by turning out to be an ogre, rather than a prince or at least a knight. This is somewhat understandable, as her parents apparently viewed locking her up in a tower as akin to a dating service or getting a Mrs. degree from an Ivy League school. Her peril seemed to be more on the order of a professional hazard than a truly existential threat.
Fiona: This isn't right! You're supposed to charge in, sword drawn, banner flying! That's what all the other knights did!
Shrek: Yeah! (looking at some charred remains nearby) Right before they burst into flame!
Fiona: That's not the point!
Complimenting the Transformed: At the end of the film, when Shrek kisses Fiona and she turns into her true self, she finds that she's instead been turned into an ogre permanently. She nearly breaks down, stating that "[she's] supposed to be beautiful." Shrek, however, looks at her with nothing but love and admiration.
Shrek: But you are beautiful.
Contrived Coincidence: Donkey just happens to feel morose at the same shore Dragon is crying at. It's a Small World, After All!
Convection, Schmonvection: Shrek and Donkey walk across a rickety bridge over a boiling lake of lava to reach a castle on the other side, without seeming to feel any heat. And a castle built on a pier of rock rising out the lava, which wouldn't even be stable in such conditions, as lava can erode, corrode, and often outright melt such piers. However, the bridge is eventually burnt up when Dragon breathes fire on it, trying to capture Shrek, Fiona and Donkey.
Corpse-Strewn Lair: The remote castle where Princess Fiona is kept prisoner is home to a large and fierce dragon. A pan around the castle's interior shows a number of brave knights that attempted a rescue; their scorched or piecemeal corpses indicate less than successful outcomes.
Crapsaccharine World: Played straight to some degree with Duloc, although we see what's wrong with it before we even learn its name, as opposed to learning what's wrong with it after its introduction as this trope normally works. Farquaad is obsessed with his idea of a perfect world, which means banishing anyone who doesn't meet his standards of perfection, namely fairy tale creatures, who end up in Shrek's swamp.
Crashing the Coronation: The climax combines this with Wedding Smashers, as Farquaad is marrying Fiona to declare himself king. Shrek fails to prevent both, but Dragon is on hand to eat Farquaad alive, and Fiona promptly marries Shrek instead.
Crash-Into Hello: Downplayed. Donkey, in running away from the guards, ends up running straight into Shrek as he puts up another "Keep Out" sign. They end up becoming friends (through Donkey's persistence) by the end of the film. Shrek later meets Fiona when he crashes through the roof of her tower after being flung by Dragon's tail.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Donkey. He may be an oddball, a Motor Mouth and a Cowardly Sidekick to Shrek, but he readily helps Shrek out in delivering a Curb-Stomp Battle to Farquaad's knights and, in the climax, threatens the knights with Dragon once Farquaad is eaten alive.
Cue Card: Attendants at Fiona and Farquaad's wedding hold up cards telling the congregation how to react to proceedings. When Fiona's curse is broken, Thelonious quickly scribbles "Awww" on the back of one of his cards for the audience to react properly.
Cultural Translation: Happened in the Norwegian dub. In Norwegian, there is no direct equivalent to the word "ogre", thus Shrek became a "troll" instead, a famous mythological creature in Norway.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Two.
- Shrek almost single-handedly (Donkey helps him out) takes out all of Farquaad's knights in just over a minute with barely a scratch on him.
- Fiona takes on Robin Hood and his Merry Men by herself and wins, unscathed. Shrek and Donkey are understandably surprised.
Curse: Princess Fiona is cursed to transform from her human form into an ogre every night, and back to human every morning, until she finds her true love and they share love's first kiss.
Curse Cut Short:
- From the beginning of the film.
  Shrek: What a load of— (flushes)
- From the Robin Hood song:
  I like an honest fight and a saucy little maid
  What he's basically saying is that he likes to get—PAID!
- The Disney-esque "Welcome to Duloc" song.
  Please keep off of the grass
  Shine your shoes, wipe your... (the dolls bend over and turn around, exposing their butt-cracks) ...face!
Curse Escape Clause: Fiona was cursed to be an ogre at night and a human during the day. Like the traditional fairy-tale curse, it can only be broken by True Love's Kiss. And in traditional Shrek fashion, the film subverts the typical fairy-tale genre by having Fiona's curse be cured by resuming a permanent ogre form as opposed to the beautiful princess.
Damsel Assist: Though Shrek is technically the one rescuing Fiona, she's the one who saves him when Robin Hood and his Merry Men attack them in the forest by unleashing a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on the group. Notably, this is the moment where Shrek starts to fall in love with her.
Dance Party Ending: The wedding reception held at the end. Everyone dances to "I'm a Believer", sung by Donkey. The home video and DVD releases add a Karaoke Dance Party sequence after the credits on top of this.
Deconstructor Fleet: The movie is about an ogre who becomes a reluctant Knight in Shining Armor. The structure is that of a typical save-the-princess fairy tale, but with comedy and dramatic reversal added.
Defensive "What?": The Big Bad Wolf when Shrek finds him in his bed.
Defrosting Ice Queen:
- Shrek is a male example. When he and Donkey first meet, he is clearly annoyed and irritated by him and wants nothing more than to get rid of him. Of course, that changes after they spend a bit of time together, and then when he rescues Fiona...
- Fiona too. She's not happy that Shrek rescued her, nor that he rescued her for someone else, but she soon starts warming up to him.
Detachable Doorknob: The title character accidentally snaps off the door handle while trying to escape with a rescued Princess Fiona; he opts to break the door down instead.
Determinator: Donkey is determined to break through Shrek's shell and become his friend. After rather annoying Shrek through his persistence, he is successful.
The Dinnermobile: In a parody of/homage to Cinderella's pumpkin carriage, the end of the movie sees Shrek and Fiona ride away in a carriage that was very obviously an onion prior to transformation.
Distracted by the Sexy:
- After Fiona runs her hand across Shrek's back while he's holding a tree down for her and Donkey, he follows her, completely forgetting about Donkey, who is flung backwards.
- Fiona is distracted by a romantic moment with Shrek and forgets the sun is setting until Donkey remarks on it.
Does That Sound Like Fun to You?:
Donkey: I don't get it, Shrek. Why didn't you just pull some of that ogre stuff on him? You know, throttle him, lay siege to his fortress, grind his bones to make your bread? You know, the whole ogre trip.
Shrek: Oh, I know. Maybe I could have decapitated an entire village, put their heads on a pike, gotten a knife, cut open their spleens and drink their fluids. Does that sound good to you?
Donkey: Uh, no, not really, no.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: Farquaad's "perfect world" of Duloc means getting rid of all fairytale creatures and banishing them to Shrek's swamp. With this mindset, it makes Farquaad all the worse.
A Dog Named "Dog": A donkey called Donkey and a dragon named Dragon.
Don't Look Down: Shrek says this to Donkey as they're crossing the Rope Bridge to Dragon's castle. When Donkey looks down and freaks out, Shrek teases him and has a good laugh about it.
Donkey: Shrek, I'm looking down! Aaaaah!!!!!
Doomed Predecessor: The fairytale book Shrek reads in the opening scene mentions that many knights have tried and failed to rescue Fiona from Dragon. On his own quest, he finds quite a few armor-clad skeletons due to none of his predecessors knowing the meaning of Combat Pragmatism.
Dragons Versus Knights: Deconstructed. Shrek and Donkey are tasked with saving Fiona by Farquaad in a deal for the former to get his swamp back from the fairytale creatures Farquaad dumped into it. They reach the castle but naturally Shrek doesn't bother going by tradition despite donning a knight helmet, instead going straight for Fiona and just opting to run for it when the dragon catches on. When Fiona protests about doing it the usual way, Shrek points out that others who tried that ended up as scorched hunks of metal and bones. The dragon turns out to be an asset later on when Donkey finds out she's a female and ends up charming her.
Dramatic Shattering: Combined with Dynamic Entry. Dragon does this when she bursts through the stained glass window in the church, right before eating Farquaad alive. Also happens when the rest of the windows smash when the curse is broken. Played for Laughs when Dragon breaks the only intact pane left by punching it.
Dub Pronunciation Change: The word "ogre" remains untranslated in the Hungarian dub (as there is no good equivalent to it except for the overly generic "szörny" or "óriás", meaning "monster" or "giant"), but it's pronounced phonetically as "oh-greh".
Ear Worm: "Welcome to Duloc", sung by a choir of automated wooden puppets when Shrek and Donkey enter the titular town. It gets in Donkey's head, who starts humming it, much to Shrek's indignation.
Shrek: Alright, you're going the right way for a smacked bottom.
Early-Installment Weirdness:
- This is the only Shrek film to use the DreamWorks Pictures logo at the beginning. Shrek 2 introduced the DreamWorks Animation logo.
- Since franchise mainstays Puss in Boots, Fiona's parents, and Far Far Away aren't introduced until the sequel, this is the only film that doesn’t feature them.
- This film puts more emphasis on satire than the other ones and has the most adult humor.
- This is the only movie in the series that doesn't use a pre-existing character as the Big Bad (e.g. the Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming, Rumpelstiltskin, Jack & Jill, or Jack Horner); Lord Farquaad, an original character, fills this role.
- The main actors are billed at the beginning of the film; future movies move their credits to the end.
Eaten Alive: Played with; Farquaad’s final comeuppance sees him get swallowed whole by Dragon, who Dragon burps out his crown a few seconds later. However, the Karaoke Dance Party short reveals that he miraculously survived and is merely trapped in her stomach. The digestion eventually does kill him, and he appears as a ghost in the Shrek 4-D short.
Eating the Enemy: Done by proxy to prevent Princess Fiona from being locked into a loveless marriage to the villain Lord Farquaad. Donkey arrives at the cathedral with his dragon fiance, and the dragon swallows Farquaad. This leaves Fiona free to marry Shrek.
Engagement Challenge: Shrek saved Fiona from a castle situated over a smoldering volcano. She was okay with marrying him until finding out he was an ogre, and he was just working as a champion for Lord Farquaad. In keeping with the whole theme of subverting fairy tales in the movies, she turns into an ogre as well and marries Shrek anyway. On top of that, the (female) dragon who was guarding the princess ends up with Shrek's sidekick Donkey.
Equalizing the Interspecies Romance: The titular character is an ogre who falls in love with a human princess. The film famously ends not with Shrek becoming human as is the norm in stories like these, but with Fiona, the princess, becoming an ogre like Shrek.
Establishing Character Moment: The movie opens with a panning to a storybook, which opens and tells us a tale about a princess waiting to break her curse with a true love's first kiss. Shrek comes in, tears the page off and uses it as toilet paper. The rest of the opening scene shows his daily routine, while "All-Star" plays in the background. This not only sets up Shrek's role in the story, but also shows that the movie isn't going to be your standard fairy tale.
"Everyone Comes Back" Fantasy Party Ending: The ending of movie has everyone in the film come back to the swamp for Shrek and Fiona's wedding. Cue karaoke and a great party. Though it happens for real in-universe and most of the attendees are not unexpected (and see Shrek as a hero), Lord Farquaad joins in the karaoke from Dragon's stomach. Similarly, the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming are both at the end party in Shrek 2, despite being the main antagonists.
Exact Eavesdropping: Shrek is about to confess his love to Fiona, when he overhears Fiona talking to Donkey, saying that no-one could love a monster like an ogre. He is unaware that she is talking about the curse that turns her into an ogre, which she conveniently doesn't explicitly mention again until just after Shrek gets disgusted and leaves.
Exact Words:
- Shrek is well aware of this trope, and takes steps to make sure Farquaad doesn't screw him over if he completes the quest.
  Farquaad: All right, Ogre. I'll make you a deal. Go on this quest for me and I'll give you your swamp back.
  Shrek: Exactly like it was?
  Farquaad: Down to the last slime-covered toadstool.
  Shrek: And the squatters?
  Farquaad: As good as gone.
- Fiona's curse states that she will "take love's true form" when she finds her true love. Notably, the spell doesn't specify that she would become human or quote-unquote "beautiful". So when she falls in love with Shrek, she takes her love's true form; an ogre.
Expy:
- While most of the fairy tale characters are lawyer friendly takes on them that are distinct from Disney's interpretations of the fairy tales, the Magic Mirror's appearance is clearly inspired by the one from Disney's adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In personality, however, he's a total 180 from the grim apparition that inspired him.
- Farquaad is a Take That! to Michael Eisner, especially considering who the "K" in DreamWorks SKG is.^note
Extremely Rude Awakening: When Shrek makes it to Fiona's chamber in the tower, she is faking being asleep, expecting to be "woken" by True Love's Kiss. Instead, Shrek elects to shake her roughly by the shoulders to do the job.
Extremely Short Timespan: The entire plot seems to take place in the span of at least five days.
Eyelash Fluttering: Dragon does this to Donkey when she is flirting with him. Missing the point, Donkey says "What's the matter, you got something in your eye?". He gets the message right afterwards, when Dragon blows a heart-shaped smoke ring at him.
Eye Scream: Shrek mentions that ogres will squeeze the jelly out of anyone’s eyeballs. Shrek himself also loves eating them from a bowl as shown in the opening sequence.
Face Palm: Farquaad when he sees Shrek beating his knights.
Failed a Spot Check: Fiona doesn't notice the green skin of Shrek's face and neck until he removes his helmet.
Failed Rescue Attempt: Every previous attempt to rescue Princess Fiona ended with the would-be rescuer getting barbecued by Dragon. As a result, Fiona learned not to rely on the possibility of being rescued and became self-reliant (and Shrek Forever After establishes that had Shrek not eventually rescued her, she would have grown self-reliant enough to just break out of the tower herself).
