Princess Fiona is a fictional character in DreamWorks' Shrek franchise, first appearing in the animated film Shrek.
55 Facts About Princess Fiona
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One of the film series' main characters, Fiona is introduced as a beautiful princess placed under a curse that transforms her into an ogre at night.
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Princess Fiona is initially determined to break the enchantment by kissing a prince, only to meet and fall in love with Shrek, an ogre, instead.
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Princess Fiona was one of the first human characters to have a lead role in a computer-animated film, thus the animators aspired to make her both beautiful and realistic in appearance.
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Reception towards Princess Fiona has been mostly positive, with critics commending her characterization, martial arts prowess and Diaz's performance.
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In early drafts of the script, Fiona is born an ogre to human parents, who lock her in a tower to conceal the true nature of their daughter's appearance, lying to the kingdom that she is a beautiful princess.
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Princess Fiona ignorantly drinks the "Beauty" potion for which she does not realize there is a catch, as the potion renders her human during the day only to revert her to an ogre every night.
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For Shrek 2, the filmmakers decided to resurrect the idea of Dama Fortuna, re-imagining her as Princess Fiona's conniving fairy godmother and the sequel's main villain, who uses magic against Princess Fiona and Shrek's marriage.
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Princess Fiona is voiced by American actress Cameron Diaz, one of the franchise's three main cast members.
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Diaz enjoyed playing Princess Fiona, and preferred voicing the character as an ogre over a human.
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Princess Fiona doesn't look like them, and she's just as beloved and accepted.
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Diaz was saddened to bid farewell to her character, admitting that she took the films and Princess Fiona for granted until the end because she always assumed she would be invited back within a few months for another installment.
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Princess Fiona ultimately earned between $10 to $15 million for reprising her role.
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Princess Fiona is the franchise's female lead and Shrek's romantic interest.
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The animators felt that Princess Fiona's design was "too real" at times.
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Subsequently, Princess Fiona was modified to fit in among the film's more fantastical characters, which supervising animator Raman Hui credits with improving the believability of Princess Fiona and Shrek's relationship.
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Hui acknowledged that Princess Fiona was much more difficult to animate as a human because any errors were quite apparent.
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Hui maintains that Princess Fiona's appearance was not based on that of any specific individual.
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For example, Adamson believes Princess Fiona squinting her eyes and compressing her lips while listening to someone else offers "a richness you've never seen before", despite their difficulty to animate.
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Unlike Shrek, Princess Fiona undergoes several costume changes in Shrek 2.
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Princess Fiona's first costume is a lilac dress, which Mussenden designed to appear "organic and textured, because she's been living in the swamp".
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Diaz confirmed that Princess Fiona only becomes her true self once she is freed from the tower and realizes her Prince Charming differs from who she had been taught to expect.
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Diaz believes her character's personality "shattered" children's perception of princess characters from the moment she was freed from the tower, explaining that Fiona had always been capable of freeing herself but chose to remain in the tower solely because she was "following the rules of a fairy tale book".
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Princess Fiona was capable of getting out of the tower herself" and "took on Shrek as her partner rather than as her rescuer.
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Diaz considers Princess Fiona to be "the anchor that holds all these kooky characters", identifying her as the comedy's straight man.
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However, despite her efforts to look, speak and behave like a traditional princess, Fiona is soon proven to be an nontraditional princess, exemplified by her traits as a skilled fighter, unusual diet occasionally consisting of wild animals and tendency to belch spontaneously.
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PopMatters contributor Evan Sawdey wrote that the Shrek films use Princess Fiona to promote acceptance, particularity the moment she "discovers that her true form is that of an ogre", by which she is not saddened.
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Unlike Farquaad, Shrek respects Princess Fiona for speaking up for and defending herself.
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Just because Princess Fiona subverts the idea of beauty, it doesn't mean that beauty is not important.
