Shrek fans defend the movie after viral article calls it "terrible, unfunny and overrated"

18 May 2021, 13:38

Queen Charlotte's India Amarteifio & Corey Mylchreest Interview Each Other | Bridgerton

By Jazmin Duribe

You woke up and chose violence?! You will never know peace!

A viral Guardian article which called Shrek "'unfunny and overrated" is being absolutely annihilated by Shrek fans.

Real ones know Shrek is a cinematic masterpiece. Not only was it the first movie to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, in 2020 Shrek was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, making it the first DreamWorks Animation and the first animated movie not produced or distributed by Disney to be selected.

With several successful sequels under its belt and having grossed $484 million worldwide, there's literally no way you could deny Shrek's cultural impact.

READ MORE: Shrek 5 is in the works with original cast set to return

Alas, someone actually has a problem with Shrek. Yes, we didn't want to believe it, but there are Shrek haters living amongst us in plain sight. A Guardian article went viral because of its horrifyingly critical take on the classic.

The article was written to mark Shrek's 20th anniversary on Tuesday (May 18, 2021). But be warned, it's incredibly violent. The article read: "Shrek is a terrible movie. It’s not funny. It looks awful. It would influence many unfunny, awful-looking computer-animated comedies that copied its formula of glib self-reference and sickly sweet sentimentality. Three of those terrible movies were sequels to Shrek and one was a spin-off with a sequel in the works. The curse has eased but not lifted." I-

It continued: "It's hard to account for why Shrek hit the cultural moment as squarely as it did – other than, you know, people seemed to enjoy it – or why it will be celebrated in 20th anniversary pieces other than this one. But it’s worth pointing out how comprehensively bad its legacy remains, opening up the floodgates for other major studios to pile celebrities into recording booths, feed them committee-polished one-liners and put those lines in the mouths of sassy CGI animals or human-ish residents of the uncanny valley.

"Worse yet, it encouraged a destructive, know-it-all attitude toward the classics that made any earnest engagement with them seem like a waste of time. Those once-upon-a-times were now rendered stodgy and lame, literally toilet paper."

The article cuttingly ended: "The entire enterprise is better left in the past." Did… Lord Farquaad write this?

Unsurprisingly, our timelines are in shambles and Shrek fans have banded together to defend their favourite film's legacy.

Article updated May 5th 2023.

READ MORE:

• Eddie Murphy wants to do Shrek 5 and a Donkey spin-off
• It's been 20 years and Shrek is still one of the greatest films ever made
• QUIZ: Which iconic Shrek character are you?
• QUIZ: Can you match the Shrek quote to the character?