Faint in Shock:
- Donkey faints at the sight of blood after Fiona removes an arrow stuck in Shrek's buttock.
- A lady in the audience faints when Fiona reveals to Shrek that she turns into an ogre at sunset.
Fairest of Them All: The movie parodies this with Lord Farquaad asking a Magic Mirror, "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, is this not the most perfect kingdom of them all?"
Fake-Out Opening: The first minute of the film starts with a straightforward fairy tale storybook opening. And then Shrek rips out a page of the book to use it as toilet paper.
Falling Chandelier of Doom: Downplayed. Shrek drops a chandelier on the Dragon, but it doesn't kill her, instead falling around her neck like a collar and tying her up long enough for the main characters to escape.
Falling-in-Love Montage: Shrek and Fiona fall in love on the journey back to Duloc. Set to the song "My Beloved Monster". The song "You Belong to Me" cements that they have indeed fallen in love.
Famous for Being First: While Shrek and Donkey are stargazing, Shrek points at some stars that represent Throwback, "the only ogre to ever spit over three wheat fields".
Fantastic Ghetto: Lord Farquaad's hatred of "fairy tale creatures" leads him to force all of them in his domain to live in Shrek's swamp.
Fantastic Nature Reserve: Shrek's swamp, very much against his wishes.
Fantastic Racism:
- Farquaad. The trope's name has never been so appropriate: Farquaad hates all "fairy tale creatures" and has them evicted and forced into Shrek's swamp. His "perfect kingdom" would have nobody but (non-magical) humans.
- For a somewhat less extreme example, Shrek has been on the receiving end of this from humans for most of his life, which is a big part of the reason for his anti-social nature.
Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: Lord Farquaad despises fairy-tale creatures, such as ogres, and considers it "rude enough being alive when no one wants you."
Female Monster Surprise: Donkey realizes as Dragon moves out of the shadows that she's a female dragon, thanks to her eyelashes and lipstick. He's surprised for a moment, but uses this to keep flattering her so she won't kill him. Dragon also provides the trope image.
Feminist Fantasy: The movie plays with the Princess Classic, with Fiona initially trying her best to fit into the traditional role of the princess in a story. However, she's happiest when beating up bandits and being crude with her ogre Love Interest. The third film builds heavily on this foundation, as Fiona and her mother rally various fairytale princesses to drop the Distress Ball and save the day.
Fictional Constellations: Shrek tells Donkey the names the ogres give to several constellations.
Donkey: So, uh... are there any donkeys up there?
Shrek: Well, there's, um... Gabby, the small, and annoying.
Donkey: Okay, okay. I see it, I see it now, yeah. The big shiny one, right there. Right? That-That one there?
Shrek: ...That's the moon.
Finger Extinguisher: Shrek puts out a villager's torch with his bare hand. This is used to show how strong he is.
Finger-Snapping Street Gang: Towards the end of Robin Hood's song, his Merry Men begin snapping their fingers in time to the beat as they all advance on Shrek.
First-Episode Twist: Fiona turns into an ogress. This was a big twist in the first film where Shrek the ogre was himself an (initially happily) shunned outcast and Fiona a supposedly human Damsel in Distress. She remained an ogress for the remainder of the film series (though she briefly turned back in the second one), which the posters weren't shy about.
Flippant Forgiveness:
Shrek: [to Donkey] Oh yeah? Well if I treated you so bad, how come you came back?
Donkey: Because that's what friends do — they forgive each other!
Shrek: Oh, yeah. You're right, Donkey. I forgive you — for stabbing me in the back!
Floorboard Failure: Fiona falls through the upper floor of the mill while trying to hide her ogress form from Donkey when he goes in to check on her.
Flower from the Mountaintop: Parodied when Fiona tells Donkey to get a blue flower with red thorns, just to get him out of the way. Donkey does find the flower, after a moment of freaking out because he's colorblind. But he gets it right.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Makes an appearance during the wedding scene. The eponymous ogre and Fiona find themselves beset by Mooks; Shrek starts 'wading' through them, throwing them off as necessary. They manage to slow him, but we never get to find out the ending thanks to a Gunship Rescue moment.
Forbidden Fruit: The nervous Donkey has to be goaded into crossing a rickety rope-and-plank bridge over a volcano. Shrek says, before they set out, "Don't look down." Donkey actually manages not to, though he seems like he's about to try once or twice... and then he puts a foot wrong and ends up with his face poking through a gap in the planks. "SHREK! I'M LOOKIN' DOWN!"
Forced from Their Home: The ogre protagonist's Call to Adventure comes in the form of a large number of fairy tale creatures squatting in his swamp because Lord Farquaad has forced them from their homes in his territory.
Foreshadowing:
- The Logo Joke shows the DreamWorks logo sprouting ogre ears at night. Just like Fiona's curse.
- The opening storybook sets up the appearance of Fiona, as well as where she is being held, and her curse, as well as, in a Freeze-Frame Bonus after Shrek tears the page out, the wedding at the end. Both of them, actually — Fiona and Farquaad's, then Shrek and Fiona's.
- After the mob flees Shrek's swamp, he picks up a "Wanted!" Poster for fairy tale creatures that he then tosses away. The fairy tale creatures end up in Shrek's swamp the following night.
- Donkey mentioning to Shrek early on that only a true friend would use Brutal Honesty towards him. By the end of the film, and after a bit of arguing, they make up and reaffirm a friendship.
- When they first meet, Donkey says that he likes that Shrek looks like he doesn't care what people think about him. Later on, he (and the audience) find out why Shrek shuts people out; because it does bother him that people judge him.
- The mirror tries to warn Farquaad of something that happens to Fiona after the sun goes down, but Farquaad cuts him off. As he discovers later due to his refusal to listen, it is her curse that turns her into an ogre at night. Shrek finds out at the same time, but has quite a different reaction to Farquaad's. We also get a brief shot of one of Fiona's eyes at night as she listens to Shrek revealing his Freudian Excuse to Donkey.
- After Shrek manages to rescue Fiona from the castle, Donkey asks Fiona if she thinks Shrek is her true love. Shrek also says that he's not her type. Turns out he is both her true love and literal type, and their kiss at the end of the film breaks her curse.
- The film also foreshadows Fiona's identity as something other than a normal human princess; for instance, at one point, the trio walk through a bug-infested field, and Fiona uses a cobweb stretched between two branches to ensnare the bugs. She wraps the web up into a candyfloss-esque snack, which she passes to Shrek to eat. After she does this, she licks her fingers, hinting she shares Shrek's appetite for gross food not usually edible for humans. Later, she says his weed rat recipe is delicious and digs into it even after being told what it was.
- Another hint to this is how Fiona reacts to seeing Shrek is an ogre. Rather than freaking out as most do when seeing Shrek, she’s initially quietly shocked and then shown to be irritated by this fact, treating him more like a nuisance than something to fear, at first. This hints at her self-loathing later on from the curse turning her into an ogre, believing it makes her a horrible, ugly beast when she is supposed to be a Princess.
- Fiona refers to Donkey as Shrek's "noble steed," which he transforms into for a good part of the sequel.
- Shrek sarcastically asked Fiona if she was expecting Prince Charming to come rescue her. She sheepishly says "Well, yes, actually…" Before trailing off. It is revealed in the sequel, that Prince Charming is real and was in fact meant to rescue her.
Forgiveness: Shrek is mad at Fiona and Donkey for seemingly calling him an ugly ogre behind his back, treating both of them nastily. This leads to all three of them being angry and hurt at each other. Donkey makes Shrek undergo a Jerkass Realization when Donkey explains they weren't insulting him and Fiona was talking about "someone else". After Shrek apologizes sincerely, Donkey forgives him and helps him get to the wedding. Shrek then confesses his love for Fiona before she can kiss Farquaad. While she's first still upset and standoffish about Shrek's boorish behavior earlier (thinking even Shrek finds her hideous), hearing the confession has her quick to realize that Shrek really does love her, and Fiona willingly reveals her curse. This leads to him understanding who she called ugly, and they apologize to each other silently with gentle smiles.
Formula with a Twist: The film takes the typical fairy-tale kingdom that you would find in a Disney work and instead casts the ogre as the hero. Most other twists in the plot center around that singular idea, although the sequels flesh out many others.
Fourth-Date Marriage: The movie, while subverting so much else, plays this trope straight. Shrek and Fiona have only two days together before their "true love's first kiss" at the end, which is more apparent since the passage of time is a plot point due to Fiona's curse. There's a scene skip before they leave for their honeymoon that could have been a long engagement, but from the context it was probably Why Waste a Wedding? if anything.
Fractured Fairy Tale: The movie shakes up several tropes and archetypes of classical fairy tales. It makes the ogre the main character, the damsel anything but in distress, and the Prince Charming the villain, even coming with a subversion of True Love's Kiss. The beginning says it all, starting with a generic fairy tale storybook that almost immediately gets used as toilet paper.
French Jerk: Although in most retellings, Robin Hood is an English Saxon fighting the tyranny of French-descended Normans; in Shrek he inexplicably has a French accent. And is a jerk to boot.
Friendlessness Insult: Shrek's attempts to scare Donkey away only make Donkey want to stick by him more.
Shrek: STOP SINGING! Well, it's no wonder you don't have any friends!
Donkey Wow, only a true friend would be that cruelly honest!
From Bad to Worse: Subverted. Donkey runs from the knights after the fairy dust wears off, only to run right into Shrek, who turns around and glares at him. After being scared for a moment, Donkey takes his chance and hides behind Shrek.
Furry Reminder:
- At one point, Donkey believes that he is dying, noticing that he can't feel his toes. He then remembers that as a donkey he does not have toes.
- In the middle of a song, Monsieur Hood puts an apple in Donkey's mouth.
- Fiona asks Donkey to get her some blue flowers with red thorns, to which Donkey notes that it'd be easier if he wasn't color-blind. All while surrounded by the blue flowers with red thorns.

G-M

Genre Deconstruction: The film takes a potshot at the fairytale idea of knights slaying dragons. Shrek himself points out that every knight who tried to take Dragon on in a fight just got burnt to death, as the idea of defeating a giant, fire-breathing monster with nothing but a sword and armor is very unfeasible. Indeed, Shrek and Donkey save Fiona and escape from Dragon not through strength, but through a combination of Shrek's cunning and Donkey serving as a convenient distraction.
Fiona: But this isn't right! You were meant to charge in, sword drawn, banner flying. That's what all the other knights did.
Shrek: Yeah, right before they burst into flame!
Fiona: That's not the point!
Get Out!:
- When Donkey asks Shrek where he's going to sleep, Shrek yells "Outside!", so Donkey exits. As soon as he's out the door, Shrek slams it shut.
- When fairy tale creatures take refuge in Shrek's swamp, he tries to evict them. It fails, and the seven dwarves flee into his house and lock him out.
Getting the Boot: Shrek does not want a nightgown-wearing wolf in his bed, so he seizes the Big Bad Wolf by the scruff, drags the wolf to the front door, and tosses him outside.
Giant Eye of Doom: The appearance of the dragon is when a gigantic eye peers at Donkey through the gap in a broken castle wall.
Gibberish of Love: Shrek slips into this when he tells Fiona that Farquaad isn't her true love, and she asks Shrek what he knows about true love. He stumbles over his words and Farquaad realizes Shrek has feelings for Fiona, much to his amusement.
Gigantic Moon: When Shrek and Donkey look at the night sky at their makeshift camp, the moon appears to be larger than both put together.
Girl in the Tower: Princess Fiona has been kept in the tallest tower of the Keep. The film provides the page's quote.
Go into the Light: Donkey thinks Shrek is dying from an arrow. As he goes off to get some plants that are supposed to help him, he says, "And if you see a long tunnel, stay away from the light!"
Good-Times Montage: Shrek in his introduction as he is spending time in his swamp.
Gosh Dang It to Heck!: The word "ass" is played with throughout the movie; it gets several uses when it is literally referring to Donkey, like "I have to save my ass", but is dodged when it could be used as profanity, like "Shine your shoes, wipe your--face!"
Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die: Lord Farquaad gives a speech trying to inspire combatants in a tournament, saying that the winner will be given the chance to rescue the fair princess, Fiona. And then starts rambling on about a pecking order if the first hero should fall.
The champion will have the honour - no, no, the privilege, to go forth and rescue the lovely Princess Fiona from the fiery keep of the dragon! If for any reason, the winner is unsuccessful, the first runner-up will take his place! And so on and so forth. Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice... I am willing to make.
Graceful Landing, Clumsy Landing: After escaping the dragon's tower, Fiona slides down a hill and skips away, while Shrek and Donkey tumble down the hill.
Graceful Until She Speaks: When Shrek and Donkey first meet Princess Fiona, Shrek is in a suit of armor with his face covered, so Fiona assumes he is a typical Knight in Shining Armor come to rescue her. Shrek is so crude and untraditional that she is confused and frustrated throughout the whole rescue, but does not realize that he's an ogre until after.
Fiona: But wait, Sir Knight. This be-ith our first meeting. Should it not be a wonderful, romantic moment?
Shrek: Yeah, sorry, lady. There's no time.
Greater-Scope Villain: The witch that gave Fiona her curse is never seen throughout the film. In a way, she acts as this for the entire franchise, as she's never seen throughout any of the installments.
Groin Attack: Happens to Shrek while sliding down the stone column during the castle escape. A raised part over just the wrong place makes him go cross-eyed when he goes over it.
Gunship Rescue: Dragon swoops in to take out Lord Farquaad just in time to rescue Fiona.
