''Shrek the Halls'' is an American

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

that premiered on the American television network

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on November 28, 2007. The thirty minute

Christmas special Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in in literature and Christmas music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptation ...

was co-written and directed by

Gary Trousdale Gary Trousdale (born June 8, 1960) is an American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of t ...

and produced by

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

Mike Myers Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollyw ...

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...

Cameron Diaz Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress. With a variety of works in film, she is widely recognised for her work in romantic comedies and animation. Diaz has received various accolades, including nominations for ...

, and

Antonio Banderas José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and singer. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Antonio Ba ...

reprise their roles from the feature films. This Christmas special takes place between ''

Shrek the Third ''Shrek the Third'' (also known as ''Shrek 3'') is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book '' Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The se ...

'' and ''

Shrek Forever After ''Shrek Forever After'' is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book ''Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The sequel to ''Shrek the Thi ...

''. As with the other ''Shrek'' animations, this television special was based on the 1990 children's book ''

Shrek! ''Shrek!'' is a comedy fantasy picture book published in 1990 by American book writer and cartoonist William Steig, about a repugnant green monster who leaves home to see the world and ends up marrying an ugly princess. The book was generally w ...

'' by

William Steig William Steig (November 14, 1907 – October 3, 2003) was an American cartoonist, illustrator and writer of children's books, best known for the picture book ''Shrek!'', which inspired the film series of the same name, as well as others that in ...

Plot

Shrek ''Shrek'' is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig. It is the first installment in the ''Shrek'' franchise. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenso ...

is quietly living in the swamp with his family when the

season arrives. Under

Donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...

's urging, Shrek reluctantly promises

Princess Fiona Fiona is a fictional character in DreamWorks' ''Shrek'' franchise, first appearing in the animated film ''Shrek'' (2001). One of the film series' main characters, Fiona is introduced as a beautiful princess placed under a curse that transforms ...

a special Christmas surprise. Shrek goes to the local bookstore in Far Far Away to try to find a present for Fiona, but since he does not know what Christmas is all about, the shopkeeper gives Shrek a copy of ''Christmas For Village Idiots'', a step by step guide to celebrating the holiday. Shrek proceeds to follow the book's advice by decorating the house and getting a tree so he can spend a quiet

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

with his family, but Donkey brings the entire "family" to the swamp, spoiling Shrek's plans. As Shrek tries to recite "

A Visit from St. Nicholas ''A Visit from St. Nicholas'', more commonly known as ''The Night Before Christmas'' and ''Twas the Night Before Christmas'' from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title ''Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas'' i ...

", Donkey,

Puss in Boots "Puss in Boots" ( it, Il gatto con gli stivali) is an Italian fairy tale, later spread throughout the rest of Europe, about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for hi ...

, and Gingy interrupt and each tell their own Christmas story. Donkey tells of a Christmas parade passing by the swamp and licking an enormous waffle

Santa Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

, and absentmindedly starts licking Shrek's foot. Puss's version of the Santa Claus story ends with playing with the tassel on Santa's hat, while in reality he is playing with a bauble. Gingy tells a horrifying story about how his girlfriend Suzy was eaten by Santa Claus. Donkey calls it ridiculous, and finds Shrek's ''Christmas for Village Idiots'' book. A fight breaks out over the book and Shrek's supper is destroyed. After lighting his butt on fire, Shrek finally loses his temper and ends up ejecting his friends from his house, including Donkey, who denounces him as "Ebenezer Shrek" in the heat of the argument. With their Christmas spirit ruined, Fiona is upset at Shrek's behavior and leaves with the ogre triplets. She catches up to their friends and explains to Donkey what Shrek had wanted for Christmas. Shrek, remorseful at what he has done, catches up with the group and apologizes for lashing out at them earlier. He then tells everyone this is also his first Christmas, since ogres do not celebrate anything. They return to the swamp and Shrek tells his own version of "The Night Before Christmas", featuring himself as "Ogre Claus". Soon, they hear bells and go outside to see Santa and his reindeer, although Gingy is still afraid of Santa and runs back inside in fear. The special ends with Santa using his magic to put ogre ears on the moon.

Cast

Conrad Vernon Conrad Vernon (born July 11, 1968) is an American voice actor, director, writer, and storyboard artist best known for his work on the DreamWorks animated film series ''Shrek'' as well as other films such as '' Monsters vs. Aliens'', '' Madagascar ...

