Shrek 2: The Kingdom of Far Far Away (also known as Shrek and Puss in Boots: Heroes United in the UK) is a 2007 American direct-to-video computer-animated fantasy comedy film produced by DreamWorks Pictures, directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon. It is a crossover sequel to both 2001's Shrek and 2004's Puss in Boots. The film stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz, who reprise their respective voice roles as Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona in Shrek, and Antonio Banderas reprising his voice role as Puss in Puss in Boots. They are joined by new characters voiced by Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett, and Jennifer Saunders.
Shrek 2: The Kingdom of Far Far Away takes place following the events of both Shrek and Puss in Boots, with Shrek and Donkey meeting Fiona's parents as her zealous Fairy Godmother, who wants Fiona to marry her son Prince Charming, plots to destroy Shrek and Fiona's marriage. Shrek and Donkey team up with Puss in Boots to foil her plans.
Development for a Shrek sequel began in 2002, and following disagreements with producers, the screenwriters from the first film were replaced with Adamson. The story was inspired by Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), and new animation tools were utilized to improve the visual appearance of each character. In 2004, after the success of Puss in Boots, Adamson decided to make the film as a crossover film with said film. The lead actors also received a significant bump in salary to $10 million, which at the time was among the highest contracts in their respective careers. Although the film had been rated highly amongst children and adults in test screenings, DreamWorks decided to release it direct-to-video rather than spending money on marketing a wide release in favor of TBD.
Shrek 2: The Kingdom of Far Far Away was released on August 5, 2007. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and became DreamWorks' top selling animated sequel that year, grossing approximately $120,000,000 in direct-to-video sales, beating other DreamWorks animated direct-to-video sequel Animal Farm 2 (2001).
Plot[]
Newlyweds Shrek and Princess Fiona return from their honeymoon to find they have been invited by Fiona's parents to a royal ball to celebrate their marriage. Though Shrek is mortified about visiting the kingdom as an ogre, and resents Fiona’s parents for locking her in the tower, Fiona convinces him to attend, and they travel to the kingdom of Far Far Away with Donkey in tow and the fairy tale creatures house sitting. They meet Fiona's parents, King Harold and Queen Lillian, who are repulsed to see they are ogres. At dinner, Shrek and Harold get into a heated argument after Fiona reveals that she is pregnant, and afterwards Fiona encounters Fairy Godmother, a celebrity potions saleswoman who offers to help Fiona but is mortified to see she is married to Shrek. Shrek worries he is losing Fiona, particularly after having a nightmare about ogre babies and then finding her childhood diary and reading that she was seemingly once infatuated with Prince Charming.
Harold is secretly reprimanded by Fairy Godmother, who had arranged with Harold for her son - Charming - to be the one to rescue and marry Fiona; she hopes to use the marriage to rule Far Far Away through Charming. She orders Harold to get rid of Shrek or else lose his own happy ending, so Harold hires swashbuckling outlaw and mercenary Puss in Boots to assassinate Shrek.
Unable to overpower Shrek, Puss reveals that he was paid by Harold and offers to help him in gratitude for having his own life spared. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss meet with Fairy Godmother at her potions factory to find something to help Shrek appeal to Fiona, but she coldly rejects his request, insisting ogres do not deserve happy endings. They retaliate by stealing a potion labeled "Happily Ever After" and accidentally trashing the factory. Shrek and Donkey drink the potion and soon fall asleep. Back in Far Far Away, Fiona notices Shrek is missing and tries to find him, but she too falls asleep.
The next morning, Shrek and Fiona awaken to find they are now human, and Donkey is a white stallion. In order to make the change permanent, Shrek must kiss Fiona by midnight. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss return to the castle; however, Fairy Godmother, having discovered the theft, has sent Charming to pose as human Shrek and win Fiona's love. At Fairy Godmother's urging, Shrek leaves the castle, believing that the best way to make Fiona happy is to let her go.
Fiona is skeptical of Charming; therefore, to ensure the two will wed, Fairy Godmother gives Harold a love potion to put into Fiona's tea. This exchange is overheard by Shrek, Donkey, and Puss, who are arrested by the royal knights after Donkey inadvertently exposes them. While the ball begins, the fairy tale creatures - having seen the arrest on the news - rescue the trio from the dungeon. They all storm the castle with the help of Mongo, a monstrous living gingerbread man created by the Muffin Man.
Though Mongo is destroyed, the group manages to break into the ball. Shrek fails to prevent Charming from kissing Fiona, but instead of falling in love, Fiona knocks him out. Harold reveals that he swapped Fiona's tainted teacup with his own, refusing to go through with the plot. Enraged, the Fairy Godmother tries to strike Shrek with a spell from her magic wand. Harold jumps in front of it and is struck; the rest of the spell reflects off his breastplate and hits the Fairy Godmother, causing her to disintegrate into bubbles.
Harold reverts into the Frog Prince, having used the "Happily Ever After" potion years earlier to gain Lillian's love. He approves of Shrek and Fiona's marriage, while Lillian assures Harold that she still loves him. As the clock strikes midnight, Fiona declines Shrek's offer to remain human, and they revert into ogres, while Donkey also returns to normal. Sometime later, Shrek and Fiona return to their swamp, where they become the parents of ogre triplets, coping with parenthood with the help of Donkey.
In a mid-credits scene, the Dragon who had previously romanced Donkey in the first film reveals that they now have several dragon-donkey hybrid babies, much to his surprise.
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- The second sequel to Puss in Boots, Puss in Boots Returns is revealed to be set after this film, as mentioned by Puss while he narrates the beginning.