Half-Empty Two-Shot: Used twice to show how alone Shrek and Fiona feel after their big fight. Fiona is shown sitting at an otherwise unoccupied table, with the table in the center of the shot. This is immediately followed by Shrek sitting at his table, on the opposite side (from the camera's perspective). This shows that despite being apart and expecting to never see each other again, they are still very much on each other's minds. Fiona even begins to cry.
Hammered into the Ground: Played with at the end, in that the gingerbread man uses his cane to hammer the figurine of Farquaad deep into the wedding cake.
Happily Ever After: Parodied; the film ends with a storybook closing, with the last pages saying "And they lived ugly ever after. The End."
Have a Gay Old Time: Shrek calls his donkey an "ass" even though it now refers to a butt or a foolish person.
Height Insult: When Princess Fiona asks about Lord Farquaad, Shrek and Donkey respond with a series of cracks about how ridiculously short he is.
Shrek: Well, let me put it this way, princess; men of Farquaad's stature are in... short supply?
[laughs]
Donkey: There are those who think little of him. [laughs]
Fiona: Stop that! You're just jealous that you can't possibly measure up to a great man like Lord Farquaad.
Shrek: Maybe you're right. But we'll let you do the "measuring" yourself when you see him tomorrow.
Heir-In-Law: Lord Farquaad is already in charge, but still wants to be able to call himself a King, which he can achieve by marrying a Princess.
Held Gaze: Shrek and Fiona share one by the campfire after Fiona says how she'd like to visit Shrek in his swamp. Shrek attempts to confess his feelings for her but fails and instead asks her for the other rat. They then have an Almost Kiss, which is promptly interrupted by Donkey.
The Hermit: Shrek is firmly this for much of the film. He hates that people tend to judge him before they properly know him, which is why he feels he's better off being on his own. This attitude is dropped by the end of the film when he befriends Donkey and realizes he's in love with Fiona.
Heroic Neutral: Shrek at first - he just wants his swamp back!
Hero with Bad Publicity: As you might expect, Shrek is this due to being an ogre. In his words, people judge him before they properly know him and assume him to be a monster, whereas he is a nice guy once you get to know him, as Donkey and Fiona find out.
Hide Your Shapeshifting: Subverted in that Fiona tries to hurry things along before her transformation happens, at sunset. On the day Lord Farquaard proposes to her, Fiona insists that they get married today, and during the ceremony, she says "could we skip ahead to the 'I do's'?" Soon after this, Shrek bursts in, and as Fiona would prefer to marry him instead of Farquaard, decides to let the transformation happen anyway, because Shrek does not know about it.
Hollywood Kiss: Done as part of a larger subversion. The female lead has a curse that turns her into an ogre by night, which can only be broken by True Love's Kiss. Cue Shrek breaking the curse for her!
Humanizing Tears: Possibly the only instance of this trope being applied to a gigantic fire-breathing dragon. A few sobs in front of a lakeshore while pining for Donkey are all it takes to make the dragon a sympathetic character.
Humans Are the Real Monsters:
Shrek: Look, I'm not the one with the problem, okay? It's the world that seems to have a problem with ME! People take one look at me and go "Aargh! Help! Run! A big stupid ugly ogre!" [sighs] They judge me before they even know me — that's why I'm better off alone...
Hypocritical Humor: When Donkey follows Shrek home, doesn't want to take the hint that Shrek wants to be left alone, and he won't stop babbling:
Shrek: I like my privacy.
Donkey: You know, I do too. That's another thing we have in common. Like I hate it when you got somebody in your face. You're trying to give them a hint and they won't leave. And there's that big awkward silence you know? (awkward silence)
I Can't Feel My Legs!: Parodied by Donkey:
Donkey: Oh, man! I can't feel my toes! [looks down at hooves] I don't have any toes!
Ignored Raised Hand: Shrek is informed that the Duloc fairytale rejects were forced into his swamp by Lord Farquaad.
Shrek: Who knows where this Farquaad guy is?
(everyone remains silent)
Donkey: Ooh I do. I know where he is!
Shrek: Does anyone else know where to find him?
(more silence)
Shrek: Anybody at all?
(Baby Bear raises hand, but is put down by Papa Bear)
(Big Bad Wolf and some Warlock point at each other)
Donkey: ME! ME! Oh, oh pick me!
Shrek: *sigh* Alright, FINE.
I Just Want to Be Beautiful: Fiona's motivation throughout the movie is to quit switching between human and ogre; naturally, she assumes that she'll be human when she "takes love's true form." So she is rather taken aback when she is permanently fixed in ogre form.
Fiona: I don't understand; I'm supposed to be beautiful.
Shrek: But you are beautiful. [Fiona smiles]
I Just Want to Be Free: Donkey is implied to be this at the start of the film, when he breaks free from the guards and runs for it, and in his later line to Shrek: "Man, it's good to be free".
I Just Want to Have Friends:
- Donkey says at the beginning that he doesn't have any friends and is very persistent to become friends with Shrek.
- Shrek is implied to be like this. Though he likes his solitude, he really only does because he's tired of being judged and treated badly for being an ogre. He does eventually open up by befriending Donkey and falling in love with Fiona.
Immune to Jump Scares: Not even a minute after meeting Donkey for the first time, Shrek attempts to scare him away by roaring right in his face. Donkey isn't fazed by the ogre's grimace and complains only about his unpleasant breath.
Donkey: Wow, that was really scary and if you don't mind me saying, if that don't work, your breath will certainly get the job done, 'cause you definitely need some Tic Tacs or something 'cause your breath STINKS.
Implied Death Threat: When the Magic Mirror reminds Lord Farquaad that he technically isn't a king, Farquaad turns to his right-hand man Thelonious, who smashes a hand mirror with his fist. The Magic Mirror then nervously clarifies his statement.
Incredibly Long Note: Fiona starts singing with a bird, but they do a note so long and so high the bird explodes. That last note is also horrendously off-key. Cameron Diaz was unable to hit the note, much less sustain it, so they had to bring in a professional opera singer to do the singing part there. Y'know what they say: it takes a very good singer to sound that bad.
Indecisive Parody: The film is rather at odds with itself in tone. For the first two acts, it's a straight up fairy tale parody with some Satire of Disney thrown in. Come the third act, and while there are still gags, it almost becomes a melodrama mixed with a straight fairy tale story. And there's still room for a happy ending and a dance party at the end. The later films would follow this example and gradually dialed down on the parody and satire aspects (or at least intertwined them more consistently with the films stories), since DreamWorks knew they couldn't just rely on in-jokes about Disney forever.
Induced Hypochondria: Shrek and Fiona psych Donkey into feeling ill so they can spend one more day together. Since he's so paranoid anyways, he falls for it.
In Name Only: The movie does carry the basics of the original book (a fairytale satire about an ogre who befriends a donkey and marries an ugly princess) but everything else is very different.
I Need a Freaking Drink: Shrek swigs some ale before he throws down with the knights. He and Donkey also use the barrels as a weapon.
Innocently Insensitive: When Donkey is giving Fiona a pep talk after he discovers her ogress form, he does rather tactlessly admit that she's ugly, but tries to soften the blow by pointing out that it only happens at night, whereas Shrek is ugly 24/7. It doesn't really help Fiona feel any better.
Insult Backfire: When Shrek remarks Donkey's Friendless Background.
Shrek: STOP SINGING! Well, it's no wonder you don't have any friends!
Donkey: Wow. Only a true friend would be that cruelly honest.
Insult Friendly Fire: Shrek overhears Fiona asking Donkey, "Who could love a hideous beast?" Shrek assumes she's talking about him and is hurt, when in fact she was talking about herself, leading him to act angry toward her. Thankfully, it's cleared up pretty quickly when he sees the hideous beast she was talking about.
Shrek: Well... that explains a lot.
Insult Misfire: Upon seeing Shrek for the first time...
Farquaad: Ugh, it's hideous!
Shrek: Well, that's not very nice. It's just a donkey.
Donkey: Huh?
Farquaad: Indeed.
Internal Reveal: As stated by the opening storybook, Fiona is under a curse. The audience can also infer that the curse only takes effect at night, based on Fiona's insistence to camp after sunset and the Magic Mirror mentioning "a little thing" happens to Fiona at night. None of the other characters know about this, with Shrek seemingly never connecting the dots between the storybook and Farquaad being too vain and stupid to listen to the Magic Mirror try and tell him about Fiona's enchantment. However, the trope is downplayed as the audience notably is not told what Fiona's curse is.
Interspecies Romance: The movie starts out with Shrek and Fiona as ogre and human respectively, and even after she becomes an ogre too, there's still the romance between Donkey and the (previously defeated) female dragon.
Intimidation Failure: At the beginning, one of the villagers hunting Shrek points his flaming torch at him, saying "I warn you". Shrek puts the torch out with his fingers, then roars loudly at all the villagers, who scream in terror and freeze. Shrek then whispers "This Is the Part Where... you run away", and they do so.
Irony: Just the opening where Shrek chuckles off the fairytale he was reading about a princess locked in a tower and guarded by a dragon to be saved by her true love. However, this would actually happen to him near the second act.
"It" Is Dehumanizing: Happens twice in the film.
- It first occurs during an exchange between Farquaad and Fiona, after Shrek and Fiona have their falling out.
  Farquaad: You don't have to waste good manners on the ogre. It's not as if it has feelings.
  Fiona: No. You're right. [pointedly at Shrek, in anger] It doesn't.
- Later, right at the climax, when Fiona reveals her ogress form, Farquaad is appalled by her appearance, yelling "It's disgusting!"
It's All About Me:
- Shrek, for much of the film. Justified in that he wants to be left alone because of how people don't tend to give him a chance and judge him before they know him.
- Both Fiona and Farquaad have rather selfish motives for wanting to marry the other. Fiona is only doing it out of desperation to end her curse, thinking that kissing Farquaad would break the spell. Farquaad, as Shrek points out, is only doing it so he can become king. He even says afterwards that Fiona becoming an ogress changes nothing as the marriage still makes him king.
It's All Upstairs From Here: Lampshaded, Shrek points out that Fiona will be at the top of the highest tower. Donkey asks how he knows and Shrek says he "read it in a book".
It's a Small Ride: The movie spoofs the ride in the form of an information booth that introduces visitors to the kingdom of Duloc by opening up to reveal a miniature theater with little animatronics singing a song with a similar tune when a lever is pulled. This doubles as a parody of the F.A.O Schwarz toy store's "Welcome to the World of Toys", which also features animatronics and an annoying, catchy tune on a loop.
It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Shrek says this when he and Donkey first enter DuLoc.
I've Got an X, and I'm Not Afraid to Use It!: After Donkey and Dragon's Big Damn Heroes moment in the climax, Donkey warns Lord Farquaad's soldiers, "Allright, nobody move! I got a dragon and I'm not afraid to use it! I'm a donkey on the edge!" Considering that Dragon has just eaten Farquaad himself, it's not an empty threat. Made even better in the French dub, where Donkey says, "I've got a dragon and I won't hesitate to fire it!"
Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Parodied in Farquaad's intro scene, where he "tortures" Gingy by dunking him in a glass of milk^note, and gets him to crack by threatening to rip off his gumdrop buttons... except Gingy's answers (something about a woman and "the muffin man [who lives on Drury Lane]", who are married) are completely nonsensical and never brought up again.
Jerkass: Lord Farquaad is vain and cruel person who persecutes magical creatures just because, in his opinion, they destroy his perfect world. The guy is so evil that he kills Mama Bear just to make her into a rug.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shrek. All he wants is to be left alone, is quite moody and callous at times, and occasionally falls into It's All About Me territory, as Donkey points out during his "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Despite all that, part of the reason why Shrek is the way he is is because he hates that people judge him before they properly know him, and that he is a good guy inside, as people would find out if they gave him a chance. For example, he allows Donkey to stay with him for one night despite how annoying (at first) he finds him, agrees to get the fairy tale refugees back where they came from (even if only to get them off his own land), and despite how irritating he finds Donkey, he still saves him in the face of danger and eventually properly befriends him.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Shrek decides to help the magical creatures and goes to Farquaad on their behalf, not out of the goodness of his heart, but only because he doesn't want them living in his swamp and couldn't care less about their miserable fate.
Job's Only Volunteer: After discovering that Lord Farquaad has deported a bunch of magical creatures to his swamp, Shrek decides to have a chat with him and asks said bunch if anyone can show him the way to Farquaad's castle. Since Shrek is an ogre, everyone except Donkey is too scared to volunteer. Shrek, annoyed by Donkey's personality makes at least two more calls before resigning and accepting Donkey as his sidekick.
Just Desserts: How Lord Farquaad meets his end at the jaws of Dragon.
Just Whistle: Donkey tells Dragon he'll whistle if he needs her. Shrek later calls Dragon in at a key moment by whistling, revealing that he was paying some attention to what Donkey was doing after all.
Karmic Death: Farquaad gets eaten alive by the very dragon that was guarding Fiona so that he can marry the princess.
Kick the Dog:
- Farquaad does this to the Gingerbread Man by taunting him with his own rhyme and his dismembered legs, before crumbling one to powder right in front of him.
- Also that asshole orphaned Baby Bear because he wanted to make a rug out of his mother.
- Farquaad does this to Shrek when he realizes Shrek is in love with Fiona, laughing at him and getting the whole congregation to laugh at him too. And before that, there was this line: "Really, it's rude enough being alive when no one wants you!" Shrek cuts him off shortly after. And then, when he sees Fiona in her ogress form, what does he say? "Ugh, it's disgusting!"
Killed Mid-Sentence: Farquaad. "I will have order! I will have perfection! I will have—"Dragon bursts in and eats Farquaad.
