Shrek Fans Have Mixed Feelings About New Shrek 5 Character Designs (And There’s A Good Reason)

The talk about Shrek is far from ogre, especially after the Shrek 5 teaser trailer. No one was expecting to hear the news that Dune Part Two star Zendaya is joining the legendary likes of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy as Shrek’s daughter Felicia, but here we are. While the casting news itself might have been a bit of a surprise, the Shrek 5 casting announcement trailer is also a hot topic. The trailer features the group of ogres but the more layers of the onion fans peel back, the more distaste they have for the complete character redesigns.

The return of Shrek has been a long time coming, as fans have been waiting since Shrek Forever After, which came out in 2010. We did, however, get a glimpse at the respective redesign after Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which looked to keep the traditional character design. Many looked towards Dreamwork’s Puss in Boots film as the inspiration for the next installment in the Shrek series, but alas, here we are. As the trailer showcases, the refreshed look of Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, and Pinocchio is very noticeable and quite frankly, kinda upsetting to look at given the typical design for the characters is ingrained into the minds of many. In Shrek’s terms, this change looked far far away from the original designs.

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It didn’t take long for social media to get their hands on this teaser, with many sharing the same distaste for the redesigns. One Reddit user on r/movies asked, “Why does Shrek look so… clean? Idk it doesn’t look right.” This acknowledgment was met with some understandable remarks, given that the last Shrek film did come out 15 years ago and the state of animated technology has advanced since then. While we could only assume that this is the main reason behind the change, it does beg the question as to why this redesign isn’t matching the look of Puss in Boots.

Another user noted the animation style looks too close to replicating a certain well-known animation company by writing, “I don’t think the particular animation style is bad but personally it just isn’t the right fit for Shrek, it feels like it lost the edge the franchise had aesthetically. The characters all look kinda too…Disney, if you know what I mean.” Many have suggested that the new look is too cartoony and smooth for something known to be a bit textured in style.

Reddit user DeoGame responded with distrust by saying, “They had the perfect evolution to their art style handed to them on a silver platter in Last Wish, why did they change it so drastically?” One user mentioned that the animation style might not have fit with the Shrek films, considering they aren’t artsy movies, but the design does feel uncanny.

Even those of us at ComicBook have noticed the difference in the eyes as the main culprit for the distaste. While we can’t say for sure whether or not these redesigns will grow on us, we can have a sense of cautious optimism, given that the movie isn’t coming to theaters until December 23, 2026. For now, we can only hope that the animation will distract us from the Shrek redesigns.

What are your thoughts on the Shrek 5 redesigns? Are you going to get ogre it in the future? How do you feel about Zendaya joining the film? Let us know in the comments section down below!