Somebody once told you this would be easy. Find out how much of the swamp you really remember.
10 questions on Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, Puss and the fairy-tale misfits of the four films.
Pick your level
The normal quiz sticks to what anyone who has watched the films will remember: the voices, the songs, the long road to Far Far Away and the villains of each film. If you have seen the first two more than once, eight out of ten is within reach.
Hard mode goes behind the scenes: how the ogre got his accent, who directed what, the real people some characters were said to mock, and the family Shrek and Fiona end up with. Five out of ten there is a good score.
Shrek came out in 2001 and turned the fairy tale upside down: a grumpy ogre as the hero, a princess who can fight, and a crowd of nursery-rhyme characters reduced to comic relief. Its jokes were aimed as much at the adults in the audience as at their children.
It was followed by Shrek 2 in 2004, Shrek the Third in 2007 and Shrek Forever After in 2010, then by two Puss in Boots films. The questions draw on the four main films.
The questions use the names and lines from the original English versions of the films. Several characters have different names in other languages, so a few answers would look quite different in a dubbed version.
All ten easy level questions, with the answer and the reasoning behind it.
Correct answer: They have layers
Layers. Donkey suggests parfait instead, because everybody likes parfait.
Correct answer: Waffles
Waffles, which he is still offering long after he has been told to go away.
Correct answer: Gingy
Gingy, also known as the Gingerbread Man, who is asked about the Muffin Man under torture.
Correct answer: 2001
2001, with a showing at the Cannes Film Festival.
Correct answer: He makes big sad eyes
He makes huge round sad eyes, a trick that nobody has ever resisted.
Correct answer: Puss in Boots
Puss in Boots, followed in 2022 by The Last Wish.
Correct answer: Robin Hood's
Robin Hood's Merry Men, with a little help from wire work.
Correct answer: He is very short
He is very short, and Shrek jokes that he must be compensating for something.
Correct answer: Fairy Godmother
Fairy Godmother, who also seems to be running a large potion business.
Correct answer: A dragon
A dragon, a huge one, who falls for him at the castle.
Want to warm up before playing or double-check something? Open any question to reveal the correct answer and a short explanation.
Correct answer: Smash Mouth
Smash Mouth, with a song released in 1999. Shrek made it one of the most quoted songs on the internet, starting with its first line.
Correct answer: Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy, who improvised a good part of Donkey's endless chatter. Chris Rock voices Marty the zebra in DreamWorks' Madagascar.
Correct answer: Mike Myers
Mike Myers, the star of Austin Powers and Wayne's World, in all four Shrek films.
Correct answer: Are we there yet?
"Are we there yet?", again and again, until Shrek snaps and Donkey switches to popping his lips just to annoy him.
Correct answer: Cinderella, Snow White and Fiona
Cinderella, Snow White and Fiona, presented like contestants on a TV dating show. Farquaad picks Fiona, who is still locked in her tower.
Correct answer: Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas, from Shrek 2 onwards. His role as Zorro a few years earlier is part of the joke.
Correct answer: I'm a Believer
"I'm a Believer", which Eddie Murphy also sings as Donkey during the closing party. The original was a number one for The Monkees in 1966.
Correct answer: Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz, in all four main films. Fiona's fight with Robin Hood's Merry Men in the forest parodies the slow-motion style of The Matrix.
Correct answer: A giant gingerbread man
Mongo, a giant gingerbread man baked overnight by the Muffin Man and guided to the castle by Gingy.
Correct answer: Duloc
Duloc, a spotless town with a welcome song sung by puppets, often read as a dig at theme parks.
Stuck on one, or just curious how nasty it gets? Every hard mode question is here with its answer and the reasoning behind it.
Correct answer: Scottish
A Scottish accent, like the one his mother used when reading him bedtime stories. He had first recorded the part in his own Canadian voice, and the change meant redoing a large share of the animation.
Correct answer: John Cleese
John Cleese, with Julie Andrews as Queen Lillian. Eric Idle, another Monty Python, plays Merlin in Shrek the Third, and Rupert Everett is Prince Charming.
Correct answer: Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson
Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson. Chris Miller and Raman Hui directed Shrek the Third, Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell made Madagascar, and Stanton and Unkrich are Pixar directors.
Correct answer: Livin' la Vida Loca
"Livin' la Vida Loca", performed by Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas during the closing party.
Correct answer: Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner, then head of Disney, who had clashed with DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg. The studio never confirmed it, but Duloc's queues and turnstiles made the target hard to miss.
Correct answer: Dronkeys
Dronkeys: winged, fire-breathing little donkeys, introduced at the end of Shrek 2.
Correct answer: Farkle, Fergus and Felicia
Farkle, Fergus and Felicia, born at the end of Shrek the Third. Their crying, burping and nappies drive Shrek to the bad deal at the heart of Shrek Forever After.
Correct answer: Shrek 2
Shrek 2, in 2004, with more than 900 million dollars worldwide. It took the record from Finding Nemo.
Correct answer: Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake. His Artie is a mocked student at Worcestershire Academy who has no wish to become king.
Correct answer: The day he was born
The day he was born, so that Shrek never existed. Without him, Fiona was never rescued and Rumpelstiltskin rules Far Far Away.