Kill It with Fire: Played with at the beginning: One member of the angry mob waves a torch in Shrek's face, hoping to scare him. Shrek snuffs the flame out with his fingers.
Kissing Discretion Shot: Done at the end of the movie, combined with Breaking the Fourth Wall. Also subverted, as Shrek covering up the camera leads to an Idiosyncratic Wipe to Shrek and Fiona kissing in their own wedding.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Shrek is wise and pragmatic enough to realize that he can't fight the dragon, and chooses to avoid and run away from any direct confrontation with her, even pointing out to Fiona what happened to the knights who tried to fight the dragon.
The Lady's Favor: Fiona gives Shrek (disguised as a knight) a handkerchief in gratitude for rescuing her. But Shrek, ignorant of chivalry, uses the handkerchief to wipe ash off his face and hands it back to her. She then holds it in disgust and prompted drops it in horror when she hears the dragon's roar.
Large and in Charge: Definitely inverted with Farquaad, who's possibly about a foot shorter than everyone else. The novelisation and screenplay reveal he's four and a half feet tall.
Last-Minute Hookup: For all of the fairy tale subversions, the movie plays this straight by having Fiona and Shrek hook up at the end. However, the subsequent sequels serve to illustrate the ups and downs of their abnormal marriage.
Last-Second Word Swap:
- Shrek and Donkey enter Lord Farquaad's castle and are greeted by musical wooden puppets at the Information Center, who sing, "Please keep off of the grass / Shine your shoes / Wipe your...FACE." Made funnier, because as the puppets sing, they also mime/dance what they're singing. By the time they get to the last line, their butts are in the air and they're looking backwards, but they quickly turn around.
- In the Halloween Special Scared Shrekless, the puppets make a return singing a Dark Reprise of the previous song where the swap is more for Shout-Out to the original song.
  Come on in. What the heck?/ Fall on down. Break your... face
- When Monsieur Hood and his men are singing:
  Monsieur Hood: I like an honest fight and a saucy little maid!
  Merry Men: What he's basically saying is he likes to get-
  Monsieur Hood: Paid!
- Near the end, when Donkey clears up the misunderstanding between Shrek and Fiona without letting out the latter's secret.
  Donkey: All she ever did was like you! Maybe even love you!
  Shrek: Love me?! She said I was ugly, a hideous creature! I heard the two of you talking!
  Donkey: She wasn't talking about you! She was talking about... somebody else.
Late-Arrival Spoiler: Didn't know Fiona was turned into an ogress? Then don't look at the covers of any of the sequels.
Laugh with Me!: Farquaad and Fiona's wedding comes with placards telling the congregation how to react. When it's revealed Shrek has feelings for Fiona, Farquaad is greatly amused by this, prompting the guards turn the cards over to say "Laugh".
Lava Pit: The castle where Princess Fiona is imprisoned is surrounded by a moat of lava. The only way in is across an old rope bridge, which prompts the page quote.
Shrek: You can't tell me you're afraid of heights?
Donkey: No, I'm just a little uncomfortable about being on a rickety bridge over a boiling lake of lava!
Lava Pot Volcano: The castle where Princess Fiona is imprisoned is located on an island in the middle of a clearly volcanic crater that's filled with a giant lake of lava.
Left the Background Music On: When Shrek's rescued Fiona and the group is journeying back to Lord Farquaad's castle, they get waylaid by Robin Hood. Cue fight scene. A lively accordion piece quickly starts up — and even holds a note during the Matrix-style Orbital Shot (where everything stops in place — and Fiona takes the opportunity to fix her hair), and stops again as Fiona knocks out Friar Tuck, who was playing the instrument.
The Legend of Chekhov: Everything in the storybook opening turns out to be true, and comes back during the castle sequence when Shrek and Donkey have to find Fiona and rescue her. Shrek, in particular, guesses where in the castle she is thanks to the book (the highest room in the tallest tower), and he's right.
Let Me Get This Straight...: Donkey does this when he and Shrek are walking through the sunflowers on the way to the castle.
Donkey: Let me get this straight. You're gonna go fight a dragon and rescue a princess just so Farquaad will give you back a swamp which you only don't have because he filled it full of freaks in the first place. Is that about right?
Shrek: Y'know, maybe there's a good reason donkeys shouldn't talk.
Licked by the Dog: A non-child example with Donkey's love for Shrek, completely oblivious to Shrek's annoyance at him.
Literal Ass-Kissing: As Shrek goes to rescue Donkey from Dragon, he ends up stuck right above Donkey, and just as Dragon is going in to kiss Donkey, the chain Shrek is holding on to comes loose and Shrek falls on top of Donkey, resulting in this trope. Unfortunately, Dragon is not happy about it.
Little "No": Shrek does one when he first sees his swamp is filled with fairy tale creatures. He does two more after that, each getting louder than the one before, before it becomes a Big "NO!".
Location Song: "Welcome to Duloc," an informational song for visitors to Duloc and totally not a Take That! to another magical kingdom thronged by tourists.
Lodged Blade Removal: After the attack by Robin Hood, Shrek finds an arrow lodged in his bum. He accepts it but Donkey freaks out that Shrek is going to die. To get Donkey out of the way, Fiona sends him off on a Wild Goose Chase and eventually pulls the arrow out. Shrek doesn't really feel it until she actually removes it.
Logo Joke:
- At the end of the DreamWorks logo, the S in "DreamWorks" and "SKG" turn green and grow ogre ears.
- The home video trailer has the moon child replaced with the main character wearing the Santa hat
Love at First Sight: Played with, with regard to Dragon towards Donkey. As you would expect, he's terrified when he first sees her, but when he first realises she's female, she blows him a heart-shaped smoke ring, having known he existed for barely five minutes. The next time we see them both, Donkey is trying to tell Dragon he doesn't want to rush things.
Love Interest vs. Lust Interest: Shrek and Farquaad are this to Fiona; while Shrek appreciates her good looks, he also respects her as a person, is willing to let her go, and couldn't care less about her royal status. Meanwhile, Farquaad only wants to marry her for her looks and royal status, and when he learns of her curse, loses interest in her and decides to have her locked in the dungeon while still being married to her so he can become king.
Loves Me Not: Variation. Fiona does this with a sunflower Shrek left at her doorstep to decide whether she should tell Shrek her deep, dark secret: "I tell him, I tell him not..." She plucks the last petal on a "I tell him!" but the sun rises just then and she returns to human form before she can find Shrek. Naturally, he appears seconds later, and because of his eavesdropping on her the night before and offended by some comments she made to Donkey that seemed at least very insensitive towards him (Shrek), he's not happy.
Lower Half Reveal: As Lord Farquaad's short stature is revealed to the audience, and also to Shrek and Fiona.
- When Farquaad first appears and marches towards the torture chamber, the lower and upper halves of his body are seen in separate shots, giving him the impression of normality, until the next shot, where he is seen in full, looking much shorter than the guards.
- When Shrek first sees Farquaad at the tournament, Farquaad is standing on his podium with only his upper half visible, so Shrek does not yet know how short he is.
- When Fiona first meets Farquaad, he is on his horse, apparently of normal proportions, as his short legs are hidden by his armoured legs. When his men then dismount him and put him in front of Fiona, she is then shocked to see how short he is.
Made of Iron: Donkey falls from a great height three times (see Rule of Three below), and appears to sustain no injuries whatsoever. Without this trope he'd either probably be dead or have sustained some broken bones.
Magic 8-Ball: One of the original DVD bonus features for the movie features the Magic Mirror functioning as a Magic 8-Ball, playing a randomly selected response at the press of a button. Many of the mirror's answers, such as "Without a doubt" and "My sources say no" are quoted directly from the 8-Ball itself.
Magic Mirror: Lord Farquaad's personal mirror shows him prospective princesses to marry, in the style of a 1970s dating game show.
Manly Tears: When Shrek is yelling at Donkey after he supposedly heard Donkey and Fiona talking bad about him behind his back, he looks (and sounds) like he's about to cry.
Major Injury Underreaction: After Fiona fights off Robin and his Merry Men, both she and Shrek are surprised to discover he'd sustained an injury. Justified in that Shrek's thick skin wouldn't necessarily feel the arrow going in (it's taking it out that actually proves to be more painful for him).
Fiona: There's an arrow in your butt!!
Shrek: [looks at butt] Oh, would you look at that.
Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Implied as much as possible in a PG-rated movie, as Lord Farquaad is lying in bed ordering a disgusted Magic Mirror to show images of his wife-to-be Princess Fiona, with the implication being that he's doing it to masturbate. Complete with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment of his tool getting stiff underneath the blankets.
Masquerade: In the beginning, Donkey attempts to evade being sold by his owner by refusing to talk, with the intention of making his owner look crazy in the eyes of Lord Farquaad's guards and deny her from selling him. It doesn't last.
Match Cut: Several of them during the "Hallelujah" montage whenever the camera cuts back and forth between Shrek in his swamp and Fiona in Farquaad's castle.
Meaningful Name: Shrek comes from the German word "Schreck", which means "scare", and scaring away the villagers is one of Shrek's favorite pastimes.
Melancholy Moon: The movie has a scene in which Shrek and Donkey stare at the night sky, as Shrek talks about ogres of the past being among the constellations. Shrek ends up confiding in Donkey that the reason he pushes everyone away is that people tend to judge him as a monster before they even get to know him, so he feels he's "better off alone". Donkey assures Shrek that he never judged him. It ends with them looking at the moon, accompanied by this exchange:
Donkey: So, uh, are there any donkeys up there?
Shrek: Well, there's, um, Gabby, the Small and Annoying.
Donkey: Okay, okay, I see it now. The big shiny one, right there. That one there?
Shrek: That's the moon.
Minsky Pickup: Robin Hood's song starts with one, done vocally by his Merry Men and supported by the accordion-playing friar.
Mirror-Cracking Ugly: Shrek's mirror can't withstand his smile.
Misplaced-Names Poster: Only John Lithgow/Lord Farquaad are positioned just right.
Mistaken for Bluff: Princess Fiona initially refuses to go back to Duloc with Shrek, adamant that if Lord Farquaad wants to marry her, he should come and rescue her himeslf. Shrek warns her that he's there as a "delivery boy", not as a messenger, to which Fiona testily replies, "You wouldn't dare." Shrek promptly slings her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and walks off with her.
Mistaken for Flatulence: When Shrek and Donkey are nearing the dragon's keep, Donkey smells brimstone and thinks that Shrek just cut one. Shrek responds "If it was me, you'd be dead."
Mistaken for Own Murderer: Donkey, unaware of Fiona's curse, thinks that an ogre ate her when he finds one in her room. She manages to calm him enough to explain.
Moment Killer: At the mill, it seems like Shrek and Fiona will have an Almost Kiss, before Donkey pops up between them and remarks on how romantic the atmosphere is.
Monster Façade: Shrek puts on one in the beginning of the movie. He grew tired of people screaming at his sight and attacking him with Torches and Pitchforks, so he chases them away from his swamp. Donkey sees through his act and befriends him.
Mood Whiplash: Donkey interrupts Shrek and Fiona's Almost Kiss to remark on the romantic atmosphere, before pointing out the sunset behind them. Cue an Oh, Crap! from Fiona.
Mouthscreen:
- The iconic bird song where Fiona sings a high note with the camera focusing on her vibrating uvula.
- The last shot of Shrek drawn out scream, shows his mouth roaring before it was finished.
Musicalis Interruptus:
- Donkey tries to convince Shrek to let him tag along with him, by belting out a dramatic rendition of Bette Midler's "Friends". Shrek is having none of it, and snaps on the run-up to the chorus.
  Shrek: STOP. SINGING. It's no wonder you don't have any friends!
  Donkey: Wow. Only a true friend would be that truly honest.
- Robin Hood also gets this treatment when Fiona gets fed up with his unwanted "rescue" and the ensuing musical number. She cuts him off during a high note with a flying kick to the face before demolishing the rest of his men, breaking Friar Tuck's accordion for good measure.
Musical Number Annoyance: When they first meet, Donkey offers Shrek his friendship by singing "(You Gotta Have) Friends", which quickly bugs Shrek.
Shrek: STOP! SINGING! Well, it's no wonder you don't have any friends!
Donkey: Wow, only a true friend would be that cruelly honest.
Mutilation Interrogation: Played for Laughs when the Gingerbread Man gets both of his legs broken off and his head dipped into a glass of milk. Lord Farquaad then crushes one of the legs in his hands, but the other leg is later reattached with frosting, making it necessary for Gingy to walk with a candy cane. (He gets the other leg reattached by the sequel.)
Mythology Gag: The opening sequence has Shrek burp into a lit match to produce a flame in such a way that looks like he's breathing it, presumably as a nod to the book where he had the power to breath fire.

N-T

The Napoleon: The diminutive Lord Farquaad is the tyrannical ruler of Duloc who rounds up and exiles all fairytale creatures. He goes to great lengths to appear taller, such as by attaching false legs to his stirrups. Shrek suggests Farquaad's massive tower is him Compensating for Something, which is actually open to interpretation.
Nature Tinkling: In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, seen from afar, Donkey urinates on a campfire.
Near-Villain Victory: Lord Farquaad rounded up many fairytale creatures and had them evicted before getting his hands of Princess Fiona, as he intends to marry her so that he can legally become king. However, upon learning that Fiona is actually in love with Shrek and that she has been inflicted with a curse that turns her into an ogre after sunset, Farquaad decides to tie up loose ends by having Shrek imprisoned and tortured to death and getting Fiona locked up back in her old tower again, so that he can still be king. If Shrek hadn't whistled for Dragon, then perhaps Farquaad would've won.
