4. Donkey
The Movie...Shrek (2001) Imbue a talking donkey with the voice of Eddie Murphy and what to you get? If the word "irritating" hasn't sprung to mind, one with a very similar meaning likely has. Donkey is the sidekick companion to Shrek, a big green swamp ogre with a Scottish accent, and the source of all your major headaches since 2001. Despite being loud and obnoxious and kind of dim-witted, Donkey also possesses a sensitive soul and has good intentions. Still, his clumsiness often gets the better of him, in the sense that it almost gets him killed (like, a lot)...
And Yet... Donkey is the one character in
Shrek who ensures that everybody gets to live happily ever after. He's also the only character who doesn't really do anything wrong - not on purpose, anyway. Despite being of animal form, he's a far better "person" than Shrek is, a character who decides to turn his back on this talking ass because he overhears a conversation wrong. Seriously. Shrek overhears Princess Fiona talking to Donkey, misinterprets their conversation as an insult, and
leads the bad guys to them. What the ? And it's left up to Donkey to go and find Shrek to tell him what a moron he's been? Why? If Donkey had chosen to wander off instead, the ending to this movie would have been rather horrific. Still, Donkey elects to be the bigger man and convinces Shrek that he needs to save the woman he apparently loves. Not just that, though: it's due to Donkey (and his new love interested Dragon) that Fiona can even be rescued. He uses her to smash into the castle and gobble up the bad guy. Yes: Shrek
needed a talking Donkey and his girlfriend to be able to complete his own job as the movie's hero. I think we need to rename this animated flick, don't you think?