Fans saw Shrek's new face, but not all are believers.
With the release of the first trailer of "Shrek 5" on Feb. 27, the internet is already up in arms about the changes to the animation style in the 30-second snippet released by " target="_blank">Universal Pictures.
Universal Pictures via YouTube
The film from far, far away, which is slated for release in December 2026, revealed that key members of the original "Shrek" cast are returning to the big screen, including Mike Myers as Shrek, Cameron Diaz as Fiona, and Eddie Murphy as Donkey.
The familiar characters appeared in all four films of the most recent movie in the series, "Shrek Forever After," which was released nearly 15 years ago, on May 21, 2010.
The film also revealed that a new star is joining the cast — Shrek's daughter, played by Zendaya. The actress had a viral post on X from Aug. 3, 2017, which declared her admiration for the "Shrek" franchise. Shrek's official X account reposted Zendaya's post from years ago after announcing the actress in the trailer.
"I watch Shrek too often in my adulthood," the post read.
"This aged well," the official Shrek account replied in the repost.
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Despite the fun banter on social media, many fans criticized the new trailer for a collective reason: the newer animation appeared to alter the appearance of Shrek and the rest of the ensemble.
"Why does the animation look like an AI interpretation of what Shrek 5 could look like," one X user questioned in a post.
"What did they do to him," another user said in a post, referring to the appearance of Shrek in the trailer.
Other fans were quick to defend the seemingly new art style of "Shrek," noting that it's been over a decade since the last "Shrek" movie came out.
"just the animation quality evolved, it looks way more detailed now but the OG is so good," one fan said in an X comment.
"yall will really complain about EVERYTHING," said another user in a comment.
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More fans went back and forth about Shrek and Donkey's apparent redesign, referencing the animation change that the movie "Sonic the Hedgehog" underwent due to fan backlash.
"Sonic" director Jeff Fowler delayed the release of the movie by three months to make Sonic "just right," he disclosed in an X post from 2019.
"can we bully dreamworks to change the shrek 5 animation like we did to paramount to change sonic’s animation?" said one fan in an X post.
The trailer from DreamWorks Animation uses an improved animation engine called MoonRay, which made its debut with the 2019 "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" and was used in the "Shrek" spinoff "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish."
"I like this new style, similar to Puss in Boots, they make them more expressive," said one X user in a post.
More fans defended the trailer because of the potential time jump in the series. Fans also pointed out that Shrek now has wrinkles on his face and Donkey's hair is more aged, which could signify a larger time gap than the other films in the series.
Zendaya’s character is potentially “Felicia,” the daughter from Shrek’s three newborn triplets in "Shrek Forever After,” though that is not yet confirmed.
“He aged. He has a teenager daughter,” one user commented on an X post about Shrek’s appearance.
“Shrek’s old man wrinkles and Donkey’s old man hair??? These details???” one fan said in an X post.
Details of the "Shrek 5" plot, aside from the introduction of Zendaya’s character, have yet to be revealed.
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