Nice Day, Deadly Night: Invoked. The Witch who cursed Fiona made it so that she was a beautiful princess during the day, and an ugly ogre at night.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!:
- Shrek comes to Duloc to demand his swamp back from Lord Farquaad, right when the guy is testing knights to go rescue Fiona. Lord Farquaad orders the knights instead to "kill the ogre" to win the honor. The audience is at first on the side of the knights...until some of them start to cheat and Shrek defeats them all in a Curb-Stomp Battle anyway. Then Shrek gains the adoration of the crowd, reveling in the attention as he knocks out the knights one by one. Lord Farquaad is forced to go with a new plan so as to quell a potential riot: bargain with Shrek to rescue the princess and in return he'll give him the swamp.
- Lord Farquaad turned out to do this on a series spanning level. He sent Shrek to rescue Fiona, which messes up his own plan by allowing Fiona to meet her true love that would break the curse and allow Donkey to meet Dragon, who helps Shrek and Donkey stop his wedding and eats Farquaad. In the second movie, Prince Charming's goal to rescue Fiona and thus Fairy Godmother's intention to rule Far Far Away through him are foiled because Farquaad sent Shrek to rescue her already. Most importantly, it foiled Rumpelstiltskin's attempt to get Fiona's parents to sign a Deal with the Devil with him, letting him erase them from existence and conquer Far Far Away because Shrek rescued Fiona and rendered the deal pointless. Even further back, the only reason Shrek interfered at all in any of this was because Farquaad's deporting all the fairy tale creatures to his swamp ticked him off. Really Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!.
Nice Kitty...: When cornered by the dragon, Donkey starts laying on the compliments. It works a little too well.
Nighttime Transformation: Fiona is cursed to turn into an ogre every night until she finds True Love's Kiss.
Non-Human Sidekick: Donkey to Shrek. Overlaps with Cowardly Sidekick a bit, too.
Noodle Incident: When going into hero worship mode of Shrek shortly after Shrek unwittingly saved Donkey's butt from Farquaad's men, Donkey mentions another time before meeting Shrek that he nearly had his nosehairs burned off. However, Shrek tried to muffle his mouth, to no avail. The only thing that was revealed was that it had something to do with eating rotten berries and his undergoing indigestion.
No OSHA Compliance: Apparently some architect thought it was a brilliant idea to put the castle Fiona is locked up at smack in the middle of an active volcano! Lampshaded by Shrek upon seeing it.
Shrek: Sure, it's big enough, but look at the location!
Not in My Contract: When Fiona tells Shrek that she will kiss him as thanks for rescuing her.
Shrek: What? That wasn't in the job description.
Donkey: Maybe it's a perk!
Fiona: No, it's destiny.
Not What It Looks Like: When Donkey returns from finding the flowers, he sees Fiona on top of Shrek (who accidentally rolled on him when trying to pull out the arrow). Shrek very quickly tries to explain it isn't what it looks like. Fiona uses Shrek's distraction to finally rip out the arrow.
No, You: Lord Farquaad does this in his first scene:
Gingy: You're a monster!
Farquaad: I'm not the monster here, you are.
Oblivious to His Own Description: Donkey, when he follows Shrek back to his hovel in the swamp, pestering and annoying him the entire way, and finds the hovel surrounded by "No Trespassers" signs:
Donkey: I guess you don't entertain much, do you?
Shrek: I like my privacy.
Donkey: You know, I do too. That's another thing we have in common! Like, I hate it when you got someone in your face, you trying to give them a hint and they won't leave. And then there's that big awkward silence, you know...
(Shrek turns around and stares at Donkey, resulting in a big awkward silence)
Offhand Backhand: During Princess Fiona's fight with Monsieur Hood's Merry Men, one of them attacks her from behind. She stops him with a one-two elbow-fist strike, then spins around and knocks him cold with her long, tightly braided hair.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Twice involving Dragon. First is when she shows up at the swamp just before the climax, with no explanation for how she broke her chain. The second time she arrives at Duloc, and Donkey lets her run off to have some fun attacking the knights while he and Shrek sort out the main plot.
Offscreen Teleportation: Rather subtle because the distances involved were so small, but in the scene where Donkey and Shrek are arguing underneath the moon, Donkey demonstrates an unusual knack for getting in Shrek's face no matter which way the ogre turns.
Oh, Crap!:
- Donkey has one when the pixie dust enabling him to fly wears off, before he falls to the ground.
- Shrek has a minor one of these during the tournament scene, upon hearing Farquaad say, "The one who kills the ogre— (Oh, Crap!) will be named champion! Have at him!" Though, to be honest, it diminishes pretty quickly when he sees the knights aren't going to back down and pulls a Let's Get Dangerous!.
- Donkey when he sees Dragon for the first time in the castle. Cue Big Word Shout and running like hell.
- Shrek has one in the castle when he first sees the Dragon chasing Donkey.
- Shrek has another one when sliding down the stone column in the castle and, seeing a bit of rock sticking up in just the wrong place, realises he's about to receive a Groin Attack.
- Fiona has one when she hears she won't see Farquaad until the next day, meaning the sun will set and she'll turn into an ogress. She has another during a Mood Whiplash moment during the second sunset, for exactly the same reason.
- Fiona again when Donkey remarks on the fact the sunset (being romantic) and she realized she was too distracted by a romantic moment with Shrek that lead to an Almost Kiss to notice.
- Shrek towards the end when he suddenly remembers Fiona and Farquaad are getting married, and fears he and Donkey won't make it to Duloc in time. Luckily, Dragon is there to get them there.
- Farquaad gets one when Dragon bursts into the church, accompanied with a scream, right before she eats him.
Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe:
- Fiona uses this early in the movie, especially just after the escape from the dragon's castle. It doesn't last.
  Fiona: The battle is won. You may remove your helmet, good Sir Knight.
  Shrek: Uh, no.
  Fiona: Why?
  Shrek: I...I have helmet hair.
  Fiona: Please, I would'st look upon the face of my rescuer.
  Shrek: No, no you wouldn't...'st.
- She does this later when Shrek is carrying her on her shoulder. He pretends to try and drop her to get her to stop.
- She does it again later after her falling out with Shrek.
  Fiona: Fair thee well ogre.
Ominous Pipe Organ: A short, but scary pipe organ tune plays in the background during Big Bad Lord Farquaad's first scene.
One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Used to cause a Third-Act Misunderstanding that breaks both Shrek and Fiona's hearts. (See One Side of the Story below.)
One House Guest After Another: Exaggerated. Having banished Donkey from his house, Shrek suddenly finds the Three Blind Mice on his table; then Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs have appeared from nowhere, and the Big Bad Wolf is in his bed. When Shrek opens his front door to throw the intruders out, he is then confronted by an enormous throng of fairy tale creatures, leading to his famous yell of, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP???"
One Side of the Story: The movie pulls off a two-sided version of this. Shrek half-overhears a conversation between Fiona and Donkey, but misses the most significant part: that Fiona turns into an ogre at night. The next day Shrek and Fiona both assume that Shrek heard the whole conversation and each jump to a false conclusion: Shrek jumps to the conclusion that Fiona was talking about him when she said "who could love a beast so hideous and ugly", and "ugly and princess don't go together", and when Shrek confronts her about this the next morning, Fiona jumps to the conclusion that Shrek is disgusted with the fact that she becomes an ugly ogre at night. This crushes both their romantic feelings for each other, and Fiona goes to Duloc with Farquaad and Shrek goes back to his swamp.
One-Woman Army: After having enough of Monseiur Hood and his Merry Men's song, Fiona attacks them and beats down every single one of them without any pushbacks.
Only a Flesh Wound: Shrek is Shot in the Ass with an arrow. After Fiona pulls it out, without any other first aid, he's fine. He didn't know it was even there until Fiona pointed it out.
Only Useful as Toilet Paper: The Storybook Opening ends with the title character tearing off a page of the book. The next shot is him coming out of an outhouse, making the implication clear.
Open the Door and See All the People: When Shrek finds various fairy-tale creatures invading his house and tries to throw them out, he opens his door to find a whole swarm of them having set up camp in his swamp after being exiled there by Lord Farquaad.
Donkey: Hey, don't look at me. I didn't invite them.
Pinocchio: Well, gosh, none of us were "invited". We were forced to come here.
Orbital Shot: Happens to Fiona during a fight against a group led by Locksley, as a Shout-Out to The Matrix. The shot slows down the moment when she's kicking two men at the same time while in midair.
Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: As mentioned under One Side of the Story, Shrek is about to confess his love to Fiona, when he overhears Fiona talking to Donkey, saying that no-one could love a monster like an ogre. Of course, he is unaware that she is talking about the curse that turns her into an ogre, which she conveniently doesn't explicitly mention again until just after Shrek gets disgusted and leaves.
Outrun the Fireball: Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona use this trope as they reach the bridge leading away from the dragon's castle, and the dragon takes one last shot at them with her fiery breath. They're also shown doing this on the film poster.
Overcrank: When Shrek and co. are escaping Dragon, the film briefly goes into slow motion before they reach the bridge, complete with Shrek bellowing a very drawn out "RUN!"
Over-the-Shoulder Carry: Shrek does this to Fiona when she refuses to come with them to Duloc, claiming that she has to be rescued by her true love.
Fiona: You can tell Lord Farquaad that if he wants to rescue me properly, I'll be waiting for him right here!
Shrek: Hey! I'm nobody's messenger boy, alright? I'm a delivery boy.
Fiona: You wouldn't dare! [Shrek picks her up and carries her off]
Pain to the Ass: After a fight with Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Shrek ends up with an arrow in his butt. He doesn't even notice it until Fiona points it out and removes it.
Pair the Spares: As well as Shrek and Fiona marrying at the end, Donkey and Dragon get together too, and are shown to have mutant dragon-donkey babies in the sequels.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Shrek's knight disguise may look convincing, but it still has some blatant flaws: with the visor of the helmet open, it clearly shows his green forehead. He's also wearing fingerless gloves that expose his green fingers. Yet Fiona doesn't realize he's an ogre until after he takes the helmet off.
Parental Bonus: Farquaad is a caricature of then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
Peek-a-Bogeyman: This is what Shrek himself was in the beginning of the film, scaring others as a device to maintain his privacy.
Picture-Perfect Presentation: In the ending, Shrek and Fiona riding off in their Onion Coach turns into a drawing with "... And they lived ugly ever after" as the last page of the fairy tale story.
A Plot in Deed: The plot of the movie is set in motion when Lord Farquaad dumps a bunch of fairy tale creatures in the middle of the swamp where Shrek lives. When Shrek goes to Duloc Castle to complain, Farquaad offers Shrek the deed to the swamp (and therefore the right to evict his unwelcome guests) in exchange for rescuing Princess Fiona on Farquaad's behalf.
Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Shrek, Fiona and Donkey all have a nasty falling out with each other due to Shrek only hearing part of Fiona and Donkey's conversation and assuming that Fiona thought he was an ugly beast (when she was actually referring to herself). When Shrek confronts her about it (repeating her words exactly), Fiona thought Shrek finds her hideous even for him. Donkey at least tries to make amends by trailing Shrek back to his swamp and, after a heated argument, clears up that Fiona was not talking about him. Shrek apologizes and reconciles his friendship with Donkey, just in time to fly off to stop Farquaad and Fiona's wedding (where Shrek also manages to reconcile with Fiona).
Poor Communication Kills: Shrek believes that Fiona would never want to be with him due to him being an ogre, unaware she was an ogre herself.
Pragmatic Villainy: Rather than have Shrek executed by his archers, Farquaad decides to make him his champion and sends him to rescue Princess Fiona. If he succeeds, Farquaad has the princess he was looking for without having to risk any of his men; if he fails, the world will have one less ogre in it. Farquaad wins either way. He even keeps his word about returning Shrek's swamp to him in exchange, when he could easily have backstabbed him over it.
Privacy by Distraction: After Shrek is wounded by an arrow, Fiona tells Donkey to get blue flowers with red thorns so he would leave them alone. Donkey then stumbles upon a field chock full of blue flowers with red thorns... and subsequently complains that his task would be easier were he not colorblind.
Production Foreshadowing: When Fiona sees that Shrek is an ogre, he asks her if she was expecting Prince Charming.
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Shrek often shouts this way, especially when Donkey pushes his patience to the limit:
- "Ogres. Are not. Like cakes!"
- "I live alone! My swamp! Me! Nobody else, understand?! Nobody! Especially useless! Pathetic! Annoying! Talking DONKEYS!!!"
Quieter than Silence: When Shrek and Donkey enter Duloc, Shrek comments that it's quiet, too quiet. Some music is heard, which almost sounds like it is in the background in-universe.
Radial Ass Kicking: Happens with Fiona and the Merry Men as well as the wrestling scene in the arena.
Rage Against the Reflection: Fiona in the first film, upon seeing her ogre reflection in a bucket of water.
Rage Breaking Point: When Shrek misunderstands what Fiona and Donkey were talking about (thinking Fiona was calling him a hideous beast behind his back and Donkey was going along with it, when she was actually referring to herself), he immediately brings Farquaad to her and calls off their friendship after a brief spate. Donkey is shocked at this turn of events and begs Shrek to change his mind, only for Shrek, thinking his one friend had stabbed him in the back, to emotionally snap at Donkey. Making it even more tragic is that Shrek isn't just angry—he looks genuinely hurt the whole time.
Donkey: Shrek, what are you doing? You're letting her get away!
Shrek: Yeah? So what?
Donkey: Shrek, there's something about her you don't know. Look, I talked to her last night. She's—
Shrek: I know you talked to her last night. You're great pals, aren't ya? Now, if you two are such good friends, why don't you follow her home?!
