Shrek enchanted the hearts of many families in the early 2000s with his grumpy attitude despite not fitting the mold of classic children’s films, and he became a cult figure that remains relevant to this day. However, his original story differs from the movies.
What is Shrek? In 2001, the animated film Shrek from DreamWorks Animation was released, becoming a huge success and franchise. Unusually for the genre, it follows Shrek, a middle-aged ogre, as he rescues a princess.
Instead of a selfless hero, the story focuses on the ogre and his friends, all of whom are parodies of classic fairy tale clichés. But did you know that Shrek is based on a book? The book has several differences from the films.
A slightly different story with a similar core
What is different about the source material? The children’s book Shrek! was originally published in 1990 and is by William Steig, a cartoonist and children’s book author. Here too, an ogre is the protagonist of the story. However, the book addresses Shrek’s ugliness
in a much more crude manner. It initially describes Shrek’s parents as ugly, but he is described as being even uglier.
Shrek’s adventure does not start because he wants to drive other fairy tale creatures from his property, but because his parents throw him out, saying he is old enough. His horribleness is further emphasized throughout the book. He can spit fire and has such a dreadful look that he can warm up food with it.
On his journey, Shrek meets a witch who tells him about a talking donkey. The donkey leads him to a knight he must defeat to save a princess who is even uglier than he is
. He also fights against a dragon that is smaller than the eventual wife of the donkey. In the end, Shrek meets the princess, who is indeed drawn to be quite hideous.
During their first meeting, they flirt
with insulting rhymes. In the children’s book, they also get married. However, the priest is a pink crocodile, and the text states: So they got married as quickly as possible. And they lived horridly ever after, scaring anyone who crossed their path.
Shrek! already plays with the clichés of fairy tales and beautiful heroes and princesses in its original book. The film is quite close to this idea, but still focuses on parodying familiar figures like Pinocchio or Snow White.
Shrek remains a beloved animated series to this day. This is primarily because it is not only designed for children. Many jokes are only understood as an adult. In the realm of animation, many films are also quite harder. Some of them can be found in this list: 10 disturbing films from your childhood that you definitely saw far too early
