by Kaela VanDoren
Which
Shrek
Movie is Truly the Best?
If you are a human being with thoughts, feelings, and emotions, you've seen Shrek. We all have our own separate opinions on which of the movies is the very best, but which of us is actually speaking the truth? Not considering my own opinions or ratings given by critics, I searched out to discover which Shrek movie is scientifically the best.
Criteria:
The soundtrack portion of the criteria considered was judged on how many memorable songs were in each movie. These songs had to be during the film and not during the credits or extra features.
Shrek
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I’m A Believer - The Monkees
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All Star - Smash Mouth
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Bad Reputation - Joan Jett
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I’m On My Way - The Proclaimers
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Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen
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My Beloved Monster - Eels
Shrek 2
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Accidentally In Love - Counting Crows
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Changes - David Bowie
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Funkytown - Lipps Inc.
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I Need Some Sleep - Eels
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Little Drop of Poison - Tom Waits
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People Ain’t No Good - Nick Cave
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Livin’ La Vida Loca - Ricky Martin
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Holding Out For a Hero - Jennifer Saunders
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Ever Fallen in Love - Pete Yorn
Shrek Forever After
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Top of the World - Carpenters
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Click Click - Light FM
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Shake Your Groove Thing - Michael Simpson
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Sure Shot - Beastie Boys
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I’m a Believer - Weezer
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One Love - Antonio Banderas
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Darling I Do - Landon Pigg & Lucy Schwartz
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Hello - Lional Richie
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These Eyes - The Guess Who
Click on the album covers
Shrek the Third
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Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin
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Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings
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Cat’s in the Cradle - Harry Chapin
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Barracuda - Fergie
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Losing Streak - Eels
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Thank You - Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas
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Nine Crimes - Damian Rice
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Royal Pain - Eels
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Final Showdown - Maya Rudolph & Rupert Everett
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Extra point for having an original song
Shrek the Third is the winner of round 1!
When judging the movies on the category of voice actors, I based it on how many iconic voice actors each movie has. The movie with the most iconic voice actors will be the winner.
Click on the characters!
Shrek
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Mike Meyers
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Eddie Murphy
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Cameron Diaz
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John Lithgow
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Vincent Cassel
Shrek 2
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Mike Meyers
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Eddie Murphy
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Cameron Diaz
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Antonio Banderas
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Rupert Everett
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John Cleese
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Julie Andrews
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Larry King
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Jennifer Saunders
Shrek the Third
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Mike Meyers
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Eddie Murphy
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Cameron Diaz
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Antonio Banderas
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Rupert Everett
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John Cleese
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Julie Andrews
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Walt Dohrn
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Eric Idle
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Amy Poehler
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Justin Timberlake
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John Krasinski
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Larry King
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Maya Rudolph
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Seth Rogan
Shrek Forever After
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Mike Meyers
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Cameron Diaz
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Eddie Murphy
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Antonio Banderas
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Walt Dohrn
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John Cleese
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Julie Andrews
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Jane Lynch
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Craig Robinson
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Jon Hamm
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Kristen Schaal
Shrek the Third is the winner of round 2!
When judging the movie on the concept of plot, I had to be completely unbiased. I wrote out the general summary of the plots of each movie and judged them based on how intricate and well thought out it was.
Shrek
Shrek wants the fairy-tale creatures out of his swamp, Farquaad wants to be king. He hires Shrek to get Fiona for him, in return, he’ll get rid of the fairy-tale intruders.
Shrek 2
Fiona’s family invites them to come home for a royal ball, but Shrek doesn’t want to go. After having a fight, Shrek tries to win back Fiona by turning handsome, which turns him and Fiona human. Charming acts as Shrek and Shrek has to get her back before Charming uses a potion to make her fall in love with him at midnight.
Shrek the Third
Shrek and Fiona pose as king and queen while Harold is sick. After he dies, Shrek is determined to find the last heir (Arthur) so he doesn’t have to be king. Fiona is pregnant and Shrek is overwhelmed. Charming will stop at nothing to get rid of the other heirs (Shrek, Fiona, and Arthur) so he can be king.
Shrek Forever After
Shrek’s life becomes repetitive with children, so he makes a wish that for one day, he could go back to being a “real ogre”, where he terrorized villagers and was wanted. But, the catch to the wish was that Rumpelstiltskin took the day he was born in return for the day he had given him. This meant that if Shrek didn’t put his life back together before the end of the day, he would die. So he has to make Fiona fall in love with him again, but this time, she’s independent
Shrek Forever After is the winner of round 3!
Click on the characters!
The next level of consideration for the winning movie is character development. When judging character development, you must contemplate how much Shrek really changed from the beginning to the end of the movie. The amount of change is what decides the winner.
Shrek
From wanting to be alone to having a friend & wife
Shrek 2
From wanting to close off people who might reject him to having a family
Shrek the Third
From worrying about change in his life to being a great father
Shrek Forever After
From not appreciating his life to finding a whole new meaning
Shrek Forever After is the winner of round 4!
Click on the characters!
The fifth round of criteria is villains. The movies will be judged on the independence, perseverance, and defeat of their main villain. Whichever movie's antagonist was clearly the best villain, will be declared the winner of this round.
Shrek
- Lord Farquaad
Lazy, made everyone else do the work, gross
Motive: Wanted to be king
Died; eaten by the dragon
Shrek 2
-Fairy Godmother
No one did the work for her, had the help of Harold and Charming
Motive: For her son to be king, getting rid of Shrek
Died; reversed spell off of Harold
Shrek the Third
- Prince Charming
Found a bunch of other villains to help, angry theater kid
Motive: To be king, getting rid of Shrek, Fiona, & Arthur, bad at aiming
Died; castle fell on him
Shrek Forever After
- Rumpelstiltskin
Lazy, made the witches do most of the work, played psychological games
Motive: To be King
defeated and imprisoned by the ogres
Shrek 2 is the winner of round 5!
After considering the 5 levels of criteria, we wound up with a tie between Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After. Since I cannot leave it this way, I must create a boss round. But, because Shrek the Third has been my favorite for as long as I can remember, it would be unfair if I chose it as the winner just because it’s my favorite, so I decided to take a poll. I asked all of the members of the publications class what, out of the two tied movies, was their favorite. The results were a crushing 4-1 in favor of Shrek the Third. Huzzah!