Donkey: Shrek, I— I wanna go with you.
Shrek: Hey, I told you, didn't I? You're not coming home with me. I live alone! My swamp! Me! Nobody else, understand?! Nobody! Especially useless, pathetic, annoying talking donkeys!
Donkey: But... I thought...
Shrek: Yeah, well you know what? You thought wrong.
Reality Is Unrealistic: The film's version of Robin Hood is made French, but some viewers found "Monsieur Hood's" accent to be a bit stereotypical or even poorly done. Except the character's voice actor was Vincent Cassel, a French actor who has a prolific career in his native country.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Donkey calls out Shrek for his behavior and for screwing him over throughout their whole adventure.
Donkey: You know, with you, it's always, "Me, me, me!" Well, guess what. Now it's my turn! So you just shut up and pay attention! You are mean to me, you insult me, you don't appreciate anything that I do! You're always pushing me around or pushing me away!
Shrek: Oh, yeah? Well, if I'd treated you so bad, how come you came back?
Donkey: Because that's what friends do. They forgive each other!
Shrek: Oh, yeah. You're right, Donkey, I forgive you. For stabbing me in the back!
Red/Green Contrast: The main hero is a large, green-skinned ogre while the main villain is a short human dressed in red and black. In a twist, Farquaad turns out to be the Big Bad, while Shrek goes through Character Development and becomes the story's hero.
Red Is Heroic: Inverted with Farquaad. His outfit is mostly red, but he is a Jerkass and the film's Big Bad.
Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Subverted. The dragon seems evil and ferocious at first, but then she falls for Donkey and it's shown she has a softer side.
Rescue Introduction: Shrek and Donkey meet Fiona when rescuing her from the tower. Though unintentional, Shrek also manages to scare off the knights and save Donkey when they first met.
Rescue Romance: Shrek rescues Fiona from the tower. It was originally for Farquaad to marry her and become king of Duloc. However, Shrek and Fiona end up falling in love with each other.
Rewatch Bonus: Much of Fiona's behavior makes more sense after learning about her ogre enchantment.
- Fiona is startled to learn Shrek is an ogre, but (unlike every other human in the film), she's never scared of him. Presumably, it was harder for her to be frightened by an ogre when she spends half of her life being one.
- Her disappointment in Shrek being an ogre is more justified - or at least more sympathetic. She's not some stuck-up princess who's upset she didn't get a prince charming; she's a woman who's been tortured by this enchantment her whole life, and is now ecstatic that the curse will finally be broken... only for that hope to get shattered in the most cruelly ironic way possible.
Rhyming Wizardry: Fiona recites the spell that condemned her to turn into an ogre at night; Donkey thinks she is reciting poetry.
Fiona: By night one way, by day another, this shall be the norm; then you find true love's first kiss, and then take love's true form.
Donkey: That's beautiful, I didn't know you wrote poetry.
Fiona: [sadly] It's a spell.
Ribcage Stomach: In the "Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party" short made for the movie's home media releases, Lord Farquaad is singing "Stayin' Alive" in the Dragon's stomach which has visible ribs.
Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: Though Fiona was intended to marry the wealthy lord of Duloc Farquaad, she falls in love with the common ogre Shrek. At first, she accepts Farquaad's proposal but only after a falling out with Shrek. However, after Farquaad is eaten by Dragon at the wedding, she marries Shrek.
Riddle for the Ages:
- Princess Fiona explains to Donkey that she was cursed by a witch to turn into an ogress at sunset and back into a human at sunrise until she receives the kiss of true love. The witch is never mentioned again after that, nor does she make an appearance in the sequels, so the audience never finds out who she is and why she cursed Fiona in the first place. (Although given the curse's outcome, it's quite possible that she might have been trying to do Fiona a favor.) Shrek 2 reveals that Fiona's curse was part of a scheme by the Fairy Godmother to engineer a Rescue Romance between Fiona and her son, Prince Charming, allowing the two of them to control The Kingdom of Far Far Away once Fiona ascends the throne, and as such a common theory is that the witch was either the Godmother herself in disguise or someone working for her, but it's still never confirmed outright.
- How did that old woman come into possession of Donkey, when did she learn he could talk, and what purpose did he serve while under her ownership?
Right Behind Me: Played for Laughs. A mob speculates on how they can kill Shrek, with one of them citing they should be careful because the ogre could "grind their bones for its bread". Shrek, completely unafraid of the mob, is revealed to be standing right behind them and casually corrects them that "Actually, that would be a giant".
Road Trip Romance: Shrek, an ugly ogre, risks life and limb to save Princess Fiona so that he can get his swamp back from Lord Farquaad. After misinterpreting Fiona’s conversation with Donkey about "an ugly beast", Shrek sneaks off in the night to bring Farquaad to her. Donkey clears up the misunderstanding and Shrek runs back to tell Fiona he loves her at the wedding.
Romantic Ribbing: Shrek and Princess Fiona are literally ribbing each other playfully at the end of the "My Beloved Monster" sequence. They are in love.
Rope Bridge: A thin rickety one leads to the castle where Fiona is imprisoned. Donkey naturally is quite terrified to walk across it over "a boiling lake of lava!"
Rousseau Was Right: This is the titular character's journey, where deep down his scary demeanor lies a kind soul that's needed to be brought out by any available company, with those being Donkey and (much more so) Princess Fiona. And while Dragon was originally a fearsome opponent to anyone who comes across her, Donkey then proves to the audience that even creatures like her are capable of expressing love.
Royal Decree: When Shrek first encounters the soldiers, they try to read him the prince's decree outlawing all fairy-tale creatures, but get intimidated by him looming over them.
Royally Bad Parent: Fiona's parents' response to their daughter's curse was to lock her up in a tower for years. In the sequel, Shrek calls them out for this.
Ruder and Cruder: Shrek uses mild profanity, whereas invokedthe children's book upon which it's very loosely based had none. Oddly subverted, however, in that the titular character was uglier, meaner, and cruder in the book than in the film.
Rule of Three:
- Donkey falls from a great height three times. The first is during his first scene, thanks to the pixie dust, which briefly causes him to fly until it wears off after about a minute. The second is much later, during the Tree Buchet moment courtesy of a seemingly oblivious Shrek. The third is near the end when Shrek is trying to see what's going on in the cathedral by throwing Donkey up to see through a window. When Donkey tells him the Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace line has already been said, Shrek barges into the cathedral, thus failing to catch Donkey.
- Fiona is the third princess the mirror presents to Farquaad, and she is the one he chooses.
Run and Roll: When defeating Farquaard's army at the tournament, Donkey is standing on a barrel which is lying on its side, and he runs on it to make it roll over the knights.
Russian Reversal: A serious example occurs when Donkey asks Shrek what his problem with the whole world is, and Shrek says "Look, I'm not the one with the problem, okay? It's the world that seems to have a problem with me!"
Sad-Times Montage: One such montage shows Fiona's preparation for her wedding with Lord Farquaad while Shrek spends time in his house, heartbroken due to thinking Fiona didn't love him. It's set to the John Cale cover of "Hallelujah."
Sapient Eat Sapient:
- It's gradually revealed how Dragon has a considerable level of intelligence, but, still being a dragon, she barely needs any prompting to gobble up Farquaad.
- This is also what humans are afraid Shrek will do to them, to the point he tells them he will, just to scare them away.
Say My Name: Shrek and Fiona yell each other's names a few times when Farquaad orders his guards to get rid of them.
Scooby-Dooby Doors: A somewhat subtle version is done as Dragon is chasing after Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey through the columns of the dragon's keep. The audio commentary even refers to it as the "Scooby-Doo Scene".
Screw Destiny: Princess Fiona was rescued from the tower, not by the Prince Charming she always believed would save her, but by an ogre named Shrek. Her true love ended up being Shrek so she did find her happily ever after. However, this changed everything that was planned for her and those around. Her father has her placed in the tower, seemingly for her to be rescued by her true love. In reality, it was to pay off his debt to the Fairy Godmother for turning him human. His plans as well as the plans of every villain are foiled by Shrek's rescuing of Fiona and Fiona falling in love with Shrek.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- In one scene, Shrek asks the ringleader of a couple guards "You and what army?" The guard turns around and notices that the other guards fled. Wisely, he follows suit.
- All of Lord Farquaad's knights flee upon seeing Dragon break through the chapel window and eat their king in one bite.
Secret-Keeper: After Donkey accidentally finds out that Fiona turns into an ogre at night, she makes him promise not to tell Shrek. He reluctantly agrees, but points out that she should - indeed, she does.
Shades of Conflict: The film's morality is largely Black-and-White Morality. Shrek is in a gray area at the start, but gradually becomes the real hero of the film.
Shallow Judge of Character: The main reason why Shrek is such a recluse is because people always assumed that he was nothing more than a mindless savage simply because he was an ogre. While he plays up the stereotype in order to scare away intruders, he's otherwise a decent, if somewhat surly guy.
Shoo Out the Clowns: Subverted; Donkey doesn't follow Shrek into the church, but he does appear again on Dragon's back when she crashes into the church to devour Farquaad.
Short-Lived Aerial Escape: This happens accidentally. When the old woman presents Donkey as a "talking donkey", so that he will be taken away as a fairy tale creature, Donkey wisely keeps quiet. When fairy dust lands on him, he flies into the air, and starts talking, giving himself away. The fairy dust soon wears off, and he crashes to the ground, causing the captain to yell "seize him!", but Donkey manages to get away.
Shot in the Ass: Implied. Shrek at some point during the fight with Robin Hood's Merry Men.
Fiona: THERE'S AN ARROW IN YOUR BUTT!
Shrek: Huh, would you look at that?
Shout-Out: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise.
Silence of Sadness: During the Sad-Times Montage set to "Hallelujah" by John Cale, Shrek, Fiona and Donkey don't say a word, devastated about the misunderstandings that have happened between each other. Donkey, however, finds some solace upon finding Dragon, and goes to console her.
Silence, You Fool!: Lord Farquaad silences the magic mirror, complete with raised hand. Too bad for Farquaad that the mirror was about to reveal what happens to Fiona after sunset.
Sinister Geometry: The director's commentary points out that Lord Farquaad's palace, dungeon and castle are very ordered and geometric, unlike Shrek's home which is much more organic in appearance.
Skip to the End: Fiona asks the vicar to cut straight to the "I do"s so that she can be kissed by Lord Farquaad before the sun sets and so break the spell on her.
Sleep Cute: After emerging from the cave in the morning, Fiona looks over at Shrek and Donkey, who are both still asleep like this.
Sliding Scale of Adaptation Modification: The film lands on both the Type 1 (In Name Only) and Type 3 (Pragmatic Adaptation) ends of the scale. Its story borrows very few elements from the original William Steig book save for Shrek himself and Donkey (who only appeared on one page), but the original story was only 500 words long to begin with, so some major Adaptation Expansion was needed to make the book's story viable for a feature length film.
Sliding Scale of Animation Elaborateness: Lands at the top of the scale, even if the animation is kind of showing its age these days.
Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: Donkey falls on the Talking Animal end of the scale.
Sliding Scale of Animal Cast: Falls on a level 5 (Equally Human and Animal Cast) due to humans and fairytale creatures (who are made up of a variety of both human-like and animal like beings) alike getting equal screentime with each other.
Sliding Scale of Endings: Falls on the Happily Ever After end of it, albeit a variation of the trope.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Works in both ways. The film is cynical in its comedy, but idealistic in its true message.
Sliding Scale of Plot Versus Characters: Less plot than characters. The story is a basic fairy tale parody—the real meat of the film is the characters and how they interact with each other, particularly the chemistry between Shrek and Donkey.
Sliding Scale of Realistic vs. Fantastic: Falls on the "Fantastic" end of the scale.
Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness: The film zigzags between both ends of the scale. The bulk of the film is a silly comedy that pokes fun at fairy tale clichés. The romance and drama scenes, however, are mostly treated very seriously in stark contrast.
Sliding Scale of Visuals Versus Dialogue: Definitely tips the scale in favor of dialogue. 90% of the movie is non-stop chatting between characters, even when they're not hitting a story beat.
Small Role, Big Impact: Farquaad appears in only a handful of scenes and has very little interaction with the main characters. However, by sending the Fairytale creatures to Shrek's swamp as a resettlement facility, he causes Shrek to seek him out. Farquaad then decides to send Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona (who he picked to be his new queen). Fiona is rescued by Shrek and later falls in love with him and marries him, foiling the plans of every subsequent villain in the series. Farquaad permanently changes the fates of two kingdoms, Duloc and Far Far Away.
Smooch of Victory: Fiona wants to kiss Shrek after he rescues her. This is before she realizes he's an ogre and afterward she no longer wants to kiss him.
The Smurfette Principle: Princess Fiona is the only female main character. All the rest - Shrek, Donkey, and Farquaad - are male.
Snipe Hunt: Donkey is sent off to find a blue flower with red thorns to keep him from distracting Fiona and Shrek while they dealt with the arrow in Shrek's behind. Taken further as Donkey turns out to be colorblind. Donkey actually finds the flower, too.
So Hideous, It's Terrifying: Provides the trope image. Shrek exploits this trope at the beginning of the first movie to scare off ogre hunters and protect his privacy. The All Star Smash Mouth sequence has him having a bath in a quagmire, having a shower with mud (with a clear shot of his buttocks) brushing his teeth with bug guts (the latter scene ending with his mirror cracking) and, finally, roaring at the villagers who wanted to kill him (with a close-up of his teeth and saliva). However, the trope is downplayed later in the movie and sequels because he finds a love interest, his best friends get along with him without any trace of fear (well, as long as Shrek doesn't lose it) and his ugliness is lampshaded only in gags and scenes where either his ogre physique or lifestyle are put in contrast with those of more attractive characters.
