Shrek 5’s Big Problem Isn’t a New Thing in the Franchise

An obscure future might be awaiting the Shrek franchise ahead of the upcoming fifth movie’s release in December of 2026. More than a year before its world premiere, the future flick had its debut teaser unveiled several days ago, and the first look at what’s next for Shrek and his band might not have seemed that exciting for the franchise’s devoted fans.

However, despite most of the audiences’ complaints being quite reasonable, it might have slipped some others’ mind that another widely criticised aspect of the future movie has actually always been there, and another rewatch of the previous four films would easily prove it.

Shrek 5 Isn’t the First Movie in the Franchise to Mock Pop Culture

Apart from backlash that the movie’s first teaser received in regard to its animation style, Shrek 5 got under fire for its TikTok references as some fans pointed out that the franchise had suddenly become aware of its meme status and thus wouldn’t be that exciting anymore.

One of the most successful and acclaimed movie series of all time, Shrek has indeed spanned numerous memes across social media, but the franchise being a part of pop culture isn’t quite a new thing in Shrek 5.

In fact, the previous movies repeatedly referenced iconic moments from movies and TV shows, offering its own parody of Pop Idol, using the Magic Mirror as some kind of a dating show of its own and, even more notably, having Shrek and Fiona replicate Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst’s kiss in Spider-Man.

Shrek 5’s teaser with its lead character scrolling through TikTok memes isn’t something entirely revolutionary then, even though the pop cultural notion in the upcoming film has surely been updated to correspond to modern viewers’ expectations.

Shrek 5 Still Has a Chance to Redeem Its Fans’ Trust

Even though it was quite expected to see Shrek’s animation style change as more than a decade has passed since the latest movie’s release, fans still got outraged claiming that the franchise didn’t have the same vibe anymore and now seemed a bit less exciting than before.

The amount of similar complaints is so grand that Shrek's creators might be up to some big changes at the moment, which is an entirely possible option even with the production already started.

Shrek 5 isn’t the first movie to get slammed for its animation in recent years, as Sonic the Hedgehog’s first movie also went under a major attack when its lead character appeared to look more humanised and realistic, but still awful.

The fandom’s waves of anger eventually reached Sonic’s creators who quickly fixed the problem. Hopefully, Shrek 5 gets the same update, even if it won’t look like a 2026 cartoon at all.