{ { Infobox film
| image = Shrek 2 poster.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| alt =
| director =
| producer =
| screenplay =
| story = Andrew Adamson
| based_on =
| starring =
| music = Harry Gregson-Williams
| editing =
| production_companies =
| distributor = DreamWorks Pictures
| released =
| runtime = 92 minutes<ref>{ { cite web |url= https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/shrek-2-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zndc3odc |title=Shrek 2' (PG) |work=British Board of Film Classification |date=May 26, 2004 |access-date=September 4, 2014 |archive-date=February 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207121752/http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/shrek-2-2004-1 |url-status=live }}</ref> | country = United States | language = English | budget = $150 million | gross = $935.3 million }}Shrek 2 is a 2004 American animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book Shrek! by William Steig. Directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon (in Vernon's feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Adamson, Joe Stillman, J. David Stem, and David N. Weiss, it is the sequel to Shrek (2001) and the second installment in the Shrek film series. The film stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz, who reprise their respective voice roles of Shrek, Donkey, and Princess Fiona. They are joined by new characters voiced by Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett, and Jennifer Saunders. Shrek 2 takes place following the events of the first film, 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 a swashbuckling cat named Puss in Boots to foil her plans.
Development began in 2001, and following disagreements with producers, the first film's screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio 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, particularly Puss in Boots. 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. Like its predecessor, Shrek 2 also parodies other films based on fairy tales and features references to American popular culture. The film is dedicated to the memory of Shrek creator William Steig, who died on October 3, 2003, eight months before the film was released. Shrek 2 premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2004, where it competed for the Palme d'Or, and was released in theaters on May 19, by DreamWorks Pictures. Met with highly favorable reviews like its predecessor, the film grossed $935.3 million worldwide. It scored the second-largest three-day opening weekend in United States history and the largest opening for an animated film at the time of its release. It went on to become the highest-grossing film of 2004. Shrek 2 is also DreamWorks Animation's highest-grossing film to date and the highest-grossing film released by DreamWorks Pictures, and it held the title of being the highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide until Pixar Animation Studios' Toy Story 3 surpassed it in 2010. The film received two Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, and its associated soundtrack charted in the Top 10 on the US Billboard 200. Two sequels—Shrek the Third (2007) and Shrek Forever After (2010)—had soon followed. The film's character Puss in Boots has also received his own series of spin-off media—Puss in Boots (2011), The Adventures of Puss in Boots (2015–2018) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)—following his debut.
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. Shrek initially refuses to attend, but Fiona convinces him, and along with Donkey, they travel to the kingdom of Far Far Away. They meet Fiona's parents, King Harold and Queen Lillian, who are shocked to see the ogres, with Harold particularly repulsed. At dinner, Shrek and Harold get into a heated argument, and Fiona, disgusted at their behavior, locks herself away in her room. Shrek worries that he is losing Fiona, particularly after finding her childhood diary and reading that she was once infatuated with Prince Charming.