So What Do We Do Now?: Shrek and Donkey each get this when Fiona and Farquaad go back to Duloc to get married. Shrek blows up at Donkey and leaves him, going back to his swamp, which has been cleared out. He gets there but keeps thinking about Fiona and is otherwise at a loss for what to do until Donkey returns later in the day. Donkey, on the other hand, is left to just Walk the Earth, having nothing else to do and no one to go back to... until he sees Dragon on the same riverbank, crying because she misses him.
Spanner in the Works: If it wasn't for Farquaad's actions, nothing in the rest of the franchise would have happened and the plans of the other three villains would have been successful.
Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Spoofed. Shrek goes to interrupt the wedding of Fiona and Farquaad, but Donkey insists that he wait for the priest to say this line before barging in and shouting "I object!". On further investigation, they realise they missed that part, so Shrek barges in anyway.
Spiritual Antithesis: To The Prince of Egypt, which are both DreamWorks Animation films that deal with prejudice. The 1998 Moses film is more serious and realistic, while this film is more humorous and fantasy-oriented.
Spiteful Spit: The Gingerbread Man spits in Lord Farquaad's face during his interrogation.
Farquaad: Now tell me! Where are the others?!
Gingerbread Man: Eat me! [spits]
Spit Out a Shoe: Dragon burps up Farquaad's crown after she eats him.
Stab the Salad: During the escape from the dragon's keep, Shrek tells Fiona and Donkey to run for it, before picking up a sword and grimly declaring, "I'll take care of the dragon". He then dramatically raises the sword and... stabs it into the floor, pinning down the dragon's chains so she can't follow them across the bridge.
Standard Female Grab Area: After showing impeccable fighting skills early in the movie, Fiona can only call helplessly for Shrek when grabbed this way at her wedding via Zerg Rush. Granted, Farquaad does eventually put a knife to her throat but only after 20 seconds or so of her doing nothing while Shrek, who is also grabbed, actually fights back.
Stargazing Scene: While stopping for the night as they escort Fiona to Duloc, Shrek and Donkey stare at the night sky, as Shrek points out the constellations, all of which are about famous ogres.
Stealth Hi/Bye:
- Donkey pulls this on Shrek when they first meet. When Shrek turns around to ask if Donkey is talking to him, Donkey has disappeared, then suddenly is in front of Shrek when he turns around again.
- The crowd of fairy tale creatures does this when they appear in Shrek's swamp, having somehow appeared in the swamp and in Shrek's house without Shrek noticing until he hears his door creak open.
Stopped Reading Too Soon:
- Farquaad while the mirror attempts to tell him what happens to Fiona after sunset. He's so into the idea of marrying her, he simply tells the mirror to silence. Because of this, he doesn't find out about her curse till it's too late, causing the rest of the franchise to happen.
- The title character accidentally eavesdrops on Fiona talking to Donkey, and hears the part about how "'princess' and 'ugly' don't go together." Thinking that she secretly hated him and was only pretending to like him, he promptly storms away, when her very next sentence would have clued him in that she was talking about her own shapeshifting curse.
Storybook Opening: The film starts with one, setting up the film as if it's going to be a typical fairy tale cartoon... until Shrek scoffs at the story and uses a page from it as toilet paper.
Stuffed into a Trashcan: When Farquaard addresses the magic mirror, the Gingerbread Man squeals "Don't tell him anything!" Farquaard then throws the Gingerbread Man in the waste bin.
Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard:
- Shrek and Donkey both have a hearty laugh when Fiona says that Shrek is her true love.
- Farquaad laughs at Shrek for being in love with the princess, and the fact that an ogre can fall in love at all.
Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: "Please keep off of the grass,/shine your shoes, wipe your.../...Face!" It technically does rhyme with the line that follows: "Duloc is, Duloc is, Duloc is a perfect place!"
Sudden Contest Format Change: Lord Farquaad holds a tournament among Duloc's knights, with the winner earning the right to go on a Suicide Mission to rescue Princess Fiona. When Shrek shows up just as the tournament gets underway, the disgusted Farquaad comes up with a new idea: the winner is whoever kills Shrek. Shrek defeats the knights with ease, so Farquaad changes his plans yet again and declares Shrek the winner, sending him to rescue Fiona instead (hoping he'll either succeed or get himself killed by the dragon).
Sudden Musical Ending: The film ends with the newly wedded Shrek and Fiona taking a carriage into the sunset to the tune of Smash Mouth's cover of "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees, with Donkey and the wedding guests joining in to sing it after the first verse.
Supermodel Strut: Fiona has this on occasion, most notably when crossing the tree bridge, she struts those Hartman Hips much more than usual, showing she's taken a liking to Shrek.
Sure, Let's Go with That: On the second night with Fiona, Donkey says he knows what's going on when Fiona says it's late and she has to go inside, before saying that he thinks Fiona's scared of the dark. She decides to go with it.
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- This film deconstructs the old fairy tale story of knights fighting dragons by showing what actually happens when a human goes up against a giant, fire-breathing monster: they get burnt to death, as the array of burnt skeletons in the castle confirm. Shrek and Donkey ultimately escape from Dragon not by defeating her in a straight fight, but by outsmarting her.
- Shrek and Fiona are badasses, but in the finale, they are near helpless when a pissed off Farquaad sics entire droves of knights on them, causing the two to become overwhelmed by the massive army, not helping that they're in a crowded church making it easier for the knights to trap the ogres.
Suspiciously Apropos Music: The Travel Montage of Shrek and Donkey making their way to the castle is accompanied by The Proclaimers' "I'm On My Way", which works both for the Travel Montage itself but also references Shrek's character arc nicely.
Sustained Misunderstanding: When Donkey first sees Princess Fiona in her ogre form.
Donkey: What did you do with the Princess?!
Fiona: Donkey, shhh! I'm the Princess! It's me, in this body.
Donkey: Oh my God, you ate the Princess! (to her stomach) CAN YOU HEAR ME?! LISTEN, KEEP BREATHING! I'LL GET 'CHA OUTTA THERE!
Swamps Are Evil: Lord Farquaad exiles all magical creatures to the swamp where the titular ogre already lives. Granted, they're not actually all that evil, but the principle is the same. On a similar principle, Shrek lives in the swamp because he's an ogre, and wants to play on the perceptions to get more privacy.
Symbolism: During the "Hallelujah" scene, there's a couple of symbolism to reflect Shrek and Fiona's respective conflicts. When Shrek returns to his swamp and accidentally steps on a mirror, its broken image reflects how he's heart-broken, and alone in his imperfection. We fade to Fiona's lovely (but unhappy) visage captured in the pristine crystals of a chandelier, showing she may be surrounded by people and may soon have the "perfect" life, but she feels trapped by it, and feels incomplete without Shrek. Afterwards, we have shot of Shrek sitting alone in his house, and it fades in and out to Fiona sitting alone at the palace dining table, both on opposite ends of the table like a mirror image, both of them despairingly burying their faces in their hands. Despite being from different walks of life, Shrek and Fiona are feeling mutual regret for having turned away from a potentially happy relationship with each other.
Takes Ten to Hold: When Fiona finally reveals to Shrek her transformation into an ogre every night (courtesy of a witch's curse) after he objects to her marriage to Lord Farquaad, Lord Farquaad has both arrested. Shrek, attempting to reach Fiona, starts being dragged off by dozens of guards, several of which he manages to fight off, before Dragon smashes through the church's windows, eats Lord Farquaad and forces the remaining guards to back down.
Take That!: The film, made by several former Disney employees, was made as a gigantic middle-finger to the company, and more specifically then-CEO Michael Eisner (whose personality and mannerisms are reflected in the villain, Farquaad). It's not an accident that the movie itself is a Deconstructor Fleet of the classic instalments of the Disney Animated Canon as well as the Disney Renaissance films.
Taking a Third Option: When Donkey is cut off on a small bridge segment by Dragon, he has two apparent options, neither of them good: He can jump (or fall) off into the lava, or be eaten alive. Instead, he seduces the dragon, which actually works, since the dragon is female.
Talented Princess, Regular Guy: We begin thinking Fiona is a typical Damsel in Distress until she gets kidnapped by some singing Frenchmen who want to kill Shrek, at which point she resorts to kicking their butts. It's revealed that since she lived alone in a tower for years, she put a few things into practice. Shrek, on the other hand? Ah, he's just a rather short-tempered ogre who doesn't socialise much and is a bit set in his ways, and who was dragooned into this quest very much against his will anyway. He gets better.
Talking in Your Sleep: When Fiona is cooking eggs for breakfast, Donkey is muttering to himself in his sleep before Shrek wakes him up.
Terrified Transformation Witness: In the climax, Shrek crashes Fiona's wedding to Farquaad and delays proceedings just long enough for the sun to set, causing Fiona's curse to kick in and turn her into an ogre. Farquaad, who knew nothing about the curse, recoils in disgust and orders his guards to arrest Fiona and lock her back in the tower. Thankfully, Donkey and the dragon arrive on the scene immediately afterwards.
Theme Music Power-Up: All throughout the wrestling match in Duloc, Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" kicks in, and both Shrek AND Donkey start to kick ass and take names.
The Thing That Would Not Leave: Donkey is this to Shrek. He depends on, if not even feels entitled to Shrek for companionship plus shelter, aggravating Shrek even further.
Third-Act Misunderstanding: The eponymous ogre overhears a conversation between Princess Fiona and Donkey about "who could ever love something so hideous." She's talking about herself, as she turns into an ogre at nightfall, and changes back in the morning. Shrek, however, thinks she's talking about him, and he creates his own misunderstanding after telling Fiona he heard everything, even though he hadn't. This makes Fiona believe that Shrek won't accept her for what she is, and she accepts Lord Farquaad's marriage proposal. It takes Donkey's unwanted return to the swamp to set things straight.
Donkey: You're so wrapped up in layers, onion boy, you're afraid of your own feelings!
Shrek: [hiding from him in the outhouse] Go away!
Donkey: See? There you are, doing it again, just like you did to Fiona! All she ever did was like you, maybe even love you!
Shrek: Love me?! She said I was ugly! A hideous creature! I heard the two of you talking!
Donkey: She wasn't talking about you, okay? She was talking about... [hesitates slightly] somebody else.
This Explains So Much: The titular character has this reaction to Fiona turning into an ogre near the end of the first movie, having understood the conversation he overheard where she hypothetically asked who could love such an ugly creature.
This Is My Side: Shrek and Donkey, at one point.
This Is the Part Where...: When the angry mob comes to drive him out of his hut, Shrek scares them off using his Monster Façade but the mob gets so paralyzed by fear that Shrek has to prompt them to leave.
Shrek: This is the part where you run away.
Threat Backfire: When Shrek warns the fairytale creatures not to get comfortable in his front yard because he’s going to talk to this Farquaad guy to get them back where they belong, they cheer.
Thriving Ghost Town: Duloc is clearly a large kingdom, but it doesn't seem to host that big of a population in comparison, about enough to crowd an arena and church and that's it. This was due to technical limitations (the studios' crowd animation system was specifically designed for indoor settings) and to save on expensive and valuable rendering time for the film.
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Twice, both cases justified. Farquaad and Fiona, and Dragon and Donkey. Farquaad is just naturally short, Fiona is average height but obviously taller than he is. Dragon is a... well, dragon, and so is naturally much bigger than Donkey.
Toilet Humour: There are plenty of grossout gags in the film. The very first gag in the film is Shrek using a storybook page as toilet paper in an outhouse. Heck, the entire opening is a magnificent cavalcade of scenes showing off just how gross Shrek is!
Toilet Paper Substitute: The film opens with the titular character reading from a book of fairy tales before ripping the page out and calling the story a load, followed by a flushing sound and him walking out of an outhouse—implying the page was used as toilet paper and showing Shrek's contempt for the standard fairy tale tropes.
Tomboy Princess: Fiona displays traits such as being willing to burp even before she turns into an ogre. She's also capable of fighting.
"Too Young to Die" Lamentation: When Fiona points out Shrek having an arrow stuck in his butt, to which Donkey begins to panic, and even exclaims, "I'm too young for you to die!"
Torches and Pitchforks: In the opening scene, the ogre is obviously used to angry mobs coming to drive him out of his hut, as he easily scares one of them off, even prompting them at one point, "This is the part where you run away." He later hangs a lampshade on it when speaking to Donkey.
Shrek: I'm an ogre! You know, 'Grab your torch and pitchfork!' Doesn't that bother you?
Transformed Ever After: After struggling her whole life with a curse that turns her into an ogre at night, Princess Fiona finally receives the curse-breaking "true love's first kiss" from Shrek and transforms... into her ogre form, permanently. Shrek reassures her that she really is beautiful that way, and they live ugly ever after together.
Tree Buchet: Shrek does this to Donkey as Comedic Sociopathy.
Truck Driver's Gear Change: During the Dance Party Ending, the movie version of Smash Mouth's cover of "I'm a Believer" is initially performed at F♯ major, a slightly lower pitch than the album/single version's G major key. Then, after Shrek and Fiona leave for their honeymoon and Donkey has a turn singing, the song shifts up to its usual pitch à la the album version.
True Companions: The Merry Men are violently protective of their man Hood.
True Love is Exceptional: Fiona had expected to be rescued by a knight in shining armor and have the stereotypical fairy tale ending. However, during the journey back to Duloc, she ends up falling in love with Shrek, an ogre. After Farquaad is eaten by Dragon, she marries Shrek. This would end up having serious consequences in the sequels though.
