Shrek 2 features Jennifer Saunders performing “Holding Out for a Hero.”
The song appears during the film's climactic sequence, with Saunders performing it in character as the Fairy Godmother. The arrangement accompanies a fast-moving rescue and transformation scene, giving the familiar 1980s song a heightened fairy-tale setting.
Bonnie Tyler originally recorded the best-known version of “Holding Out for a Hero” for the 1984 soundtrack to the film Footloose. Saunders's performance in Shrek 2 is a character-driven cover rather than a separate unrelated soundtrack recording. Her delivery combines the power-ballad style with the Fairy Godmother's comic villainy.
The song is sometimes confused with “Accidentally in Love,” which appears earlier in the film and is performed by Counting Crows. Other Shrek films also use prominent pop songs, but Jennifer Saunders's version of “Holding Out for a Hero” is specifically associated with Shrek 2.