Dreamworks’ beloved franchise Shrek finally announced the long awaited teaser trailer of their fifth installment which was received with mixed reactions from fans.
Shrek 5 had a rocky start from the beginning of its production of whether or not it would be made after a bad reception of its third film and a forgotten fourth film that served its purpose to end the franchise despite receiving better reviews. Fans thought that their beloved ogre run had finally ended, but hopes sparked when Puss in Boots and The Last Wish (a sequel to a side duology series following Puss in Boots) revealed in the end credit scene the intention of reviving Shrek back to the big screen, showing the kingdom of Far Far Away.
However, fans’ hope dwindled when the teaser trailer released at the end of February. The changed animation, in your face pop culture references and a questionable casting decision led to a frenzy on social media.
Animation is an ever changing field as animators continue to push the boundaries and animated films from the 2000 even if they still stand up today, don’t look the same in terms of visual looks. Other popular franchises within Dreamworks such as How To Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and Shrek itself have films that, while resembling their first film, have a visual upgrade.
Yet, Shrek 5 teaser trailer remodeled the characters to a great extent that fans feel that they’re no longer the same characters. In the teaser, Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, and Pinocchio are shown with the last two listed having more drastic changes to their model.
The discussion that followed had fans defending and wanting to keep Shrek’s old visual style, saying that Shrek is iconic because of its look and the context of why it looked like that. Shrek (2001) had its own production hell, but its foundation remained as a film to contrast and rival Disney’s family friendly stories.
Fans also noted that Dreamworks has no excuse to not use the original models as the new Dreamwork title card and Puss in Boots and The Last Wish have an upgraded look of Shrek and other characters that aren’t drastically different.
Another factor to Shrek’s appeal is its pop culture references in the original trilogy. From poking fun at Disney characters to Lord of the Rings reference in a montage, the Shrek films carry these Easter eggs and is a time capsule of 2000s culture.
Although oozing of 2000s references it was more of background jokes that didn’t intervene or mattered in the plot. This time around the teaser introduced the possibility of self referencing jokes and usage of modern day technology with the magic mirror displaying Tik Tok Shrek memes much to the displeasure of the characters and fans.
It didn’t help that in the teaser fans saw the introduction of a “new” character, Felicia, Shrek’s daughter who was only shown in the last installment.
Felicia, played by Zendaya caused another debate and while most of it boiled down to an overexposure of Zendaya and people in general wanting to see brand new actors or actual voice actors in animated films. While the Shrek franchise has been known for their star cast of actors like Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas etc. the once glamorized A list actors in children’s animated films has died down.
People have discussed how voice actors who put effort to their professions are cast aside for recognizable faces. Actors such as Chris Pratt are criticized for not being ideal casting choices for animated characters and Zendaya has been added to the list.
The teaser also brought uneasiness of what the plot of the movie could be.
People commented and made posts making fun of the idea that the plot of Shrek 5 could revolve around the average worn out trope of “father and daughter don’t get along and go through a journey where they learned to love each other” seen in various films such as The Mitchells vs The Machines, Despicable Me, Ice Age 4 and others.
While fans were having fun predicting the potential story beats of the film, they also commented displeasure if Dreamworks does go through this route. The Shrek Forever After and Puss in Boots sequel demonstrated to fans that the story of Shrek can still be expanded upon, but it shouldn’t damage the integrity of the films just to make another box office hit.
This has been only one thirty second teaser trailer with no other information released about the film, yet fans plead Dreamworks to rethink their process and give Shrek 5 the “Sonic treatment” (a studio delays a production to rework on the film due to fans’ outrage). In 2019, SEGA’s iconic blue hedgehog had its movie premiere rescheduled after a failed reception of Sonic’s design leading to a three month delay.
The future of Shrek 5 is to be determined as there is still a long way to go till its release in December 2026 and all fans can do is wait for better news.
Written by Emily Leyva, Staff writer