Shrek fans have shared their frustration over the trailer for the upcoming fifth film.
Dreamworks Animation released a first-look teaser at the latest installment in the franchise, which sees the return of Mike Myers (Shrek), Cameron Diaz (Fiona), and Eddie Murphy (Donkey).
The clip showed Shrek and Donkey looking in the mirror as Donkey asked: “Hey Magic Mirror, who's the fairest of them all?”
The mirror responded, “Why Shrek, of course!” and showed different Tik Tok-style videos of the ogre, including one of him looking muscular as he posed shirtless.
Fiona and their daughter Felicia ran in as well as Pinocchio, whose nose grew as he claimed he wasn’t the one who made the videos of Shrek.
Many viewers were less than impressed with the animation style of the upcoming film, claiming it looked “horrendous” and made the characters seem unrecognisable.
“This is beyond losing the sauce. This is straight up disrespectful to the original art style,” one wrote on social media.
“The new designs for every single one of them is horrendous,” another added and a third raged: “I don't know who this man is, but it ain't Shrek.”
“Why does the animation look like an AI interpretation of what Shrek 5 could look like,” someone else wanted to know.
Others referenced the Sonic The Hedgehog film controversy in 2019, in which the blue cartoon hedgehog was redesigned after online outcry.
“Can we bully Dreamworks to change the Shrek 5 animation like we did to Paramount to change Sonic’s animation?” one asked.
rhinoplasty, lip filler, cheek implants, jaw shave, chin reduction, face lift, blepharoplasty, buccal fat removal, botox, eye lift, cheek filler pic.twitter.com/JhZSIrYl8D
— yasmin (@ycsm1n) February 27, 2025
I’m not a fan of the Shrek redesign/model imho
— Saltydkdan (@saltydkdan) February 27, 2025
I appreciate the more cartoony style they are going for, but I was a really big fan of how ugly and more “realistic” the old facial proportions were
Hoping it looks better in the final release because ooooooof pic.twitter.com/CxjXTHcom5
Others defended the Shrek 5 art style, writing: “Idk why people are hating on the animation I think it’s fine.”
Another agreed: “Other than Shrek's face not being as round, I like the look of everything. Not sure why anyone is complaining.
“This is a modern day Shrek. Back when Shrek 1 released, computers were barely capable of rendering hair physics.”
While fans were divided over the animation, they did share their excitement at the news that Zendaya is joining the franchise.
The 28-year-old actress will voice Felicia, one of Shrek's three children that were first introduced in 2007's Shrek the Third.
The fifth film was originally set for release on July 1, 2026 – marking 16 years since the last sequel aired and a quarter of a century since the original premiered in 2001.
However, the trailer revealed the release date has been pushed back to the Christmas period in 2026.
