Remember watching Shronkey’s 12D, ordering a meal at Shrek’s Pizza or hunting for treasure with him on the PlayStation [6] [15] [29]? The Shrek 5 cast announcement was released on the Pokémon day of the announcement of Mummy Pig from Peppa Pig expecting a third piglet on Good Morning Britain and the release of the third and final A Minecraft Movie trailer [12] [15] [39] [40] [41] [46]. Quite unfortunately, plenty of fellow fans are not thrilled at the brief teaser of Shrek’s forthcoming comeback [47], but just because there are some disappointing aspects in a cast announcement, does not mean that all hope for a beloved franchise to progress into a pentalogy without jumping the shark (boy and lava girl [16]) is not lost [50] [51] [53][54]. The same applies to how baffled Minecraft players were at the teaser trailer for A Minecraft Moviebut eventually saw better potential in the other trailers [48] [55] [56] [57] [58]. While Barbie doll collectors acknowledge the Career of the Year for Mattel’s plastic starlet highlighting women in the music industry in association with She Is The Music [2] [3], let us proceed to discuss whether or not Shrek 5 would provide the right way to revive the main film series as the same hope applies to Toy Story 5 [38], even though it is strongly believed that those follow-ups will not be as impactful as Shrek 2, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 [28] [43] [44].
Understandably, there have been some less than easy-going reactions to the new animation style for the beloved cast of anti-Disney takes on many fairy tales [27] [28] [31] [46] [47]. The characters’ movements and body proportions make them more cartoony, compared to the realism and liveliness of the previous four movies [27] [28] [30] [31]. It is disappointing that the official visuals of Shrek 5 in the cast announcement are not as artistically outstanding as the incredible animation in Puss In Boots: The Last Wish [25], which might have been a cost-cutting decision, but the redesigns within a new animation style, especially for a new and younger audience are not that bad [46]. They could be worse as they are not as drastic as the art style in the second season of American Dragon: Jake Long and the off-putting style of the main cast of the Scooby-Doo franchise in Be Cool, Scooby-Doo [11]. What matters more is the fifth film must provide some intriguing new character development, especially for Shrek as he vows to count his blessings after the events of Shrek Forever After and for Puss In Boots as the same mistakes regarding his egoistical nature in The Adventures of Puss in Boots must not be made again, especially after we witnessed his incredible character growth in Puss In Boots: The Last Wish [26] [30] [45] [50] [51] [53] [54].
I’m sorry, but did the joke really have to be Shrek seeing himself in what you will see on the internet as he scrolls through some uncanny samples as if the Magic Mirror was an iPad [46]? I know that the big guy became meme material sometime after the reception of Shrek Forever After [4] [5], but surely, there can be jokes that can be considered more creatively stimulating in the fifth chapter than the kind of meme culture humour the reboot of The Powerpuff Girls was called out for [59] [60]. Remember Shrek The Third being called out for its reliance on pop culture references, along with how uninspired the interpretation of Worcestershire being a generically portrayed but mean-spirited North American high school is, despite its medieval aesthetic [5] [31]? Jokes and emotional moments involving modern touch screen technology and social media work better in cartoons established in the late 2010s and early 2020s, such as Helluva Boss [18] [19] [20] [21] [22], but aside from considerably better humour in Shrek 5, possibly including some devious innuendo for older members of the audience similar to such samples in the first Shrek film [27] [53] [54], there ought to be some elevating character growth, such as Fiona becoming an activist for orges’ rights to live happily ever after and Felicia, Shrek and Fiona's daughter for the reason that will be explained in a jiffy [46] [53] [54].
It looks like Shrek 5 is set over a decade after Shrek Forever After as Felicia is now a teenager [46], much like how Peaches, Manny and Ellie’s daughter had grown into one in Ice Age: Continental Drift [14]. She is voiced by Zendaya, the actress known for her roles as MJ from Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home and Chani from the Dune duology [9] [10] [34] [35] [36]. I understand ageing up a young character to give them some growth, but chances are that the outcome of said growth could become about as clichéd and predictable as some aspects of Tommy Pickles, his younger brother, their older cousin and their friends as preteens in All Grown Up! [26], as well as Peaches’ resentment towards Manny’s overprotectiveness in Ice Age: Continental Drift [14]. On a lighter note, I am curious to see what personality traits the new teenaged Felicia and her two brothers will express, along with their evolved bonds with Puss and Donkey, their uncle figures throughout Shrek 5 [31] [46]. Logically, the same adolescence could apply to the six Dronkeys as Donkey’s new design consists of a certain sign of his ageing and Arthur Pendragon, the current king of Far Far Away in his late twenties or early thirties could give them some advice quite like the advice Loona gave to Octavia in the second episode of Helluva Boss [21] [32] [33] [50] [51].
