Shrek
The grumpy ogre who just wanted to be left alone, dragged into a quest to rescue a princess and discover his own capacity for love. Shrek arrived in May 2001 as a subversive fairy-tale comedy from DreamWorks, won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and spawned a franchise that defined early-2000s family cinema.
DreamWorks' Shrek released May 18, 2001, with Mike Myers voicing the titular ogre, Eddie Murphy as the indefatigable Donkey, and Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona. Loosely based on William Steig's picture book, the film was a fairy-tale deconstruction — funny, heart-driven, and anchored by the opening Smash Mouth track "All Star" that became instantly iconic. The film grossed nearly $500 million worldwide.
Shrek 2 (2004) followed and became the highest-grossing film of 2004 in the United States, cementing the franchise's dominance. The first film's irreverent humor and character warmth made it a rewatchable staple; the sequels diluted that magic, but the original remains a touchstone of early-2000s animation.
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The Rugrats Movie
The babies hit the big screen: newborn brother Dil arrives, the Reptar wagon careens into the woods, and the Pickles crew has to find its way home. Nickelodeon's first feature-length animated film, released November 1998, became the first non-Disney animated feature to cross $100 million at the US box office.
Dumb and Dumber
The Farrelly brothers' breakout comedy starred Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as two hopelessly incompetent best friends on a cross-country road trip. Dumb and Dumber capped Carrey's historically unprecedented 1994—the year he also starred in Ace Ventura and The Mask—and grossed nearly $250 million worldwide on a modest budget.
![Video thumbnail — Home Alone - Official® Trailer [HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Fmih-zWIjGY/maxresdefault.jpg)
Home Alone
Kevin McCallister is accidentally left behind when his family flies out for the holidays — and when two bumbling burglars invade, the eight-year-old's creative defenses (ice, tar, paint cans, and a very hot doorknob) turn the house into a gauntlet of booby traps. It became the defining Christmas movie of a generation, making Macaulay Culkin the most famous kid on the planet.