When a green ogre named Shrek discovers his swamp has been 'swamped' with all sorts of fairytale creatures by the scheming Lord Farquaad, Shrek sets out with a very loud donkey by his side to 'persuade' Farquaad to give Shrek his swamp back. Instead, a deal is made. Farquaad, who wants to become the King, sends Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona, who is awaiting her true love in a tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. But once they head back with Fiona, it starts to become apparent that not only does Shrek, an ugly ogre, begin to fall in love with the lovely princess, but Fiona is also hiding a huge secret. Written by Film_Fan
Errors and Explanations
Continuity
- When Lord Farquaad finds Shrek, Donkey and Fiona after Donkey discovers Fiona's secret, he gives Shrek a scroll, claiming it's the deed to the swamp. Later, when he leaves with Fiona, the scroll is nowhere to be seen. Shrek could have put the scroll away into hammerspace.
- When Fiona, Shrek and Donkey camp the first time, you see Fiona eavesdropping from the cave after the sun has set. She wanted to camp for the night to avoid being seen as an ogre, but when the camera zooms in on her face, she is human. No she isn't. The commentary confirmed they used Fiona's ogre form.
Factual Errors
- The three blind mice and the woman who lived in a shoe seen in Shrek's swamp are not actually fairy tale characters but nursery rhyme characters. It's very common in real life to group fairy tales and nursery rhymes as the same thing.
Miscellaneous
- After Fiona's singing blows up the bird, she is sitting cooking eggs on a rock. When Shrek wakes up she asks him how he likes his eggs - a pointless question since she is already frying them. She was probebly just trying to make conversation by asking a question, even if it was pointless.
- In this film it is implied Shrek lives alone because of his looks and the fact he is an ogre which frightens the villagers and this seems to upset him. However in Forever After it is the exact opposite where Shrek now wants to be feared again. It is possible Shrek simply got used to being feared by the villagers in this film and that his life was better living alone. That's more or less what happened. Shrek was originally upset about people judging him but in the forth film he was constantly being harassed by fans and decided that being alone may not have been such a bad thing.
Incorrectly Regarded as Goofs
- "Lord Farquaad summons the Mirror to show him a princess he can marry (to become King of Duloc). The Mirror presents him with Cinderella, who is not a princess in her own right, so Lord Farquaad could not become King by marrying her. Of the choices named by the Mirror, only Snow White and Fiona are princesses." Cinderella is one of the earliest Disney princesses, although not a princess by definition. This is a deliberate choice of the filmmakers, who are satirising fairy tales but Disney in particular. For example, Farquaad's character has been recognised as a jab at Michael Eisner, the CEO of the Disney Corporation when Shrek was filmed.
- As far as we know, Fiona has spent her entire life alone in the tower, so she should have no knowledge of the outside world. Yet as her encounters with the songbird and Robin Hood demonstrate, she is more than capable of taking care of herself. However, it is revealed in Shrek 2 that she's spent at least a few years of her life outside the tower (from Fiona's diary), which might be the time when she learned her skills. Another theory is that she could have been practicing in her room in the tower.
- Near the end of the movie, when Shrek and Donkey are rushing to make the wedding, Shrek climbs up the chain to get on Dragon. Previously, it has been assumed that Dragon then flies off, but if you look closely, Dragon lifts Donkey onto her back with her paw, and Donkey is present at all times.
- Shrek makes jokes about Lord Farquaad's height even though he just learned of Farquaad's existence, and never saw him anywhere before except on a balcony. However, Donkey could have heard about Farquaad's height before, and told Shrek about it during their quest.
- Geppetto and Peter Pan are seen selling Pinocchio and Tinker Bell but given they are also fairy tale beings they should have been arrested and rounded up as well. However, only fairy tale CREATURES are being rounded up; Geppetto is merely an ordinary man, and if he walks instead of flying, Peter Pan will pass as an ordinary boy.
Plot Holes
- When Shrek rushes to the wedding he tells Fiona lord Farquad just wants to merry her to become king given the fact that he was not told this, there's no way he could have known about it to tell her. Lord Farquad could have told him off screen, or Shrek could have assumed correctly.
- Farquaad does not seem to know where the fairy tale creatures are when he tortures the gingerbread man for information but he mutters 'indeed' when he hears Shrek telling him he dumped the fairy tale creatures on his property which could imply Farquaad did know where the fairy tale creatures were. Lord Farquad knows most of the fairy tale creatures are in Shrek's swamp since he banished them there. There was most likly others that haven't been captured yet and Farquad was trying to find out there location.
- Lord Farquaad 'hires' Shrek and Donkey to go and rescue Fiona from her tower prison. But it should had been either impossible or very difficult to find the tower especially how it is implied the trio don't know where the tower is. Plus Shrek would need at least a map or compass to find the tower. It is possible though the magic mirror gave Farquaad directions or less likely Shrek and Donkey may have heard of the tower and have a rough idea where it is.