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Princess Fiona is rescued successfully but disappointed upon discovering that Shrek is an ogre instead of a knight, proceeding to act coldly towards him at the beginning of their journey back to Duloc.
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However, her attitude softens once she overhears Shrek explain that he is constantly misjudged by his appearance, and the two gradually develop a camaraderie as Princess Fiona falls in love with Shrek.
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Late one evening, Donkey discovers that Princess Fiona is under an enchantment that transforms her into an ogre every night, and she wishes to break the spell by kissing Farquaad before the next sunset.
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The princess and ogre part ways, Fiona returning to Duloc with Farquaad and Shrek returning to his swamp alone.
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However, the dragon that had once imprisoned Princess Fiona, eats Farquaad, killing him.
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Princess Fiona finally confesses her feelings for Shrek and, upon kissing him, turns into an ogre full-time; the two ogres marry.
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Princess Fiona is briefly returned to her human form when Shrek consumes a potion that turns both him and his true love beautiful, but Shrek must obtain a kiss from Princess Fiona before midnight, otherwise the spell will revert.
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However, Fairy Godmother, from whom Shrek steals the potion, tricks Princess Fiona into believing Charming is Shrek's human form.
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However, the king refuses upon seeing how unhappy Princess Fiona has become, thwarting Fairy Godmother's plan.
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When Harold passes away, Shrek is reluctantly named next-in-line to Harold's throne, a position he declines because becoming king would prevent him and Princess Fiona from returning to their swamp.
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Shrek Forever After reveals that, during the events of the first film, Princess Fiona's parents had nearly lost the kingdom to Rumpelstiltskin, nearly signing it over in return for their daughter's freedom, but his plans are thwarted when Princess Fiona is rescued by and falls in love with Shrek.
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Shrek initially believes his relationship with Princess Fiona still exists there but when she doesn't even recognize him, he finally accepts completely that the reality he is in is not his own and that Rumpelstiltskin has truly altered reality to be as if he never existed until now.
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Princess Fiona begins to fall in love with him again when he starts training with her, but still does not kiss him.
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Princess Fiona has appeared in two holiday-themed television specials: Shrek the Halls and Scared Shrekless.
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Princess Fiona appears in the short Shrek 4-D, a 4-D film originally shown at various amusement and theme parks.
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Princess Fiona appears in the short film Far, Far Away Idol, a parody of the reality television singing competition American Idol, which is included as a bonus feature on home video releases of Shrek 2.
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Princess Fiona appeared in the stage musical adaptation of the film, which ran on Broadway from 2008 to 2010.
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Princess Fiona was drawn towards the idea of playing a princess for the first time, the prospect of which she found "fun", as well as the opportunity to collaborate with lyricist and librettist David Lindsay-Abaire.
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PopMatters' Cynthia Fuchs, reviewing the fourth film, described the princess as "always at least a little wonderful, patient, and smart," and found herself wishing Fiona would discover a parallel universe in which she is truly appreciated.
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Philippa Hawker of The Age felt the third film could benefited from Princess Fiona being named Harold's heir, opposing the idea of relegating her to "a cursory girl-power scenario".
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Refinery 29's Anne Cohen felt Princess Fiona remains a strong heroine despite Shrek's "un-feminist plot" featuring several men making decisions about her future without her involvement.
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Cohen praised Princess Fiona for defending herself, defying stereotypes, speaking her mind and accepting her own flaws.
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Some critics felt Princess Fiona's fighting prowess was otherwise undermined by her insecurities and motivations.
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Author Margot Mifflin, writing for Salon, felt that some of Princess Fiona's actions contradict with the film's morals about looks being less important, citing that she dislikes Farquaad more for his short stature than his cruelty towards others.
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Princess Fiona found the princess in Steig's original story to be more liberated and less of a damsel in distress than Fiona.
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The Conversation's Michelle Smith was unimpressed, writing that despite the character's fighting skills, Princess Fiona remains "desperate to follow the fairy tale script" and believes marrying her rescuer is "her ultimate reward".