The announcement of Zendaya.
That’s right, the bonafide movie star and fashion icon was revealed to have ed the cast of the much anticipated sequel, with her voice heard in the role of Shrek’s daughter in the just-released teaser for Shrek 5. Said daughter is named Felicia, and she is the child of the titular ogre (voiced by Mike Meyers) and his princess-turned-ogre wife, Fiona (Cameron Diaz). In the teaser, Donkey (Eddie Murphy) is heard asking the magic mirror who is the fairest of them all. Naturally, the answer is Zendaya, albeit in young ogre form.
It marks a full-circle moment for the actress, who wrote on X in 2017 that she “watch[es] Shrek too often in my adulthood.” Resurfacing the post, Shrek’s official Instagram page (probably run out of a swamp in the Far, Far Away), reshared Zendaya’s message with the caption: “This aged well.”
While Dreamworks, the animation studio behind the sequel, is no doubt celebrating having bagged such an in-demand star, some fans are less than impressed with the teaser for Shrek 5.
Onlookers took particular umbrage with the change in animation style, which looks notably different from previous installments in the franchise. “What have they done to him?,” one questioned alongside a screenshot of Shrek’s redesigned face, with another urging Dreamworks to “just cancel the whole thing.” Elsewhere, some said the changed animation of the film “look[s] like an AI interpretation,” or otherwise just pleaded with the studio to “fix that animation.”
The more steadfast fans thought collective action — like in the case of other derided animation styles — might offer some course correction ahead of Shrek 5’s release. “Can we bully Dreamworks to change the Shrek 5 animation like we did to Paramount to change Sonic’s animation?” one fan suggested, in reference to that much-loathed trailer. Regardless of all the chatter, the fifth installment of the franchise is moving full steam ahead, with a release date set for Dec. 23, 2026.
Ahead of that, we’ve gotten few details as to what the film might entail, but we can expect some swamps, some ogres, and a whole lot of onions. We do know from the teaser that Pinocchio, voiced by Cody Cameron, might pop up, and that Walt Dohrn and Conrad Vernon are directing the movie. The pair are veterans of the franchise, with Dohrn working on the second and third Shrek movies as a writer and artist and also voicing Rumpelstiltskin, and Vernon directing Shrek 2 and voicing Gingerbread Man.
can we bully dreamworks to change the shrek 5 animation like we did to paramount to change sonic’s animation? https://t.co/WkE82Czc8v
— chu (@THEHORRORGOTH) February 27, 2025
Shrek 5 adds to an already plentiful list of projects for Zendaya, who is set to Euphoria, but that’s about as far off as the Far, Far Away.
Published: Feb 27, 2025 10:48 pm