Once upon a time, there was an ogre who helped shape an entire generation’s humor. After we were gifted with a great first movie to set up the franchise, the world was soon to be swamped with three sequels and a Christmas special. There’s even a 5th movie rumored to be in production. While not all the sequels lived up to the glory of the first movie, (Shrek the Third was so disappointing that it reminded me of this scene):
Shrek 2 is my favorite movie from the franchise, and arguably among the best sequels ever made.
The first Shrek movie brought a fresh new twist to typical fairytales and taught a valuable lesson on inner beauty. Although Beauty and the Beast gave us the same wisdom, the message was somewhat negated by the fact that at the end (spoiler alert!), the Beast transforms into a handsome prince. While Shrek did a great job delivering this moral, it was Shrek 2 in which the idea was improved on and reinforced. Most fairytales put a lot of significance on looks, with the protagonists being pretty princesses who fall for handsome princes; this is considered a “happy ending”. Shrek 2 is a commentary on this concept. The movie starts off showing Shrek and Fiona, living happily in the swamp as a newlywed couple. Drama soon ensues when they receive an invitation from Fiona’s parents, the King and Queen of Far Far Away, inviting them to a royal ball in celebration of their marriage. Fiona’s parents had sent her to the tower to be rescued by a handsome prince, whose kiss would free her from the curse of turning into an ogre at sundown. Having no idea who had actually rescued her, the King and Queen are shocked to see that not only has she married an ogre but has also embraced being an ogre herself. While her mother is accepting of the situation, tension builds between the King and Shrek. This gives rise to a new dilemma; while Shrek knows that Fiona loves him, he also recognizes that he is not able to provide Fiona with the life that everyone had expected for her. Fiona desperately seeks her father’s approval, but instead, the King tries to have Shrek killed. Consequently, Shrek visits the Fairy Godmother, seeking a potion that could help him get his happy ending. The Fairy Godmother, in turn, reminds Shrek that monsters like him don’t get to live “happily ever after”. Shrek steals a potion which causes the drinker and their true love to turn into their most beautiful forms.
In the first movie, since Fiona’s true love was Shrek, she turned into an ogre after kissing him. This is because the curse went as follows: “By night one way, by day another / This shall be the norm / Until you find true love’s first kiss / Then… take love’s true form.” While it is a beautiful twist, Fiona really had no choice but to become an ogre when she decided to be with Shrek. However, in the second movie, after drinking the potion Shrek gives her the choice for them both to be human, and for her to live up to everyone’s expectations.
The act of Fiona turning down this offer proves that she truly loves him for who he is and that she would not change him even if given the choice. This brings the sentiment from the first movie to another level, and somehow a movie franchise that started with an ogre trying to protect his swamp leaves us with a more meaningful interpretation of love than most traditional fairytales.