Shrek 2 (2004): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

Shrek 2 is about a newly married ogre couple who travel to meet the bride's royal parents, and discover that the family reunion comes with a scheme attached. The film picks up right after the wedding in Shrek (2001), with Shrek and Princess Fiona returning from their honeymoon to find a royal invitation waiting for them. It comes from the kingdom of Far Far Away, where Fiona's parents, King Harold and Queen Lillian, want to meet the man their daughter married.

Shrek reluctantly agrees to go, and Donkey tags along for the trip. The welcome is cooler than anyone hoped. King Harold and Queen Lillian are shocked to see that their daughter is still an ogre and has married one. Meanwhile, Fairy Godmother has her own plans for Fiona: she wants her to marry her son, Prince Charming.

Shrek 2 is rated PG in the US.

In Shrek 2, Shrek and Fiona visit her royal parents, Fairy Godmother tries to break them up with a potion, and they choose to remain ogres. Shrek does not want to attend the royal ball hosted by Fiona's parents, but Fiona persuades him, and Donkey joins them.

Fairy Godmother wants her son Prince Charming to marry Fiona, so she hires the swordsman cat Puss in Boots to get rid of Shrek. Puss fails, and instead he ends up working with Shrek and Donkey. The three break into Fairy Godmother's factory and steal a potion called Happily Ever After. Shrek and Donkey drink it, and Fiona later does too.

They wake up to find that Shrek and Fiona are now human and Donkey is a white stallion. The change will only last if the couple share a true love's kiss before midnight. Fairy Godmother sends Charming to pass himself off as Shrek, while Shrek, believing Fiona may be better off without him, walks away.

Shrek, Donkey and Puss are then arrested, but their fairy tale friends break them out and they crash the ball. Charming kisses Fiona, but she punches him out instead of falling for him. King Harold reveals he swapped the poisoned drink meant for Fiona, then steps in front of a spell aimed at Shrek. The spell bounces back and destroys Fairy Godmother, and Harold turns back into the frog he once was. Shrek and Fiona choose to stay together as ogres.

Shrek 2 had its first screening at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2004, four days before its US release. It was in competition for the Palme d'Or, and the prize that year went to Fahrenheit 9/11.

The US theatrical release followed on May 19, 2004. In the UK the film opened on July 2, 2004, and the Australian release is reported as June 17, 2004. The UK date comes from Screen Daily; the Australian date is from TMDB listings and is unconfirmed.

Certifications differ by country: the film is rated PG in the US, U in the UK and PG in Australia. Cannes is the only premiere on record, and no separate venue has been published for the screening.

The ending of Shrek 2 means that Fiona and Shrek choose each other as ogres, and the film treats that choice as the real happily ever after. At midnight Fiona turns down the chance to stay human and picks Shrek as he really is. Both return to ogre form, and Donkey changes back as well, much to his disappointment.

Why does the potion matter? The Happily Ever After potion offers the storybook version of the ending: a handsome husband and a beautiful bride. Opinion: the film is at its sharpest when Fiona punches Prince Charming at the ball instead of falling for the kiss, because that one swing rejects the ideal the whole ball has been staging. Charming works as a picture of the fairy tale ideal rather than a true rival, which is why Shrek walking away, believing Fiona may be better off without him, is the real danger in the story, not the swordplay.

The reveal about Harold adds a second layer. He swapped the poisoned drink meant for Fiona, then stepped in front of the spell aimed at Shrek. He is the Frog Prince who used the same potion years earlier to win Queen Lillian, so his own happy ending was bought with the same shortcut. The spell bounces back and destroys Fairy Godmother, Harold turns back into a frog, and the film closes with its villain gone and no kingdom saved, only a family repaired.

The production backs up how much weight these faces carry. Computer Graphics World reported in May 2004 that the facial animation system was rewritten for higher resolution models, with a simplified version of its muscle system applied to whole bodies. Prince Charming's head alone was built with 92,644 hairs, and Puss in Boots had the most complex rig of the main characters, able to switch between a four footed and a biped setup with his hat built into it. In my reading, that investment is why a quiet beat like Fiona's refusal at midnight can rest on expression alone.

Against the rest of the series, the structure is distinctive. Shrek 2 begins where Shrek (2001) ended, with the wedding already done, so its question is whether the marriage survives pressure from outside rather than how it begins. Puss in Boots, hired to get rid of Shrek and then switching sides, is the one new arrival who stays on, and he later headlined his own films. The ball ends in celebration, and the final scene hints at more stories to come for the characters. That leads into Shrek the Third. For the full run, the Shrek movies in order page sets out the release and chronological order.

Yes, Shrek 2 has a single post credit scene, and it belongs to Dragon: she has married Donkey, and she arrives with several baby dragon donkey hybrids.

The joke lands because of where Donkey's story ends in the main film. After drinking the Happily Ever After potion he spends the night as a white stallion, then turns back at midnight to his own disappointment. The coda gives him a family instead. For more on the two characters, see Dragon and Donkey.

Shrek 2 has no live action filming locations, because the film was made entirely with computer animation. Far Far Away, the kingdom at the heart of the story, is a fictional setting rather than a real place.

The images were produced on a computer renderfarm instead of on location, so there is no set or city to visit.

Shrek 2 competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where the prize went to Fahrenheit 9/11. The rest of the list comes from the film's production.

• About 3,500 processors ran the renderfarm used to make the film.
• Prince Charming's head was built with 92,644 hairs.
• Puss in Boots had the most complex rig of the main characters. It could switch between a four footed and a biped setup, with his hat built into the rig.
• The facial animation system was rewritten for higher resolution models, and a simplified version of its muscle system was applied to whole bodies.
• Five animator teams of five to six animators each worked on the film, using about 1,300 animation cycles for the crowds.

The film is the second in the series and sits between Shrek (2001) and Shrek the Third. In chronological order it is third, after Puss in Boots and Shrek (2001).