Shrek

The story begins with Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) peaceably enjoying life within his home: a swamp. This is shattered when he inadvertently rescues the stubborn and talkative Donkey (voice of Eddie Murphy) from soldiers sent by the ruthless ruler of the Kingdom of Duloc, Lord Farquaad (voice of John Lithgow). Farquaad is obsessed with ruling a "perfect kingdom", without any fairy tale creatures in it, and uses the Magic Mirror to select a princess bride he can marry in order to become a king. He chooses Princess Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz), who is held captive in a castle surrounded by lava and guarded by a fire-breathing dragon.

Much to Shrek's chagrin, Lord Farquaad has relocated all the fairy tale creatures to his swamp. Shrek and Donkey head off to the Kingdom of Duloc so they can complain to Farquaad and Shrek can get his swamp back. When Shrek and Donkey get to the Kingdom, they interrupt a tournament Farquaad is holding in order to select a knight worthy of rescuing Princess Fiona. Lord Farquaad then sends the knights to kill Shrek. Shrek fights the knights, with some help from Donkey, and defeats them. Lord Farquaad, getting an idea, proclaims Shrek the winner of the tournament and agrees to remove the fairy tale creatures from the swamp if Shrek rescues Fiona.

When they get to the castle Shrek and Donkey split up to search for Fiona. As Shrek, after putting on the helmet of a fallen knight finds the princess, Donkey runs into the fire-breathing dragon, which he gets cornered by, and begins to give compliments to her to stop her from killing him. Dragon takes these compliments seriously and she subsequently takes Donkey away to her chambers.

After escaping, Fiona orders Shrek to remove his helmet so they can share true love's first kiss. Shrek refuses her request at first, but then shows her his true face. Upon realizing that he is an ogre and not her true love, she angrily refuses to go with Shrek back to Dulot so Shrek takes Fiona by force instead, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. The three set off back to Dulot.

On their way through the woods, Fiona insists that they should stop and make camp as sunset comes. Fiona sleeps in a little rock cave while Shrek and Donkey talk under the stars, where Shrek reveals he is upset that people judge him as nothing but a monster without getting to know him.

The next night, Shrek and Fiona are about to kiss when Donkey reminds them of the sun setting. Surprised, Fiona rushes into the old windmill near which they are camping. Donkey now thinks that Shrek and Fiona are beginning a romantic liking towards one another, but Shrek realizes that he and Fiona could never be and storms off.

Donkey enters the windmill, but finds an ogress instead of Fiona. He instantly starts screaming and yelling, until he realizes that the ogress is Princess Fiona. She then explains that she was cursed by an enchantment: human by day, ogress by night, until she receives her true love's first kiss and takes "love's true form". Donkey brings up Shrek's name, saying that the two of them have a lot in common. Meanwhile, Shrek is outside the door waiting to tell Fiona how he feels about her, but overhears the conversation between Donkey and Fiona, thinking that Fiona is calling him a horrible monster. Shrek leaves, angry and heartbroken, without listening to the rest of the exchange: Fiona requests Donkey not to reveal the secret to anyone. Before Fiona has the chance to tell Shrek, the sun rises, turning Fiona into her human form. Fiona tries to tell him, but he is too angry about what he heard last night. As she still does not understand why he was upset about it, Shrek repeats what she said, "who could love a beast so hideous?" Unfortunately, Fiona misunderstands this as Shrek saying even he thinks she was hideous. Farquaad and his knights then simultaneously appear to escort Fiona back to Duloc, which Fiona gladly accepts. Farquaad gives Shrek his deed to his swamp and he begins to head off. Farquaad takes Fiona back to Duloc and begins the preparations for the marriage, while Donkey rushes to Shrek, telling him to stop Farquaad from taking Fiona. Shrek refuses to listen to him and sets off for his swamp, leaving an upset Donkey behind him.

Shrek goes home to return to his normal life, even more miserable than before. Donkey returns to Shrek's swamp to confront Shrek and tells him that Fiona was talking about somebody else rather than him. Shrek wants to end the wedding before it is too late, but would not be able to make it in time. Donkey then whistles and Dragon appears offering to take them. Upon arriving, Shrek storms in and objects to the wedding.

Shrek tells Fiona that Farquaad only wants to marry her so that he can be king and that he is not her true love. Farquaad then realizes that Shrek has fallen in love with the princess. He and the rest of the citizens begin to laugh before he reminds Fiona that they are one kiss away from their happily ever after. The sun then sets, revealing Fiona's ogre form. Farquaad, disgusted, orders his knights to kill Shrek and lock Fiona back in her tower. Shrek whistles and Dragon smashes through a stained glass window and swallows Farquaad. Shrek tells Fiona that he truly loves her and they share a kiss that turns Fiona into an ogress permanently. She is initially confused, as she was expecting to become beautiful, but Shrek assures her that she is beautiful.

At the end, the two get married and set off on their honeymoon in an onion carriage. In a post-credits scene, Shrek hosts a variety of songs sung by many of the characters of the movie.