Quick Pitstops
Cast Reveal and a Teaser of Ogre Proportions
A Shrek 5 Teaser Breakdown
So
finally, we got a clear visual for the upcoming Shrek revival beyond a dancing five.
And woo boy, I’m feeling that 16 year gap between Shrek 4 and 5 in terms of both how much not only DreamWorks
have changed in their approach style wise when it comes to how their features
look and movie but also just the general landscape.
We got a cast reveal bit with a little teaser and despite the short length, we’re
being compensated with a lot to unpack.
So
after Puss in Boots: The Last Wish dropped and wowed everyone to the point that
they forgot DreamWorks have a very hit and miss track record – they’ll produce
some absolute masterpieces of animation and then follow it up with shlock that’d
make Sony Animation blush (and make their pre-2017 selves wonder how can they
do something similar and still merchandise it).
"I got it! We'll make an Open Season TV series, if DreamWorks taught us anything, late TV series are never too late!"
But the end of the movie also provided a tease that we would see Shrek and co once more, but of course this did raise questions – how would the cast look. For Shrek’s brief cameo, the characters were kept in a silhouette, we had no idea how they’d look in the new art and animation style Puss in Boots 2 had adopted and also whether said style would remain or not should a hypothetical Shrek 5 come to be.
Now the trailer is out and we can see that…it’s not going the Last Wish route and picked the third option of doing something entirely new.
And from the get go, this are brand new designs, which is interesting to note as recently when DreamWorks had updated their company logo, we got our first glimpse at a redone look for Shrek, Donkey and Fiona there. What is interesting to note is that some of the elements from that design has clearly carried over here
"You truly are, the king of DreamWorks"
For starters, we can see in the DreamWorks logo that the textures on the characters have had the extra amount of detail turned down, their colors have also been brightened a bit, forgoing the original, more ugly semi realistic detailed textures and lighting that the original films had.
Now this isn’t a dig against the original movies’ style as the look was very intentional, part of the anti Disney approach they were putting forth. Disney and Pixar were putting out these good looking designs for family friendly material, Shrek’s was more rough, dirty and captured that bit of ugly detail to contrast with that – in a design choice that I lovingly call “Appealingly Ugly”.
"Ugly isn't a crime, it's just life. Now being a visual piece of diarrhea on the other hand...."
"Your honor, my client is not a DreamWorks feature"
But we’re here in the 2020s, where even the public are wishing that Disney would do a new design for their original CG features, an era where Pixar are experimenting with different design styles and the rise of stylized CG thanks to the success of features like SpiderVerse (and the cost cutting measure too no doubt, no doubt).
So a change in design was inevitable, but what fascinates me is how they did it.
Firstly, the animation and design. As I said before they have utterly overhauled the animation style, the characters have more of a bounce and fluid flow to their movements. There’s a more cartoony vibe to the way they move unlike prior entries.
Secondly, and this is the one that really caused some visual backlash, the design
"Look at me Donkey what am I?"
"Err....really different?"
"I got it! We'll make an Open Season TV series, if DreamWorks taught us anything, late TV series are never too late!"
But the end of the movie also provided a tease that we would see Shrek and co once more, but of course this did raise questions – how would the cast look. For Shrek’s brief cameo, the characters were kept in a silhouette, we had no idea how they’d look in the new art and animation style Puss in Boots 2 had adopted and also whether said style would remain or not should a hypothetical Shrek 5 come to be.
Now the trailer is out and we can see that…it’s not going the Last Wish route and picked the third option of doing something entirely new.
And from the get go, this are brand new designs, which is interesting to note as recently when DreamWorks had updated their company logo, we got our first glimpse at a redone look for Shrek, Donkey and Fiona there. What is interesting to note is that some of the elements from that design has clearly carried over here
"You truly are, the king of DreamWorks"
For starters, we can see in the DreamWorks logo that the textures on the characters have had the extra amount of detail turned down, their colors have also been brightened a bit, forgoing the original, more ugly semi realistic detailed textures and lighting that the original films had.