The answer to the question regarding Shrek 5’s potential so far cannot be confirmed yet [46] [47]. At least the potential of A Minecraft Movie improved with more action and slightly more appealing visuals and effects in the second and third trailers [48] [57] [58], but as previously mentioned, there is still hope that the orge’s return to the big screen will be better than we expect, especially with top-notch writing [50] [51] [53] [54]. But alas, the prime motivation for establishing a revival would be nostalgia baiting that would be the main reason for another box-office success [5], yet there still needs to be much more than a rehash of the past. Shrek 5is set to be released next Christmas after the opening of a new Universal Studios Resort known as “Universal Kids Resort” in Texas and the theatrical release of Toy Story 5 in 2026 [33] [42] [46]. In the meantime, Poké players are hyped for new episodes of Pokémon Concierge on Netflix this September and the return to Kalos in Pokémon Legends: Z-A in late 2025 [38] [39] [40] [41]. And of course, the 20th anniversary of Stephenie Meyer’s controversial but iconic romantasy tale known as “Twilight” will be celebrated [7] [13]. As for Shrek, we can reflect on how far he has come since the children’s book written by William Steig as many of us can agree that a seemingly unnecessary fifth film would still be better than a misguided reboot [4] [17] [50] [51] [53] [54].
References
I’m sorry, but did the joke really have to be Shrek seeing himself in what you will see on the internet as he scrolls through some uncanny samples as if the Magic Mirror was an iPad [46]? I know that the big guy became meme material sometime after the reception of Shrek Forever After [4] [5], but surely, there can be jokes that can be considered more creatively stimulating in the fifth chapter than the kind of meme culture humour the reboot of The Powerpuff Girls was called out for [59] [60]. Remember Shrek The Third being called out for its reliance on pop culture references, along with how uninspired the interpretation of Worcestershire being a generically portrayed but mean-spirited North American high school is, despite its medieval aesthetic [5] [31]? Jokes and emotional moments involving modern touch screen technology and social media work better in cartoons established in the late 2010s and early 2020s, such as Helluva Boss [18] [19] [20] [21] [22], but aside from considerably better humour in Shrek 5, possibly including some devious innuendo for older members of the audience similar to such samples in the first Shrek film [27] [53] [54], there ought to be some elevating character growth, such as Fiona becoming an activist for orges’ rights to live happily ever after and Felicia, Shrek and Fiona's daughter for the reason that will be explained in a jiffy [46] [53] [54].
What were they thinking?! What is Pinocchio’s motivation to be involved? At least Fiona seems...pleased. [46] |
The answer to the question regarding Shrek 5’s potential so far cannot be confirmed yet [46] [47]. At least the potential of A Minecraft Movie improved with more action and slightly more appealing visuals and effects in the second and third trailers [48] [57] [58], but as previously mentioned, there is still hope that the orge’s return to the big screen will be better than we expect, especially with top-notch writing [50] [51] [53] [54]. But alas, the prime motivation for establishing a revival would be nostalgia baiting that would be the main reason for another box-office success [5], yet there still needs to be much more than a rehash of the past. Shrek 5is set to be released next Christmas after the opening of a new Universal Studios Resort known as “Universal Kids Resort” in Texas and the theatrical release of Toy Story 5 in 2026 [33] [42] [46]. In the meantime, Poké players are hyped for new episodes of Pokémon Concierge on Netflix this September and the return to Kalos in Pokémon Legends: Z-A in late 2025 [38] [39] [40] [41]. And of course, the 20th anniversary of Stephenie Meyer’s controversial but iconic romantasy tale known as “Twilight” will be celebrated [7] [13]. As for Shrek, we can reflect on how far he has come since the children’s book written by William Steig as many of us can agree that a seemingly unnecessary fifth film would still be better than a misguided reboot [4] [17] [50] [51] [53] [54].
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