What Did 'Shrek 5' Do to The Shrek We Know and Love?

Today, I woke up like it was any other day. Little did I know, it would be a day that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
 
When I was informed that a trailer for Shrek 5 had been released, I could not have been filled with more joy and child-like excitement. After all, like many others, I grew up watching everyone’s favorite green ogre go on adventures with his nuisance-turned-best-friend… that just so happened to be a donkey.

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Shrek practically raised me. The franchise took over the world from 2001 to 2010 and beyond, and it’s one of the only franchises that produced a sequel in Shrek 2 that very well could be considered better than the original.
 
That scene set to Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for A Hero” in Shrek 2 is when cinema peaked, as far as I’m concerned.
 
So, when I clicked on the teaser for Shrek 5 today, I was appalled and disgusted by what I saw. Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and his daughter that’s all grown up looked like they were cheaply animated. They looked like The Croods were just repurposed. They looked lifeless and soulless.
 
Shrek having a soul is a critical to the success of the franchise.
 
People online flocked to the reply section below the video asking what had happened to the old Shrek, why DreamWorks would change the animation style and design, and how they could so badly mistreat fans of the beloved Shrek saga.
 
One other disgruntled social media user even said, “God, take me now.” It’s sad to see that someone who would consider themselves to be a Shrek fan would rather have their life extinguished than live in a world where Shrek’s animation style changed.
 
Consider this a warning, DreamWorks. The people of this country and the world at large rarely ever unite and agree on one thing. But it’s abundantly clear that a majority of the population are disgusted with this animation and style change.
 
I and many others would give you all the benefit of the doubt if this was a Shrek reboot. That would provide the built-in excuse to change things up. However, if you simply choose to label something as the 5th installment, you MUST remain within the same animation style. It’s a continuation of an existing story, and changing the look of the characters ultimately feels like a recasting.
 
And to the many people of that are reading this that agree with me and share my passion for how Shrek used to (and should still) look, may I point you towards a tiny sliver of light in this dark, dark time. In 2019, prior to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie being released, a trailer that showed a Sonic character that veered away from the original source material lit a fire underneath fans that passionately burned all the way to the top.
 
Paramount heard the noise online, and had no other choice but to respond to the backlash. They delayed the release of the movie by four months in order to rework their animation to more closely resemble the character that was already established in pop culture. I’d argue that if they would not have made that change, the movie – and the sequels that followed – would not have been as lucrative.
 
History can undoubtedly repeat itself, and now is our time.
 
It’s our duty as fans of Shrek to make sure that DreamWorks hears our voice. We must not sleep. We must not fret. We must not back down. Just as Mongo in Shrek 2 went into battle knowing he was fighting for something bigger than himself (which was saying something), we must all know that we’re fighting for a Shrek design that has persisted for decades before and should continue to thrive long after we’re all gone.
 
To quote Shrek, “Ogres are like onions,” and just as a good onion can enhance a meal, a bad and slightly different looking onion can be detrimental to the success of a dish. Shrek in the first four films was a good onion, and the Shrek we’ve all gotten a peek of in the Shrek 5 teaser is a dish-tarnishing ingredient.
 
Congratulations DreamWorks! You shattered our collective dream of what Shrek 5 would look like. Returning Shrek – and his loving family and trusted sidekick – to their former glory will be the only thing that works.