Gingy This is a list of characters that appear in the ''Shrek'' franchise and spin-offs from it. Main characters Shrek Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers, Michael Gough as his official voice in the video games) is the lead character in all of the films. ...

Cody Cameron Cody William Cameron (born October 12, 1970) is an American voice actor, film director and storyboard artist best known for directing ''Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2''. He voiced many animated characters, including Pinocchio and the Three L ...

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

and

The Three Little Pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build three houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house t ...

Aron Warner Aron J. Warner is an American film producer and voice actor who's best known for producing the ''Shrek'' films. He was known as the first person to win the Academy Awards Best Animated Feature Film. Life and career Warner joined PDI/DreamWo ...

Big Bad Wolf The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales that include some of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales.'' Versions of this character have appeared in numerous works, and it has become a generic archetype of a menacing predatory a ...

Christopher Knights Christopher Knights is an English voice actor, film editor, and cinematographer. He is best known for providing the voice of Private the Penguin in the ''Madagascar'' film franchise. He worked on several DreamWorks films ''Shrek'', ''Shrek 2'' ...

Three Blind Mice "Three Blind Mice" is an English-language nursery rhyme and musical round.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 306. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number o ...

* Miles Christopher Bakshi, Nina Zoe Bakshi, and Dante James Hauser as Farkle, Fergus, & Felicia *

Marissa Jaret Winokur Marissa Jaret Winokur (born February 2, 1973), sometimes credited as Marissa Winokur, is an American actress and singer known for her Tony-winning performance as Tracy Turnblad in the Broadway musical '' Hairspray,'' an adaptation of John Wate ...

as Bookstore Clerk *

as Santa Claus

Production

''Shrek the Halls'' was produced by

and

PDI/DreamWorks Pacific Data Images (PDI) was an American computer animation production company based in Redwood City, California, that was bought by DreamWorks SKG in 2000. It was renamed PDI/DreamWorks and was owned by DreamWorks Animation. Founded in 1980 ...

David Ian Salter David Ian Salter (born July 18, 1966) is an American film editor whose credits include ''Toy Story 2'' (1999), ''Finding Nemo'' (2003), '' Ice Age: Continental Drift'' (2012), '' The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water'' (2015), '' The Addams Fa ...

and Mark Baldo directed the special during the pre production, but they were later replaced by Gary Trousdale. The film was produced by Teresa Cheng, Gina Shay and

and was written by Bill Riling, Theresa Cullen, Gary Trousdale and Sean Bishop.

Release

Broadcast

''Shrek the Halls'' premiered on the American television network

on November 28, 2007, in which they hold the exclusive domestic rights to the special until 2023; when it expires, the rights to ''Shrek the Halls'' are scheduled under

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's full control for 2024. In the UK, it premiered on December 24, 2007, on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. The special was repeated on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

on December 23, 2011, along with ''Shrek: Once Upon a Time'' and ''Shrek''.

Ratings

The rating info is courtesy of ''Your Entertainment Now'' and ''ABC Medianet''.

United States Nielsen ratings

United Kingdom Figures

* 6.32 million (BBC One viewers) + 0.60 million (BBC Three viewers) = 6.92. Both shown at the same time.

Home media

''Shrek the Halls'' was released on DVD in the United States on November 4, 2008. Originally the special was available by itself, or in a bundle pack with ''Shrek the Third''. The special was released on iTunes on November 2, 2008 and on Blu-ray and DVD on October 30, 2012, as part of compilation titled ''Dreamworks Holiday Classics''. The special was re-released on DVD on October 1, 2013 along with ''

Merry Madagascar ''Merry Madagascar'' is a Christmas special first broadcast on the NBC network on November 17, 2009, which starred the characters from the film series ''Madagascar'', and takes place sometime between the first and second film. It is the second Dre ...

'', '' Kung Fu Panda Holiday'', '' Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury'', and ''

The Croods ''The Croods'' is a 2013 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film was written and directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders, and stars the voices of Nicol ...

''. DreamWorks Holiday Classics, available on Amazon, features Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular and does not feature ''Shrek the Halls''.

