Saturday, December 15, 2007

All time greatest films in the World (12): Srek-2

(Courtesy:shre2.com)


Shrek 2, which was released in the United States on May 19, 2004, is the 2004 sequel to the 2001 computer-animated DreamWorks Pictures film Shrek. In April 2004, the film was selected for competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. There are more Shrek movies to follow, according to Jeffrey Katzenberg: "We didn't have the guts to tell anybody when we started out, [but] we have two more chapters to tell. Not unlike Peter Jackson did with The Lord of the Rings. The difference is they did have the guts to make all three of them 'back-to-back-to-back'". Shrek 2 scored the fourth-largest three-day opening weekend in US history, as well as the largest opening for an animated movie until May 18th, 2007, when it was eclipsed by its sequel Shrek the Third. As of 2006, it is the 3rd highest box office grossing film of all time in the United States. Worldwide, it is the ninth highest-grossing film of all time. It went on to be the most successful film in 2004. The associated soundtrack reached the top ten of the Billboard 200. It is also the highest-grossing animated film of all time.
Story and Plot Point
In the beginning of Shrek 2, Prince Charming is riding a noble stallion to Dragon's Keep while narrating the origin of Princess Fiona. He is going to Dragon's Keep to save her. When Prince Charming gets there, he finds out from the Big Bad Wolf that Fiona has gone on her honeymoon. Charming is astounded. Shrek and Fiona are on their honeymoon at Hansel's Honeymoon Hideaway. But, when Shrek and Fiona return to the swamp, they find Donkey in Shrek's alligator-skin chair, singing to himself. Shrek tells Donkey he hasn't done a very good job taking care of the place. Fiona asks Donkey if he should be getting home to Dragon, but Donkey says she's been moody lately. Finally, Shrek tells Donkey that he is interrupting their night. Donkey leaves, but then returns, telling Shrek some knights are outside of his swamp. A man, who is visiting with the knights, reads a royal page carrying a scroll inviting Fiona and Shrek to Far Far Away for a royal ball celebrating their marriage and to give her 'prince charming' their blessing. The king and queen, King Harold and Queen Lilian, are the rulers of Far Far Away and Fiona's parents. Shrek and Fiona, along with Donkey, set off to Far Far Away. The trip isn't easy for Donkey, who keeps annoying Shrek and Fiona asking if they are there yet. After much madness, they get to Far Far Away. Once they get to the castle, a whole crowd is waiting to see Fiona and her prince charming. Doves are released, but once Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey step out of the onion carriage, the crowd gasps, along with Fiona's parents. The king and queen are stunned at Fiona's choice of marriage. They all force smiles. That night, they all sit down to dinner. Harold stares angrily at Shrek. Shrek does not know royalty. He eats the escargots with their shells still on, he eats the water from his finger-dipping bowl, thinking it's soup. Once dinner is served, Shrek and Harold begin yelling at each other. Fiona then storms off to her room, angrily. In her room, she meets her Fairy Godmother. Shrek then enters her room and Fairy Godmother is angry at Fiona's husband. She then gives Fiona her card. But Shrek takes it and says that they are already happy. Shrek then tells Fiona they are leaving. Donkey and Fiona don't want to leave. Shrek and Fiona get into a fight, which the king overhears. Lilian then tells Harold that it was her choice. Fairy Godmother then takes Harold into her carriage and tells him to get rid of Shrek so that her son, Prince Charming can marry her. Harold then goes to the Poison Apple pub to find an ogre killer. The bartender, Cinderella's ugly Step Sister, Doris, tells him there is only one guy that can do that sort of job. Harold then hires Puss In Boots, the cat ogre killer. That night, Shrek reads Fiona's childhood diary and is sad at the thought of her dreams of marrying a handsome prince. Harold asks Shrek if he will join him for a morning hunt the next morning, while in reality planning on Puss In Boots finding them. Harold tells Shrek it would mean the world to Fiona for them to bond, and Shrek agrees to the outing as he had promised to try to get along better with Fiona's parents.
The next morning, Shrek and Donkey are lost in the woods. Puss In Boots jumps down and surprises them. Puss attacks Shrek, while Donkey tries to get him off Shrek. Shrek finally catches the cat and Donkey suggests that they "give him the Bob Barker treatment" (neuter him) with his own sword. Puss begs to be forgiven and he and Shrek become fast friends. Shrek remembers the card Fairy Godmother gave him. He, Puss, and Donkey use it to travel to her Potion Factory. Fairy Godmother tells Shrek ogres don't live Happily Ever After. Shrek, Donkey and Puss sneak into the Potion Containment Room, where they steal the Happily Ever After potion. Back in the woods, Shrek and Donkey drink the potion and nothing happens. Shrek sniffs the potion and sneezes on a toadstool. Once it begins to rain, Shrek, Donkey and Puss head for a barn and stay there for the night, failing to notice that once the rain touches the toadstool, it turns into a rose. Inside the barn, Shrek and Donkey faint. Back in Far Far Away, Fiona is affected by the potion too and faints. The next morning, Shrek