If you value fidelity when it comes to adaptations of your favorite books, you’ll be sorely disappointed by what the team behind the 2001 animated hit “Shrek” did with William Steig’s picture book. If you’re anything like me, though, that might be OK because I had zero clue “Shrek” was a book to begin with. 

Twenty-five years ago today, the grumpy, green ogre voiced by Mike Myers waltzed onto the big screen and into our hearts, but not before undergoing some major changes—multiple times, in fact. 

The original children’s book was published in 1990 and tells a very different story about a large, green creature who isn’t even identified as an ogre in the text. It’s a short picture book—seriously, I checked out the audiobook from the library and it was only 8 minutes long. I’ll summarize:

Shrek grew up as a very ugly baby of a very ugly mom and very ugly dad. Once old enough, they send him out in the world on his own to wreak havoc and destruction. He comes across a witch who gives him a fortune in exchange for some of his very rare lice. 

She tells him he’ll meet a talking donkey, who will show him to a very ugly princess who is equally as disgusting as him and thus perfect for Shrek to fall in love with. Eager, he sets off on the journey, where he comes across the donkey and then his princess, whom he marries. 

That’s it. No huge cast of fairy tale characters and only a brief mention of a dragon. Shrek doesn’t have a disgusting home in a disgusting swamp, the donkey barely speaks and the princess doesn’t even have a name, much less an interesting story arc. 

“Shrek!” is cute for kids, but the movie it is not. The only thing the two have in common is a general message that physical beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

Dreamworks took the story and ran with it. 

But even then, there have been a couple different versions of the film, which was initially supposed to star Chris Farley as the green ogre. In fact, he filmed much of the role before his early death in 1997. Fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum Myers replaced him, but even that process underwent some major changes. Shrek initially didn’t have the thick Scottish accent we’ve all come to love. Myers later realized the character needed the brogue, and he persuaded the filmmakers to let him re-record all his lines. And thank goodness he did. Could you imagine that green doofus with a Canadian accent? 

Dreamworks also fleshed out the characters of Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and added in some others, mostly, I imagine, to stretch the story out from an 8-minute audiobook to a 90-minute feature film. 

Imagine all the glorious quotes (“The Muffin Man!?”) and memes we’d be missing out on if the Gingerbread Man (Conrad Vernon) and Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) hadn’t been added to the story. And imagine how much heart would’ve been lacking from the story if we didn’t learn that ogres, like onions, have layers. 

This evolution paid off for “Shrek” screenwriters Ted Elliott, Roger S.H. Schulman, Joe Stillman and Terry Rossio, who were nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay award at the Academy Awards that year. “A Beautiful Mind” beat out “Shrek,” though, along with “Ghost World,” “In the Bedroom” and “The Lord of the RIngs: The Fellowship of the Ring.” 

“Shrek” did more than turn an 8-minute children’s book into a single critically acclaimed. It spawned a whole series of films, including the upcoming “Shrek 5” next summer. 

About the writer

Danielle Haynes is the co-founder and co-editor of Booked & Screened, covering book-to-screen adaptations, film and TV development.