Donkey is a fictional character created by William Steig and adapted by DreamWorks Animation for the Shrek franchise.

As the series' comic relief character, Donkey is well-regarded by critics for his wit, wisdom, humor, and Murphy’s performance.

Donkey made his debut in the 2001 film Shrek at a sale of mythical characters from old fairy tales, being sold to the evil Lord Farquaad's knights.

Following a lucky escape, he befriends Shrek, who, although annoyed by Donkey's non-stop chatter, slowly and reluctantly develops an affection for him.

Donkey denies any involvement when Shrek finds all the creatures from fairy tales living in his swamp.

While coming to the castle, Donkey unintentionally catches the unwanted attention of the fire-breathing dragon guarding the Princess.

However, Shrek rescues Donkey before things become too personal, and the two narrowly escape with the Princess before the dragon catches up.

As Shrek and Fiona begin to have a moment, Donkey abruptly returns and interrupts, claiming that a chariot of royal men has arrived.

Shrek, Donkey and Puss lament in a bar called the Poison Apple, only to discover Fiona's father Harold secretly talking to Fairy Godmother, revealing the scam.

After the Fairy Godmother is defeated, and the trio finished their mission with victory, both Donkey and Shrek return to their normal forms.

When Far Far Away is in need of a new king, Donkey ventures off with Shrek in search of Fiona's cousin Arthur Pendragon, known simply as Artie, at the Worcestershire boarding school where he resides.

In their magical transport back to Far Far Away (aided by a slightly off-kilter Merlin), Donkey and Puss accidentally switch bodies.

In Rumplestiltskin's alternate universe, Donkey first meets Shrek when he pulls a wagon the ogre is imprisoned in, and is forced to sing (reminiscent of a car stereo) by the witches, who whip him to change songs.

Donkey later saves Shrek and Fiona from the Pied Piper (at Puss' urging), and then leads the assault on Rumplestiltskin's castle.

After Rumplestiltskin is defeated, Donkey sadly watches as Shrek begins to turn into pixie dust when his time is up.

[1] Pacific Data Images (based in nearby Redwood City) paid $75 for the right to make photographs, video recordings, and sketches of Perry which were used to create the Donkey character.

[6] His folk wisdom breaks through Shrek's layers of masculinity to help him integrate better with other people, including women.

[5] Nevertheless, due to being voiced by Eddie Murphy, Donkey was noted as being similar to black sidekicks paired with white male stars in films such as Lethal Weapon (1987) and Die Hard (1988).

He has been criticized as drawing on racial stereotypes of African Americans, both as a sidekick and due to his cowardly, comedic personality.