HarperFestival HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

also published a picture book version of ''Shrek the Halls'', authored by Catherine Hapka and illustrated by Michael Koelsch. Koelsch had previously illustrated a picture book for ''

Shrek 2 ''Shrek 2'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book ''Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The sequel to ''Shrek'' (2001) and the seco ...

'' in 2004.

Music

The score of the special was composed by

Harry Gregson-Williams Harry Gregson-Williams (born 13 December 1961) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and record producer. He has composed music for video games, television and films including the ''Metal Gear'' series, ''Spy Game'', ''Phone Booth'', ...

. The special, like the films, also features the following

Pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * Pop (Gas al ...

and

songs: * " Summer Breeze" * "

Jingle Bells "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. It has been claimed th ...

" (sung by Eddie Murphy) * "

Here We Come A-wassailing ''Here We Come A-wassailing'' (or ''Here We Come A-Caroling''), also known as ''Here We Come A-Christmasing,'' ''Wassail Song'' and by many other names, is a traditional English Christmas carol and New Year song, typically sung whilst wassailing, ...

" (sung by

I'm from Barcelona I'm from Barcelona is a Swedish pop group from Jönköping, Sweden, best known for its 29 band members and eclectic mix of instruments such as clarinets, saxophones, flutes, trumpets, banjos, accordions, kazoos, guitars, drums, and keyboards amo ...

) * " Because We Can" * " Jingo (Gin Go La Ba)" * "

Ride of the Valkyries The "Ride of the Valkyries" (german: Walkürenritt Ritt der Walküren, links=no) refers to the beginning of act 3 of ''Die Walküre'', the second of the four operas constituting Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''. As a separate piece ...

" * "

The Twelve Days of Christmas The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, is a festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In some Western ecclesiastical traditions, "Christmas Day" is considered the "First Day of Christmas" and the Twelve Days a ...

" * "

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. It was the ...

" * "

O Fortuna "O Fortuna" is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem which is part of the collection known as the ''Carmina Burana'', written early in the 13th century. It is a complaint about Fortuna, the inexorable fate that rules both gods and mortals in Roman an ...

" * "

Christmas Wrapping "Christmas Wrapping" is a Christmas song by the American new wave band the Waitresses. First released on ZE Records' 1981 compilation album '' A Christmas Record,'' it later appeared on the band's 1982 EP '' I Could Rule the World If I Could ...

" * "

Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" is a hit song by C+C Music Factory. It was released in late 1990 as the debut and lead single from their first album, ''Gonna Make You Sweat'' (1990). The song is sung by singer Martha Wash and rapper ...

" * "

Don't Stop Believin' "Don't Stop Believin' is a song by American rock band Journey (band), Journey. It was released in October 1981 as the second single from the group's seventh studio album, ''Escape (Journey album), Escape'' (1981), released through Columbia Reco ...

" * "

Hello Ma Baby "Hello! Ma Baby" is a Tin Pan Alley song written in 1899 by the songwriting team of Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson, known as "Howard and Emerson". Its subject is a man who has a girlfriend he knows only through the telephone. At the time, tele ...

" * "

Hallelujah Chorus ''Messiah'' ( HWV 56), the English-language oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel in 1741, is structured in three parts. This listing covers Part II in a table and comments on individual movements, reflecting the relation of the musical se ...

" * "

Deck the Halls "Deck the Hall” is a traditional Christmas carol. The melody is Welsh, dating back to the sixteenth century, and belongs to a winter carol, "Nos Galan", while the English lyrics, written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862. ...

" * "The Stars Shine in the Sky Tonight"

ICE!

In July 2011, as part of a strategic partnership between DreamWorks Animation and Gaylord Hotels, ''Shrek the Halls'' was presented as the theme of the ICE! exhibit at Gaylord's hotels in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. In this presentation, the plot of the film is told through a series of ice sculptures that visitors walk past.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2007 television specials Shrek mass media 2000s American television specials DreamWorks Animation animated short films American Broadcasting Company television specials Christmas television specials 2000s American animated films Films scored by Harry Gregson-Williams Films directed by Gary Trousdale Films with screenplays by Gary Trousdale American Christmas television specials 2000s animated television specials Animated Christmas television specials 2007 films

Plot

Cast

Production

Release

Broadcast

Ratings

United States Nielsen ratings

United Kingdom Figures

Home media

Music

ICE!

See also

References

External links