Every Shrek Movie Ranked From Worst To Best | Pretty Reel

DreamWorks’ 2001 animated film Shrek was an instant hit due to its quirky combination of fairy tales and a stunning soundtrack. It spawned the Shrek film series up to Shrek 4, a Puss in Boots spin-off, and a Shrek Broadway musical. Unlike other fairy tale-inspired movies, Shrek flips the trope with its fiery, strong-willed Princess Fiona and her band of fighting-back princesses, and her willingness to poke fun at the genre. The film franchise was a huge success for DreamWorks, culminating in the studio’s announcement that it was developing a Shrek 5 in 2016 – though that project’s future is still uncertain years later. What is the best Shrek movie in the Shrek movie series? Here is the definitive list of Shrek movies ranked.

Although Shrek remains an extremely popular franchise for DreamWorks, by Shrek Forever After (aka Shrek 4), reviews for the films had been getting worse and worse. Although one of the strengths of the film series is the clever integration of fairy tale characters mixed with modern day jokes, audiences grew weary of the show. Although DreamWorks had success with 2D animated films, such as The Prince of Egypt, the studio struggled with the quality of its 3D animation, and the Shrek films never quite abandoned the outdated aesthetic. from the original movie.

However, Shrek is one of the rare examples of a franchise that did its best after the first film. Following the success of Shrek, the creators were given more and more freedom with their jokes and plots, with mixed results. Although the movies varied in quality, Shrek and Shrek 2’s franchise strengths were very, very high, but Shrek 3 and Shrek 4’s low points were really, really low. This is all the Shrek movies ranked from worst to best, including Puss in Boots and the movie version of Shrek the Musical.

6. Shrek Forever After (2010)

When released in 2010, Shrek Forever After was supposed to be the fourth and final film in the Shrek film series. Although Shrek the Third has completed storylines for all the main characters, Shrek Forever After has decided to explore more in-universe stories and explores Shrek struggling to adjust to his new life as a family man. He signs a contract with Rumpelstiltskin and ends up creating an alternate reality where he never saved Fiona from the tower. Shrek Forever After might give viewers more insight into Shrek as a character, but it never adds anything meaningful to the overall story. Unlike the other Shrek films, the soundtrack to Shrek Forever After is mediocre at best and fails to capture the magic of the first three films. While the other Shrek movies have fun exploring the unconventional setting of fairy tales, Shrek Forever After doesn’t justify its existence and is therefore the worst movie in the Shrek franchise.

5. Puss in Boots (2011)

Puss in Boots was a 2011 spinoff of the Shrek series that gives us the backstory of the cat burglar voiced by Antonio Banderas. Puss in Boots is part story, part western, part heist, and it’s the first Shrek movie not set in the realms of Duloc and Far Far Away. The film follows Puss in Boots, not Shrek, as he teams up with Humpty Alexander Dumpty (an anthropomorphic egg voiced by Zach Galifianakis) and Kitty Softpaws (a cat burglar voiced by Salma Hayek) as they go on a quest to find steal magic beans. gangsters Jack and Jill. Puss in Boots does a great job of building a Spanish-inspired world, but between the cheap jokes and weird dance sequences (one of which is set to Lady Gaga’s “Americano” and takes place in a nightclub reserved for cats called The Litter Box), Puss in Boots is not a necessary addition to the Shrek series. Despite that, the movie is still more fun than Shrek Forever After.

4. Shrek the Third (2007)

Shrek the Third had the difficult task of keeping up with the very funny Shrek 2 – and despite its flaws, Shrek 3 nearly succeeded. When Shrek realizes he’s not cut out to be King of Far Far Away, he journeys to find the only other heir to the throne: Fiona’s cousin Arthur Pendragon. Meanwhile, Prince Charming – the jaded villain of Shrek 2 – assembles a ragtag team of villains to storm the castle and claim their happily ever after. Shrek the Third lives up to the first two films with his great jokes, which are mostly found in the very funny high school scenes where we find Arthur and during Prince Charming’s terrible attempts at dinner theater. Shrek the Third also does a great job wrapping up the storylines of the two original Shrek movies, ending with Shrek, Fiona, and their three children living happily in the swamp. While Shrek the Third is a great kids movie and a solid movie on its own, it’s a testament to the quality of the first two Shrek movies being so low on the list.