and Donkey wake up to realize they have changed. Shrek is a handsome human while Donkey is a noble white stallion. Shrek needs to find Fiona and kiss her before midnight to stay the way they are. Donkey and Puss steal the clothes from two noblemen for Shrek and the three head off to Far Far Away. Fiona wakes up and finds herself a human again. She screams so Shrek runs inside to find her. Fiona hears his voice and runs outside while Shrek runs into her room to find Fairy Godmother. Fiona finds Donkey as a horse, who tells her Shrek went inside looking for her. She runs into Charming, who tells her he is Shrek. Harold and Lilian wake up and go to Fiona. Harold realizes Fairy Godmother and Charming's plan. Fairy Godmother tricks Shrek into thinking that Fiona loves Charming and tells him to return to his swamp and let Fiona and Charming be together.
Shrek, Donkey and Puss head off to the Poison Apple and see Harold go into the back room with Charming and Godmother. Shrek, curious, take Donkey and Puss and listen in through the window. Fairy Godmother gives Harold a potion to make Fiona fall in love with the first man she kisses. Harold initially refuses, feeling guilty over manipulating his daughter's true happiness, however Fairy Godmother reminds him that she gave him his own Happily Ever After and threatens to take it away if he doesn't go through with the potion. Fairy Godmother then sees Shrek (after Donkey gives an angry outburst) and sends knights out after him.
That night, the royal ball begins, while celebrities, like Sleeping Beauty, begin to come. The fairy tale creatures, Gingy, Pinocchio, the Three Little Pigs, the Three Blind Mice, and Wolf, watch the royal ball coverage on the Magic Mirror in Shrek's house. A commercial comes on of KNIGHTS. The show shows knights capturing Shrek, Donkey and Puss. They are thrown into a paddy wagon. When Shrek reveals his name, Gingy pauses the clip, then rewinds it, then replays it. The fairy tale creatures find out about this, and head off to rescue Shrek, Donkey and Puss.
Meanwhile, King Harold slips the potion into a cup of tea for Fiona. After he finds her up in the castle, watching the ball, she says she wants her old Shrek back. She then reaches for a cup of tea, however he tells her to take the other one, as the one she was going to take was going to be for him. Back in the dungeon of a far away jail, the fairy tale creatures save Shrek, Donkey, and Puss and create a giant gingerbread man named Mongo with help from the Muffin Man. They use the giant cookie to break into the ball. Fiona and Charming begin to dance at the ball, while Mongo begins to pull down the drawbridge, but the guards dump hot milk on him and his arms fall off of him. Shrek manages to get through the cracks of the drawbridge and lowers it. Shrek and Donkey charge into the ballroom and the fairy tale creatures begin to fight Fairy Godmother. Fiona realizes it's not Shrek she's dancing with. Fairy Godmother tells Charming to kiss Fiona to activate the potion. But once Charming is done kissing her, she knocks him out with a head butt, revealing that Harold gave her the wrong tea on purpose, after feeling guilty about his actions. Shrek and Fiona embrace one another, but Prince Charming gets the wand and tosses it to the Fairy Godmother and she proceeds to turn on Shrek, telling once again that ogres don't live happily ever after. She then sends a blast of magic out to kill Shrek. Harold uses his armor to deflect the spell which bounces off and hits her. Fairy Godmother disappears, with only her glasses and wand left. Harold is back to his true form, a frog. Shrek and Fiona are about to kiss, but Fiona tells Shrek she wants to live happily ever after, with the ogre she married. Shrek, Fiona and Donkey return to their true forms. Harold apologizes to Shrek and tells him that he only wanted Fiona to be happy. He gives the couple his blessing and goes to leave, however Queen Lilian tells him that she still loves him, even though he's a frog. That night, the gang dance into the night, having a big party.After the party, Donkey is all alone, singing a song. Puss and two girls are about to head off to the "Kitt Katt Klub" when Dragon comes and tells Donkey that she has had babies. Donkey and Dragon are then proud parents of a litter of donkey-dragon dronkeys.
Box office Records



Shrek 2 spent a total of 21 weeks in theaters, closing on November 25, 2004. It grossed about $440 million domestically (USA and Canada) and totaled just under 920 million USD worldwide. This puts the movie at third on the all-time domestic box-office list and ninth on the worldwide box-office list. It was also the number one grossing movie of 2004. With DVD sales and Shrek 2 merchandise are estimated to total almost $800 million USD, this is DreamWorks most profitable movie to date.
Budget - $150,000,000
Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic) - $108,037,878
Total Domestic Grosses - $441,226,247
Total Overseas Grosses - $478,612,511
Total Worldwide Grosses - $919,838,758
Critical reception
The film was well received by a number of critics, many rating it as good as or better than its predecessor. Metacritic has developed a weighted average rating of 73 out of 100 based on 39 professional reviews published in newspapers, magazines and in highly regarded Internet sites. Rotten Tomatoes gave Shrek 2 an approval rating of 88%.

Srivenkat

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