Shrek

Question: In theatrical trailers, when the dwarves put Snow White on Shrek's table, he says "Dead girl off the table." In the real movie, however, "girl" becomes "broad", according to the subtitles. Is there a reason why?

Susan Kirk

Chosen answer: This is most likely because "broad" isn't too nice of a word, and children of any age could watch the trailer. Parents wouldn't want their children to copy inapropriate language, obviously.

s.ounder

Answer: Broad is just a slang word meaning Woman. It was historically a bad word, but now it's not.

Question: In a movie with talking ogres, pigs, mice, wolves, and all sorts of animals, why is everyone so surprised to find a talking donkey?

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: Who is "everyone"? The only person surprised he can talk is the one human who is processing the fairytale creatures for banishment, and this was used as a plot device to highlight a joke (between him flying and talking).

MovieFan612

Fiona also says "it talks", after he "saves his ass."

To be fair, she was locked in a castle for the majority of her life, so she wouldn't know that donkeys would be able to talk.

And yet he wasn't the only one surprised by it; watch the scene again and Fiona was surprised, too.

Question: I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the words are to the song in the Duloc information booth? I have been trying to figure them out for ages, but the words aren't clear enough, and I can't check subtitles because I have the tape, not the DVD.

Answer: Welcome to Duloc, such a perfect town. Here we have some rules, let us lay them down. Don't make waves, stay in line and we'll get along fine. Duloc is a perfect place. Please keep off of the grass, Shine your shoes, wipe your ... face. Duloc is, Duloc is, Duloc is a per-fect plaaaaaaace.

Garlonuss

Chosen answer: The Andorians on Star Trek.

Grumpy Scot

Question: What is parfey, which is supposedly the most delicious thing on the whole damn planet?

Answer: It's parfait. It's a cold dessert made of layers of fruit, ice cream, flavored syrup,sometimes cake and whipped cream. While I wouldn't call it the most delicious thing on the whole damn planet, they are pretty darn good.

Grumpy Scot

Actually, that's the American version. Originally it was a French dish made with cream, eggs, sugar and syrup to create puree.

Answer: No, it's a dark, ironic joke based on Snow White. There are several reference to Disney and its products throughout the movie.

Phoenix

Answer: No it is highly unlikely. Judging by how caring and nurturing Fiona is to the animals, her killing them is completely accidental.

Question: Just after Shrek asks, "What kind of quest?" someone in the background appears to be laughing. Who is it and why is he laughing?

Answer: I ran through the DVD three times and after Shrek says, "What kind of quest?", there is NO laughter at all! He says the line, then there is a quick edit to the next scene where Shrek and Donkey are emerging from a sea of sunflowers. There IS a backround noise of a bird; maybe that is what you heard?

CCARNI

Question: In the scene where Lord Farquaad and the gingerbread man are talking, they start talking about the 'Muffin Man'. What is this all about?

Answer: It is an old children's fairy tale (just like almost everything else in the movie). For further information, check this website: http://www.kididdles.com/mouseum/m027.html.

Bruce Minnick

Question: Who is married to the muffin man?

Answer: According to Lord Farquaad, she's the leader of the underground, who's helping the fairy tale creatures to safety.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Someone he wants to find, possibly a princess to marry himself or someone who can point him towards one. It's never specified. The whole muffin man thing is just a joke referring to the nursery rhyme of the Muffin man.

lionhead

Question: I'm still confused about something. Why was Fiona turned into an ogre in the first place? All she says is that a witch cast a spell on her, but they never mention it again.

Brad

Chosen answer: The Fairy Godmother curses her so that her son, Charming, can free her and become king. This is made clear in the second movie.

roboc

Answer: Actually Fiona says that when she was a little girl a witch cast a spell on her.

Question: At about 37:14 in the movie, while Shrek and Fiona are running through the castle, there appears to be a giant book in the background that seems very out of place. Can anyone explain what it is doing there? I don't have high enough resolution to read any of the text.

Answer: It's a cookbook - the book is open to a chapter reading "Knightly Treats" and has a list of ingredients (for the nearby stew pot) and cooking instructions underneath that. The other page shows a drawing of a knight and where to cut him up, with the phrase at the bottom reading "Choice Cuts".

CCARNI

Question: What is the song played near the end, and who sings it? (The "Alleluia" one.)

Answer: The song is called Hallelujah, written by Leonard Cohen and performed by Rufus Wainwright. Although the film version was done by John Cale.

Dr Wilson

Question: How come the movie was rated PG-13 for the theatrical release, but was changed to PG for the VHS/DVD release?

Brad

Chosen answer: IMDB has the movie listed rated at PG, not PG-13. http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0126029/.

Rlvlk

Answer: The actors' names do not appear because the actors do not feature in any of the international versions where the voice track is dubbed rather than subtitled. As only their voices are used, not 'live action' performances, the non-english language releases are essentially different movies with a totally different cast list.

umathegreatstationarybear

Question: When Fiona is trying to hide from Donkey in the old windmill and falls through the floor, she gets up and spoofs something. What does she spoof?

Answer: Any monster film which reveals the monster from a low angle, dusty, silhouetted character with arms spreading out from the sides. Just a classic entrance for a villain or for a big reveal of a character.

Question: I've seen the French version of the film, and the opening credits have been taken out. Can someone please tell me why this might be?

Answer: Because none of the English-speaking cast 'appear' in the film, as all of the voices were redone by French-speaking actors. As such, the original credit sequence is pointless, and it would have been a lot of work to redo the credit sequence for every single different language that the film had to be redubbed into. Hence the choice not to have one.

Tailkinker

Answer: The French dub of the movie has all the songs translated into French. I suppose that with the song "All Star" by Smash Mouth in the opening they weren't allowed to do it so as a result they removed it instead, resulting in the removal of the entire opening. This is sort of a French thing, to translate the songs.

lionhead

Answer: Near the end, after Fiona turns into an ogress, Lord Farquaad orders the guards to get both Fiona and Shrek, and as the guards grab hold of the green duo we hear Lord Farquaad say, "This hocus-pocus alters nothing. This marriage is binding, and that makes me king! See? See? Don't just stand there, you morons... I'll make you regret the day we met. I'll see you drawn and quartered! You'll beg for death to save you!" After Farquaad nastily threatens Fiona, he continues to shout, "I am king! I will have order! I will have perfection! I will have..." and then he's eaten.

Super Grover

Answer: "Ugh. It's disgusting. Guards. Guards. I order you to get that out of my sight now. Get them. Get them both."

Nelleke Rietvink

Answer: Lord Farquaad said "The ogre has fallen in love with the princess!", meaning Shrek is in love with Fiona. To which she asks if that's true.

Bishop73

Continuity mistake: At the end of the film, the three blind mice are turned into the horses for the onion carriage but a second later they are dancing on the piano. (01:21:10 - 01:22:00)

More mistakes in Shrek

Gingy: OK, OK...I'll tell you. Do you know the Muffin Man?
Lord Farquaad: The Muffin Man?
Gingy: The Muffin Man.
Lord Farquaad: Yes, I know the Muffin Man. Who lives on Drury Lane?
Gingy: Well...she's married to...the Muffin Man.
Lord Farquaad: The Muffin Man?
Gingy: The Muffin Man!
Lord Farquaad: She's married to the Muffin Man?

More quotes from Shrek

Trivia: The name for Shrek comes from the German word "Schreck", which means a fright or a scare.

More trivia for Shrek

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