DreamWorks has finally provided us with our first look at Shrek 5. While the film won’t be hitting the big screen until Christmas 2026, it makes sense to unveil how these iconic characters have evolved after more than a decade of absence.
Shrek Forever After released way back in 2010, but the lovable green ogre has remained at the forefront of popular culture through memes, infinitely quotable lines, and the sheer quality of each (or at least, most) of his films. Not to mention the two standalone Puss in Boots films, the second of which was a critical and commercial success that Shrek 5 is bound to follow in the pawprints of.
But human beings are fickle creatures, and as such we have reacted to the new character designs and modernised animation with predictable hostility. I think it looks pretty good…
Shrek 5 Was Always Going To Be An Evolution
Don’t get me wrong, I understand where this gut reaction is coming from. The teaser gives us only the briefest glimpses of all four returning characters, each of which bears a greater sense of stylisation, detail, and life compared to the original quartet of films. Shrek appears to have grown softer and more weathered in his old age, perhaps settling into the routine of fatherhood as he cares for his family, while Fiona is similarly aged yet still bearing all the personality she’s known for. I’ve seen people online compare Donkey’s new appearance to streamer Kai Cenat, but I just think he’s a little shaggier after a decade living with Dragon.
Zendaya’s role as Shrek’s daughter is the only outlier here, and even her design kicks ass. I love that she has Fiona’s hair, Shrek’s eyes, and, judging by her single line in the teaser, both of their attitudes. I am curious where the other two children have gone, and whether they’ve been written out of the canon entirely to make for a smoother narrative in the new movie. It would make sense, especially with the high-profile casting of Zendaya. Or maybe Shrek 5 is keeping the rest of its casting a tight-lipped secret until 2026 actually rolls around.
Shrek lore has confirmed that ogres are cannibals, so perhaps Zendaya was merely the strongest child and ate her siblings for lunch.
But Accepting That Evolution Isn’t Going To Be Easy
Shrek has become such a mainstay in popular culture that it’s hard to imagine him looking or sounding differently than when he first rocked onto the scene in 2001. His status as a master of memes means he appears on most of our screens on a daily basis, while I bet a big chunk of the Millennial and Zoomer population could draw him from memory. For decades, Shrek is love, Shrek is life, and to explore beyond that untouchable reputation is basically sacrilege.
But characters and stories change, as do the mediums they exist within. Shrek was made during the early days of 3D feature film animation, and thus was limited to relatively simple models, environments and techniques. These would improve with each new film, but many of the foundations remained in how specific characters and locations were constructed.
It would not be until Puss In Boots: The Last Wish that DreamWorks would change what the films in this universe could look like and were capable of, and obviously that transition will carry over to Shrek 5. That’s a good thing, meaning characters will be more real, packed with a greater sense of style, and, most importantly, be capable of more emotion.
Is it weird that part of me is viewing Shrek’s potential arc in this film as one akin to Kratos in the God of War reboot? He spent so much of his adult life afraid of a world that treated him like a monster, and I doubt he wants his daughter to grow up in that society.
Besides, we have no idea what sort of story Shrek 5 intends to tell. Will it be back to basics like the first film as it tells an intimate story between just a handful of faces, or might it be a larger-than-tale across the entirety of Far, Far Away? There’s no way to tell yet, and we’d be foolish to judge the entire experience from a single teaser.
It’s human nature to be fearful of change and protective of the things you love, especially a childhood icon like Shrek in which so much of our nostalgia is concentrated. But a refusal to give this new vision a chance or to accept that characters and stories we love need room to grow just like anything else is only going to come back to bite us. Give it a chance, because there is almost certainly more than meets the eye with this one.
- Released
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November 15, 2001
- ESRB
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T for Teen – Comic Mischief, Mild Violence