Now this isn’t a dig against the original movies’ style as the look was very intentional, part of the anti Disney approach they were putting forth. Disney and Pixar were putting out these good looking designs for family friendly material, Shrek’s was more rough, dirty and captured that bit of ugly detail to contrast with that – in a design choice that I lovingly call “Appealingly Ugly”.
"Ugly isn't a crime, it's just life. Now being a visual piece of diarrhea on the other hand...."
Now
the thing is, this style was the approach because of the state of animation and
where it was during the franchise’s original run. Since then we’ve seen a big
change in the landscape, either due to there being many Shrek imitators of the
2000s and into the 2010s – even Disney is guilty of that.
"Your honor, my client is not a DreamWorks feature"
But we’re here in the 2020s, where even the public are wishing that Disney would do a new design for their original CG features, an era where Pixar are experimenting with different design styles and the rise of stylized CG thanks to the success of features like SpiderVerse (and the cost cutting measure too no doubt, no doubt).
So a change in design was inevitable, but what fascinates me is how they did it.
The
teaser starts up with the characters watching the magic mirror, essentially
acknowledging the utter meme pit the franchise had become following its hiatus
back in 2010. The joke doesn’t really land for me personally, as it feels very
much in the same vein as your old relative learning what TikTok is and
proceeding to upload a ton of videos of them flossing.
No this isn’t based on personal experience, my personal experience was a family
member using TikTok while having a midlife crisis, big difference.
What is interesting to note is that we hear that Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy
are back in their respective roles, still carrying that same energy. Once the
camera pulls back we see the characters react to these TikTok memes and we see
some interesting things.
Firstly, the animation and design. As I said before they have utterly overhauled the animation style, the characters have more of a bounce and fluid flow to their movements. There’s a more cartoony vibe to the way they move unlike prior entries.
Secondly, and this is the one that really caused some visual backlash, the design
"Look at me Donkey what am I?"
"Err....really different?"
Personally
I actually like these new designs, the characters are more expressive which
matches the new animation style really well. And while simplifying some
aspects, it also allows for some focus on other aspects of the character’s
expressions – such as the wrinkles on their face that subtly enhance the reactions they give.
In Shrek’s case it’s also worth knowing that in some shots like the beginning
one, it seems as if they have also incorporated some elements of his original
early production design as well, but managed to make it fit the final design’s
mold that we all know and love
We
also see that Shrek’s daughter, Felicia, is now fully grown (and voiced by
Zendaya…who’s alsoooo Michiiii).
So new character design wise, they did a good job, it works for this world and it’s visually appealing – I also like some of the subtle touches like her hair does resemble an onion layer, a neat callback to the first film’s “Ogres are like Onions” bit.
So new character design wise, they did a good job, it works for this world and it’s visually appealing – I also like some of the subtle touches like her hair does resemble an onion layer, a neat callback to the first film’s “Ogres are like Onions” bit.
Shrek,
Donkey and Fiona have clearly aged but it feels more in a way that the
characters have grown rather than making them feel flatout old, so it allows for room for future stories should
Shrek 5 do well enough. It’s also a nice change of pace compared to other
animated comedy series that either refused to age up the cast to showcase a
clear passage of time for weak reasons (Despicable Me 4) or would age up the
kid character but the adults would remain exactly the same (such as Ice Age 4
and 5).
Performance wise, it’s too early to tell with Zendaya as she sounds fine for
the character. Everyone still nails their roles from nearly 2 decades ago and it’s
just absolutely a joy to see them all back in the saddle.
While the humor didn’t really illicit a reaction out of me, outside of
amusement for acknowledging how Shrek had become a meme, that is admittedly something
that may sour if that’s a joke that continues into the final feature – which it
probably won’t in all fairness, we’ve seen teasers have their own specific
jokes that never make it beyond that, case in point see Toy Story 3 and 4’s
teaser/reveal trailers.
So far, I am glad that unlike Kung Fu Panda 4, we’re seeing a new coat of paint
be brought forward to another long running DreamWorks franchise and I hope the
writing matches the fresh visual approach too.
Now….I just await to see who the creative writing team are….
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