Shrek 2 (2004) - 26 questions

Question: When Shrek and Donkey are lost in the woods, one of them says something about passing a bush that looks like Shirley Bassey. Who is she?

Question: After Puss spits out his hairball, Shrek asks what they should do with Puss. Donkey starts babbling about some guy named Bob. What's he saying, and what's the joke in this?

Answer: Donkey says, "we should take his sword and give him the Bob Barker treatment". This refers to a former game show host who is an animal rights activist who is dedicated to informing people to spay or neuter their pets so as to keep the pet population down.

Question: If I remember correctly, in the trailer the magazine that the Wolf was reading was called "The New Porker" or something similar. Any reason why it was changed to "Pork Illustrated" in the final film?

Answer: The gag is that the wolf has developed a peculiar sexual fetish: he wears women's clothing for fun and is attracted to pigs. The magazine was changed for the trailer to be less suggestive (and thus to make the trailer G-rated).

Question: When Shrek, Donkey and Puss find the "Happily Ever After" potion on the glass-enclosed shelf in the Fairy Godmother's factory, Puss uses one of his claws to cut the glass and get the bottle out. But I've heard that the only substance that can cut glass is a diamond. Were Puss' claws made of diamond? Or was this just for dramatic effect, since it's a fairy tale?

Answer: It was just a dramatic effect, since it was a fairy tale.

Question: Does anyone know why the Three Little Pigs have a German accent?

Answer: The story of the Three Little Pigs originated in Germany and came to America with German immigrants. Thus the German accents.

Question: I remember watching this in a cinema while i was in America and at the end when Fiona goes to kiss the prince she headbutts him instead. But when i got it on DVD in the UK she doesn't headbutt him but hits his neck. I guessing they changed this for the violence rating, but my question is: is this only changed on UK DVD or everywhere?

Answer: In the UK, headbutts are frowned upon by the ratings boards. Films such as The Matrix, Wild, Wild West and Fight Club all had to remove headbutts from the UK versions. As for the headbutt in other versions, the UK version is the only reported version to have the headbutt removed. http://www.dvdcompare.net is a great site to compare other versions of DVDs from around the world.

Question: When the guards appear at Shrek's door, they are all lined up and blowing their trumpets. When they are finished, one of them on the end starts playing a tune. The leader goes to him, slaps him and says, "Quiet, Reggie." Does anyone know what this refers to?

Answer: The music he's playing is the main them from the seventies television serie "Hawaii Five-0". The name is just a random one.

Question: I must have missed something. When did Shrek spare Puss' life? All I saw was Puss attacking him, then coughing up a hairball. Puss makes such a huge deal of the spared-my-life debt but it didn't make much sense to me.

Answer: Puss means that when he is incapacitated by the hairball, Shrek could have killed him easily. Shrek does not only refrain from this, but does not do anything to harm Puss at all, even if Puss attacked him.

Question: In my copy of Shrek 2 the ugly stepsister has a very grumpy voice but in the real movie she has a different voice but why?

Answer: The Ugly Stepsister's voice was performed by different people, specifically chat-show hosts from the country in question - so, in the US release, it's Larry King, in the UK release, Jonathan Ross and so on. Your DVD is presumably a different version to the one that you saw at the cinema.

Question: In the UK there was a children's programme called 'SMTV Live', on this programme they had a competition where the winner could have a small part in Shrek 2. Does anyone know who won and what part they play?

Answer: A young girl named Victoria Glover won the part. She doesn't have a credit on IMDB but all I know is the line she recorded for the film was "Star maps, get your star maps".

Question: Why, when Shrek pushes over the potion, do the two birds in the cage become dancers and two guys turn into Cogsworth and Lumiere (from Beauty and the Beast) while almost everybody else in the room turn into doves?

Answer: They are jokes making reference to Disney films.

Question: What is the song that plays when Shrek, Fiona and Donkey arrive in Far Far Away?

Answer: It is an instrumental version of "Funkytown", by Lipps Inc.

Question: In The Fairy Godmother's song, there is one line about something to do with the moon. What does she say?

Answer: You can swoon on the moon with the prince to this tune.

Question: What's the whole deal about Captain Hook playing the piano in the bar?

Answer: It's a joke - the concept of a man with a hook for a hand playing the piano, something that requires considerable dexterity, is quite funny.

Question: Since Shrek and Fiona were both turned in to humans by the Happily Ever After Potion and Donkey is turned in to Stallion, does anyone have an idea as to what Dragon would have become since she is Donkey's True Love?

Answer: Logically, a mare - to be compatible with the stallion.

Question: A follow-up from a previous question: OK, Best Costume is an Oscar category. However, would the "Costume Designer" for Shrek 2 be eligible to win - given that they didn't design any real costumes, just parts of the animated 3D models?

Answer: Probably not. As stated in the rules (see below), there must be a costume designer who is recognized as such by other costume designers. The Shrek artists are not likely to be considered costume designers. From the official Oscar rules at www.oscar.org: "To be eligible for the Costume Design Award, the costumes for the picture must have been conceived by a costume designer. It is the intention of this rule to recognize the designing of costumes for their special use in motion pictures. Eligibility shall be determined by the costume designer members of the Art Directors Branch present at a meeting called specifically for that purpose prior to the mailing of nominations ballots."

Question: When Puss in Boots is brandishing his sword at Shrek for the first time I keep thinking Donkey's line about Puss having a piece is supposed to be a reference to some gangster film. Problem is I can't remember any where this particular line (or something similar) pops up so which is it?

Answer: This isn't really based on any one gangster film, but all gangster movies. The Mafia (at least in films) refer to a gun as a piece, so the joke is that the sword is the medieval equivalent.

Question: When Shrek, Donkey and Puss in Boots are in a barn or something because its raining, Donkey starts singing "Tomorrow", until he falls asleep. What does he say right before he falls asleep?

Answer: As Donkey passes out he says, "I'm Coming Elizabeth," a reference to Fred Sanford from the sitcom "Sanford and Son" (1972).

Question: At the beginning of the film, Shrek and Fiona's door number "2" grows into the "Shrek 2" logo. If Shrek and Fiona live at number 2, who lives at number 1?

Answer: Maybe another fairytale creature, but we are not told. Or maybe the house numbers go up evenly (2, 4, 6 etc.) like they do on some roads, so maybe there even is no number 1.

Question: When Shrek and the gang decide to visit the Muffin Man, Shrek says, "We're going to need flour, lots and lots of flour." I remember a similar line (but not referring to flour) from another movie. What movie was that from and what was the line?

Answer: Quite possibly from "The Matrix". "We need guns. Lots of guns."