True Love's Kiss: The film plays it straight as part of a larger subversion. The female lead has a curse which turns her into an ogre by night, which can only be broken by True Love's Kiss. However, when said love, the ogre Shrek, kisses her, she becomes an ogre permanently — which she preferred. Of course, there is the opening monologue, which mocks this trope lightly; you can see how seriously Shrek takes it.
Turn Your Head and Cough: When Donkey learns that Shrek has been hit by an arrow, Donkey panics at the thought of Shrek dying from it and shouts irrelevant medical advice, including "keep your feet elevated", a plea for somebody to perform the Heimlich Maneuver, and "turn your head and cough."
Twitchy Eye:
- When Donkey is about to burst into a musical number, Shrek's eye twitches from sheer annoyance before he tells Donkey to stop singing.
- After seeing Fiona's ogre curse and being pressed by her to keep it a secret, Donkey begins rambling to himself as he leaves the windmill about everything that's happened to him. As he does, his eye starts twitching.
  Donkey: Man, when this is all over I'm going to need some serious therapy. Look at my eye twitchin'!
Two Words: Added Emphasis: Annoyed by Donkey's rambling: Shrek tells him, "Two words: Shut up!"

U-Z

Underwater Fart Gag: Shrek farts in a pond and it smells so bad, three fish float up dead, and some of the reeds around the pond wilt over. He's later seen eating one of the fish in his house.
Unexpected Kindness: Donkey is terrified when he sees Shrek for the first time, expecting to be killed and eaten, but Shrek instead saves him from the guards who were chasing him. This causes Donkey himself to give Shrek unexpected kindness for the first time in the ogre's life of being an outcast from society and being reviled by everyone, as his lack of fear towards Shrek and attempts to befriend the ogre cause Shrek to open himself and turn nicer out of a deep-seated want of friendship despite how annoyed he gets with Donkey.
Unishment: Shrek discovers that his land has been occupied by fairy tale characters who were exiled by Lord Farquaad, and the reclusive ogre wants them all gone ASAP. Of course, the fairy tale characters would much prefer to be at their homes rather than Shrek's.
Shrek: Attention, all...fairy tale things. Do not get comfortable! Your welcome is officially worn out! In fact, I'm gonna see this guy Farquaad right now, and get you all off my land and back where you came from!
(Beat; everyone bursts into cheers and applause)
Unwanted Rescue:
- Fiona, though at first pleased to be saved, no longer wants to be after it is revealed that her rescuer is an ogre, and will not leave until Shrek forces her to.
- By the next day, however, she's warmed up to Shrek, and is most unimpressed when Robin Hood swings in and snatches her away.
Uriah Gambit: Shrek goes to demand his swamp back from Lord Farquaad. Lord Farquaad agrees to return the swamp if Shrek will go and rescue Princess Fiona, who's guarded by a dragon. If Shrek succeeds, Farquaad gets the princess without risking his own life; if Shrek fails, then Farquaad gets rid of a trouble-making fairytale creature. Of course, while the plan works, it doesn't quite work out how Farquaad hoped.
Verbal Backspace:
- Donkey initially insults Shrek's home, not knowing who it belongs to. When Shrek clarifies that it is, in fact, his home, Donkey quickly backtracks and starts praising it instead.
  Donkey: Woo, look at that. Who'd wanna live in a place like that?
  Shrek: That would be my home.
  Donkey: Oh, and it is lovely! Just beautiful! You know, you are quite a decorator, it's amazing what you've done with such a modest budget.
- And after that:
  Donkey: Please, I don't wanna go back there! You don't know what it's like to be considered a freak! (beat) Well, maybe you do. But that's why we gotta stick together!
- The Magic Mirror does this in his first and second lines, saying that Farquaad isn't a king, and then, after Thelonious smashes a hand mirror as a threat, he quickly says, "What I mean is, you're not a king yet." If the trailer is anything to go by, it was originally supposed to be a different one: "Well, technically, it's not perfect", with the implication being that the Mirror would then clarify that a kingdom isn't a kingdom without a king.
- Farquaad does this later when addressing the knights at the tournament, where he says the champion shall have the honour— no, no, the privilege— of going to rescue Fiona.
- As Shrek and Donkey are going to rescue Princess Fiona, Shrek says that ogres are like onions. When Donkey claims that this is because they both stink, Shrek says "yes", only to immediately say "no!" right after — because while ogres do stink, he was trying to make a point about Hidden Depths.
Vine Swing: Robin Hood swings on a vine to "rescue" Princess Fiona from Shrek.
Violent Glaswegian:
- The accent part is played with due to Mike Myers' ad-libbing while being deconstructed throughout the movie:
  Donkey: I don't get it, Shrek. Why didn't you just pull some of that ogre stuff on him? You know, throttle him, lay siege to his fortress, grind his bones to make your bread? You know, the whole ogre trip.
  Shrek: Oh, I know. Maybe I could have decapitated an entire village, put their heads on a pike, gotten a knife, cut open their spleens and drink their fluids. Does that sound good to you?
  Donkey: Uh... no, not really, no.
- During the scene where the villagers raid his cottage.
  Villager 1: Think it's in there?
  Villager 2: All right. Let's get it!
  Villager 1: Whoa. Hold on. Do you know what that thing can do to you?
  Villager 3: Yeah, it'll grind your bones for its bread!
  Shrek: (laughs) Yes, well, actually, that would be a giant. Now, ogres... oh, they're much worse! They'll make a suit from your freshly peeled skin; they'll shave your liver; squeeze the jelly from your eyes! Actually, it's quite good on toast.
  Villager 1: Back! Back, ya beast! Back! I warn ya!
  [Shrek licks his fingers and puts out the torch]
  Villager 1: [sheepishly] Right.
  [Shrek roars at the villagers, extinguishing all the torches in the process]
  Shrek: [whispering] This Is the Part Where... you run away. [the villagers retreat] And stay out!
- However, people frequently tend to misjudge Shrek.
  Donkey: Hey, what's your problem, Shrek, what you got against the whole world anyway, huh?
  Shrek: Look, I'm not the one with the problem, okay? It's the world that seems to have a problem with me! People take one look at me and go "Aargh! Help! Run! A big stupid ugly ogre!" They judge me before they even know me — that's why I'm better off alone...
  Donkey: You know, Shrek... when we first met, I didn't think you were a big, stupid, ugly ogre.
  Shrek: Yeah, I know.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Shrek and Donkey.
Shrek: If I treat you so badly, then why did you come back, huh?
Donkey: Because that's what friends do, they forgive each other!
Shrek: Oh, yeah. You're right, Donkey. I forgive you — for stabbing me in the back!
Waking Non Sequitur: When Farquaad and his soldiers arrive at the mill, Donkey wakes up and says "What'd I miss? What'd I miss?" Seeing the soldiers walking past, he tries to throw his voice and make it appear like he didn't speak.
"Wanted!" Poster: Wanted posters can be seen in the beginning with pictures of an ogre, Pinocchio, the Three Little Pigs, Tinker Bell, and an elf. The bounties were put on them by Lord Farquaad, who despises all fairytale creatures.
Wants Versus Needs: Shrek agrees to rescue Fiona from her tower and bring her to Lord Farquaad in exchange for having his Swamplands to himself again, having lived feared and alone for so long that all he wants is privacy. Having been raised as a fairytale princess, all Fiona wants is to be rescued by her own Prince Charming and to live Happily Ever After free of her curse. By the end, the both of them get what they want, but in a way that they both needed: while Shrek gets his swamp back, he learns to open himself up, marrying Fiona and finding friends among a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits he originally wanted out. While Fiona's curse is technically broken and she does live Happily Ever After with a charming man she married, it's as an ogre with a non-royal ogre for a husband in a swamp. Not that either of them mind.
Wasn't That Fun?: After Donkey and Shrek hear the Duloc greeting song for the first time and have their photo taken by the booth, they both gape in bewilderment. Then Donkey says "Wow... let's do that again!" but Shrek stops him.
Water Torture: Or milk torture, rather, used by Thelonious against the Gingerbread Man at Lord Farquaad's behest.
Wedding Deadline: Subverted. Shrek bursts in as Fiona and Farquaad are about to kiss.
Wedding Finale: The movie ends with Shrek and Fiona's marriage ceremony, set to "I'm a Believer" being sung by Donkey as everyone else at the wedding dances.
Wedding Smashers: After the above, Farquaad sends in the guards to hold Shrek back. And then the Dragon smashes through the window and eats him in one bite.
Wham Line: In Universe, given what the audience knows at this point. When Shrek continues to believe that Fiona called him "ugly", Donkey sets the record straight right then and there:
"She wasn't talking about you, okay? She was talking about... [hesitates slightly] someone else."
Wham Shot:
- Towards the climax, Donkey nervously goes to spend the night in the mill where Fiona is because he's scared of the dark. He calls for her, only to see a green figure stumbling in the dark wearing Fiona's dress. Donkey screams in alarm, until the ogress reveals she is Fiona, just bigger... and greener. Donkey needs a few minutes until he realizes that Fiona is cursed, and he's seeing what happens after the sun goes down.
- After Shrek and Fiona share their True Love's Kiss, Fiona is surrounded by golden light and begins to levitate as her curse is finally broken. She falls to the floor in a heap, and Shrek rushes over to her... and as she gets up, we see that she's still an ogress, as that's been her actual form all along. The sequels, which prominently feature Ogress Fiona in their marketing, make it much less of a Wham Shot, but when the film first came out, it was a genuinely shocking twist.
What Happened to the Mouse?: The fate of Duloc after its ruler is eaten by a giant dragon is never elaborated on, and the kingdom itself never appears in any of the subsequent sequels. This is answered in the Halloween special Scared Shrekless, revealing Duloc has been completely abandoned and is now a ghost town.
What You Are in the Dark: When Donkey gets taken away by Dragon, Shrek has the perfect opportunity to leave with Fiona and finally be rid of the Small, Annoying Creature who'd been bothering him up to now. Instead, even though the only witness was Fiona (who had no idea Donkey existed), Shrek goes out of his way to rescue Donkey from Dragon out of gratitude for his help and having warmed up to him by then.
Why Waste a Wedding?: After Farquaad is eaten, Fiona marries Shrek, in his swamp but still in her dress and even with the same cake. The same minister who performed her wedding with Farquaad also marries Shrek and Fiona.
Widowed at the Wedding: Fiona when Farquaad is eaten by Dragon. Given Farquaad was going to imprison her forever for her Ogre curse, and his death leaves her free to be with Shrek, she isn't complaining.
Wilting Odor:
- In the opening of the film, Shrek is seen relaxing in a pond, he farts and various fish float to the surface, one such fish he keeps for dinner.
- When Shrek and Donkey approach the castle where Fiona is, Donkey asks if the brimstone he was smelling came from him.
  Shrek: Believe me, Donkey, if it was me, you'd be dead.
World of Snark: Seeing as the movie, and by extension the whole franchise is meant to be a fairy-tale parody, there are a ton of Deadpan Snarkers who find the whole thing to be absolutely ridiculous, most of all our main character.
Wrestler in All of Us: When Shrek finds himself in a roped-off pen surrounded by Farquaad's knights, he busts out the pro wrestling maneuvers, even hitting one of the knights with a folding chair. Not too surprising if you realize Shrek was designed after 1940/50s wrestler "The World's Ugliest Man" The French Angel.
Wrong Genre Savvy: There are a couple moments of characters who seem to believe they're in a standard fairytale or Disney movie, and act according to that instead of the Deconstructive Parody it actually is.
- Donkey tries to sing an "I Want" Song to Shrek early on, with the music swelling up triumphantly... only for Shrek to yell at Donkey to "STOP SINGING!", at which point it tapers off.
- Fiona seems to believe she's in a standard fairytale story instead of a parody, with herself as the beautiful princess being woken up with a kiss by a bold, daring knight who slays the dragon before escorting her out of the castle on his noble steed. She doesn't get any of that; her "knight" is a disgusting ogre who rudely shook her awake instead of kissing her, his "noble steed" is an annoying talking donkey, and Shrek didn't bother slaying the dragon (on account of not wanting to be burnt to death). Naturally, she complains about her rescue every step of the way. It's also played up a few more times as the movie goes on, particularly during one scene where she sings to a bird and accidentally makes it explode by holding a high note for too long.
Wrong Insult Offence: Shrek is an ogre; he wouldn't grind your bones for his bread, he will do much worse than that (or at least claims he will to scare off intruders).
Shrek: ...that would be a giant.
You and What Army?: Inverted. Shrek says this to the leader of a group of soldiers, who turns around and sees that the rest of his troops had run away, leaving a lot of their weapons behind. The leader does the same.
You Monster!: The Gingerbread Man to Farquaad as he's being tortured. Farquaad shoots back with this:
Farquaad: I'm not the monster here, you are! You and that fairy tale trash poisoning my perfect world!
You Need a Breath Mint: After Shrek roars at Donkey to try and scare him, Donkey says the page quote above. Inverted when Donkey woos Dragon, where he instead comments there is a minty freshness.
You're Not My Type: Inverted, as the eponymous character (an ogre, though his features are obscured by armour and soot) rebuffs Princess Fiona's claims that, as her hero, he must be her true love:
Donkey: With Shrek? Whoa, whoa, whoa... You think, you think that Shrek is your true love?
Fiona: Well... Yes.
[Shrek and Donkey look at each other and burst into laughter]
Fiona: What is so funny?
Shrek: Let's just say, I'm not your type. All right?
Fiona: Well, of course you are. You're my rescuer.

♫ I'm in love, ooh
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her if I tried ♫

Shrek 1

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