The Shrek 5 Trailer Looks Like A Giant Step Backwards For The Franchise
In 2022, a miracle occurred: DreamWorks Animation made a good "Shrek" movie.
To be clear, this wasn't an official "Shrek" movie. It was "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish," a sequel to the first "Puss in Boots" spin-off. But it was a delight from start to finish, particularly at the start with a dazzling action set piece. The movie managed to be a deliciously funny four-quadrant film about death, which is no mean feat. This was a stark contrast to all of the movies that came before it, which were pedestrian parodies of fairy tales that elbowed you in the ribs with their jokey references, many of which targeted Disney Animation at the behest of that studio's former, grudge-holding honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg. I know that the "Shrek" films are hugely popular, and that the original "Shrek" won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but they set my teeth on edge.
Nevertheless, after the triumph of "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish," there was reason to believe that the franchise had turned a corner. Illumination founder Chris Meledandri was returning as an executive producer. Perhaps he was the man who'd cracked the "Shrek" quality code. Or perhaps not. The first trailer for "Shrek 5" just dropped, and it looks like a return to base basics. It's loaded with brash sexual humor and callback jokes to the previous movies. Worse, it sounds like Mike Myers is phoning in his voice work as Shrek. Is there any reason to expect this film might be better than briefly advertised? I have to admit that there's one joke that made me smile.
Shrek 5 looks direly unfunny, but it does have a 48 Hrs. reference
It's hard to suss out the plot for "Shrek 5" from the teaser, but it seems like things are rotten in the kingdom of Further, Further Away. Whatever's going on, it's reason enough for Shrek and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) to go on yet another adventure, which is a thrill for the latter and an annoyance to the former. Over the course of a little over a minute, there are two twerking jokes, both of which are stunningly unfunny, and a "Frozen" swipe where a sex worker snowman propositions Donkey.
Somehow, Shrek, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), their sons Fergus (Marcello Hernandez) and Farkle (Skyler Gisondo), and Donkey wind up in a jail, which is interesting because Zendaya's newly created daughter character, Felicia, is nowhere to be seen. Donkey sings a tonally challenged rendition of Player's "Baby Come Back" and then, in a clear nod to "48 Hrs." launches into "Roxanne" (the song Murphy's Reggie Hammond is singing in prison when he meets Nick Nolte's Jack Cates in that film). I adore that movie, which launched Murphy's movie career, so that's one jokey reference I can go along with.
On the whole, however, this looks like a standard issue "Shrek" movie with a touch more tawdriness. The "Shrek" movies make huge bank, so I understand why it exists. But with a script by former "Saturday Night Live" writer Michael McCullers, who, feature-wise, has written two "Austin Powers" films and a lot of dreck, it's hard to muster much in the way of enthusiasm for this fifth entry in the franchise.
"Shrek 5" hits theaters in Summer 2027.