Scots Success Story!
Celebrate 20 years of Shrek with a round-up of the best and most beloved Scottish animated characters
ONCE upon a time, in a land far, far away... well, in cinemas across Scotland 20 years ago, audiences were first introduced to Shrek, the animated big green ogre with a Scottish accent.
Hitting UK cinemas on June 29, 2001, Shrek was a smash-hit worldwide, spawning three sequels, theme park rides and even a Broadway musical.
Shrek told the story of an irritable ogre who, with his wise-cracking donkey sidekick, goes on a quest to save a princess from a tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. The tongue-in-cheek film eschewed classic fairytale tropes and was hailed as a real breath of fresh air when it first arrived.
Shrek was voiced by Canadian comedian Mike Myers, who recorded his lines in his natural accent before realising something was missing. He asked if he could re-record them in a Scottish accent as he felt this would contrast against the film’s English villain, Lord Farquaad, played by John Lithgow.
The accent was also a tribute to his Liverpudlian mother, who would put on a Scottish accent while reading him bedtime stories as a child.
Re-recording animations reportedly cost production company Dreamworks around $4 million but Mike argued that the Scottish accent was great for portraying dramatic mood changes. The result was a globally beloved character who earned nearly $500m at the box office for the first feature film.
Would he have been as popular without his Scottish accent? We’ll never know, but the Scottish accent has long been a top choice in animated films to great effect. Here are a few top Scottish cartoon favourites…
“The mother” accent was a tribute to his