Storybook

The Storybook is a major piece of iconography in the Shrek franchise. Like traditional fairytales and other stories, it is meant to tell the tale of the series through elaborate illustrations. In the series, there are medieval art-inspired drawings often depicting the humans and monsters.

Movies[]

Shrek[]

The story told in the storybook opening is as follows:

Once upon a time, there was a lovely princess. But she had an enchantment upon her of a fearful sort. Which would only be broken by love's first kiss. She was locked away in a castle, guarded by a terrible fire breathing dragon. Many brave knights attempted to free her from this dreadful prison, but none prevailed. She waited in the Dragon's Keep, in the highest room of the tallest tower. For her true love and true love's first kiss. And so it came to pass that a brave knight came to her rescue, and with a kiss broke the powerful enchantment. The whole kingdom celebrated on their wedding day.

Before the last two pages over, Shrek used one of the pages to wipe himself. The full book can be found in the art book, Shrek: The Art of the Quest.

Shrek 2[]

The storybook returned, this time with new illustrations and showing depictions of Princess Fiona, King Harold, Queen Lillian, Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother. This story goes as follows:

Once upon a time in a kingdom far far away, the king and queen were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. And throughout the land, everyone was happy. Until the sun went down, and they saw that their daughter was cursed with a frightful enchantment, that took hold each and every night. Desperate, they sought the help of a Fairy Godmother, who had them lock the young princess away in a tower, there to await the kiss of the handsome Prince Charming. It was he who would chance the perilous journey through blistering cold and scorching desert, traveling for many days and nights, risking life and limb to reach the Dragon's Keep. For he was the bravest and most handsome in all the land. And it was destiny that his kiss would break the dreaded curse. He alone would climb to the highest room of the tallest tower to enter the princess's chamber, cross the room to her sleeping silhouette, pull back the gossamer curtains to find her...

Unlike the first film, we get a scene transition from page to screen (literally), detailing Prince Charming's pursuit for Fiona. The last line of the story is also interrupted by the presence of the Big Bad Wolf laying in Fiona's bed.

Shrek Forever After[]

One final storybook opening is shown for the mainline franchise. It details the same events depicted in the first two films, this time name dropping Princess Fiona, and featuring the first official storybook appearance of Shrek.

The full book can be found on its own page.

Other Media[]

Shrek on X-Box[]

The good deeds that Shrek is supposed to complete in the game are kept in a book similar in appearance to the brown storybook. Various illustrations are also found in the book, although with a more modern cartoon style.

Shrek 4-D[]

When the attraction was open in Universal Studios Hollywood and Florida, a storybook recap of the first film's events are displayed in the queue. This includes elaborate visuals of Shrek in his swamp, him saving Fiona, and their wedding ceremony. On the last page, the ghost of Lord Farquaad vandalizes the page with crude text vowing revenge on the ogres.

Shrek 2 video games[]

In both versions of the game, the storybook is used to keep track of the player's progress and tell parts of the storyline. Much like the films, the illustrations are drawn in a style inspired by medieval art.

Shrek: Totally Tangled Tales[]

Various storybook animations in the style of the movies' openings make up a good portion of the DVD game. These showcase various stories such as Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, The Jungle Book, The Stories of Sherlock Holmes, and The Myth of Pandora. Some real-life individuals such as Johnny Appleseed and Paul Revere are also depicted through the animated illustrations.

Trivia[]

The only two Shrek franchise films to not feature fairytale-inspired openings were Shrek the Third and Puss in Boots.
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish featured a "Once upon a time" style opening to introduce the Wishing Star, but it showed the events happening in real time instead of an illustrated telling.
Storybooks in the Shrek universe are commonly used as toilet paper. This references how people in the medieval times would often clean themselves with book pages, as toilet paper didn't exist yet.
The storybook and its open pages is a front bumper for Fiona's kart in DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing.
For Shrek, the storybook art was done by artist Julia Woolf. She also worked on the designs for the Duloc Dolls, wanted posters, and other artwork in Shrek. She followed by contributing storybook artwork for Shrek 2 and Shrek: Totally Tangled Tales.
The Shrek Forever After storybook artwork was done by Griselda Sastrawinata, who also contributed other artwork for the film.