3. Shrek the Musical (2013)

The Broadway production of Shrek the Musical was available on Netflix long before the critically acclaimed Hamilton was on Disney+. The original Broadway premiere in 2008, Shrek the Musical tells the same story as the original Shrek movie, with 31 new songs written specifically for the show. The musical gives bigger roles to the fairy tale characters surrounding Shrek and a lot more insight into the character of Princess Fiona after she is rescued from the tower. The biggest downside of Shrek the Musical, other than the loss of voice actors Mike Myers (whose kids ironically hate Shrek) and Eddie Murphy, is the weirdness of the ogre costumes on the show; Either way, the overwhelming joy of the songs and the incredible technical effects make Shrek the Musical well worth its time. Finally, the addition of Broadway artists Sutton Foster and Brian d’Arcy James elevates Shrek the Musical into one of the best Shrek films.

2. Shrek (2001)

When Shrek was released in 2001, the film was groundbreaking 3D computer animation. Although the graphics haven’t aged well, the film is full of jokes that still hold up nineteen years after its release. Shrek does a fantastic job of setting up the world and introducing Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey, along with a wide cast of supporting characters. The film was widely praised for incorporating adult humor with age-appropriate jokes and won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, as well as competition for the Palme d’Or at the Festival de Canes. Shrek easily incorporates idiosyncratic fairy tales, poking fun at the genre at every turn to great success. In a film with superb vocal performances from Cameron Diaz, Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy, the star is something of a killer soundtrack, a mixtape of pop and rock music that included the Smash Mouth hit “All Star.”

1. Shrek 2 (2004)

Undeniably the best Shrek movie, Shrek 2 is a rare example of a sequel surpassing the original film. After the popularity of Shrek, the team at DreamWorks was given the freedom to massively expand the universe with a new cast of Hollywood-inspired fairy tale and Far Far Away characters. Although the movie wasn’t released until three years after the original, Shrek 2 had vastly improved the graphics and used it to create one of the best movie sequences of all time: Shrek and Friends Storming the castle while the Fairy Godmother, voiced by Jennifer Saunders, gives a stunning performance of “Holding Out For A Hero.” The film is packed with even more jokes than its predecessor and still holds up extremely well sixteen years after its release. Shrek 2 was a stellar addition to the Shrek series and the franchise’s culmination, pushing the boundaries of the Shrek universe to new comic heights.

Shrek movies can vary in quality, but the highlights of the series are still considered all-time great animated movies. While the latest Shrek films aren’t always necessary additions to the series, they still manage to entertain. Shrek does a great job of establishing the characters and the quirky world, and Shrek the Musical is a wildly inventive take that elevates the story to new heights – but Shrek 2 is unquestionably one of the funniest animated movies ever. all the time. From worst episode to best, Shrek continues to be one of the most enduring franchises for a reason.

Shrek 5 must reverse the franchise’s downward trajectory

Shrek 5 was announced in 2016, but at the time of writing not many details have yet been announced. It’s possible that Dreamworks is trying to reboot the Shrek movie series rather than pushing for a Shrek 5 that directly follows Shrek 4. That being said, enough time has passed for Shrek and Fiona to be middle-aged ogres trying to manage a brood of the unruly. green teens – a premise that has a lot of potential (especially considering there would be teenage Dragon/Donkey hybrids). A confirmed concern for Shrek 5, however, should be that it needs to fix the franchise’s downward quality spiral. Shrek 2 remains the culmination of the series, and it was released almost two decades ago. Other Dreamworks franchises like the Kung Fu Panda movies and How To Train Your Dragon also saw lows, but are generally going from strength to strength. Despite being Dreamworks’ flagship mega-hit animation, Shrek has declined with each installment after the second. Whatever form Shrek 5 takes, if and when it does arrive, it must return to the heights of Shrek 2 to prevent the Shrek franchise from becoming irrelevant.