“‘Shrek 5’ is questionable,” says Yetnam Kankouryome, an eighth-grader on the Explorers team after seeing the “Shrek 5” trailer.
“Shrek 5” is an upcoming DreamWorks movie scheduled to release on Dec. 23, 2026, in the cinemas. Although the plot of the movie is currently unknown, the trailer was released on Feb. 27, 2025, which introduced a new visual style.
Sarika Prasad, an eighth-grader on the Dolphins team, has concerns about the new looks of the movie.
“I think it’s oddly rendered, and doesn’t retain the ogre-like texture of Shrek,” she said. “I would have added more texture to his skin,”
Mr. Mic Harmon, the theater arts teacher at RCMS, has similar concerns.
“Something about the design feels creepy, but I can’t put my finger on what it is that’s uncanny,” he said.
The trailer also announced that Zendaya would be joining the original cast, voicing Shrek’s daughter.
“I really like the daughter. I think she’s gonna be a great character, she looks nice,” said Sarika, who also said she had concerns about Shrek’s daughter being a predictable character.
“Shrek 5” is the fifth main installment in the Shrek franchise. It will be released 15 years after the original Shrek film, which was released on May 18, 2001, and grossed $492.5 million worldwide. Over the course of nine years, three more sequels have been added: “Shrek 2,” “Shrek the Third” and “Shrek Forever After.” “Shrek 2” was the highest grossing Shrek movie, earning $933.8 million worldwide.
“I don’t think anything can beat ‘Shrek 2,’ which was the best one,” said Mr. Harmon. “‘Shrek 2’ has the best cinematic moments.”
According to imdb.com, only 11 animated film franchises have more than three theatrically released sequels, and Shrek is one of them.
Liam Taylor, an eighth-grader on the Dolphins team, thinks Shrek has too many sequels.
“I think it’s going to be a flop,” he said. “I feel like it should’ve ended with the first movie.”
Mr. Harmon agrees with Liam, saying that having this many sequels can work with some movies, but in this case, it’s too many.
“If you’re going this far into the series, I think it would work better as a TV series,” he said.
Vaishnavi Rajkumar, 13, of Dolphins feels that adding another movie to the Shrek franchise would potentially ruin the reputation of Shrek.
“‘Shrek 5’ is a very weird addition to all the good movies, and I think this movie is going to ruin the reputation of Shrek”
Sarika disagrees with these students and says she likes the thought of another Shrek movie.
“I like all the sequels, they keep getting better and better, and besides,” she said, “there’s never too many sequels as long as they’re all good.”
