The Shrek franchise was a true highlight of Aughts animation, but one installment is a hidden gem that is worth rediscovering. Starting with the release of the 2001 eponymous film, the Shrek series was a breath of fresh air in the world of family-friendly animation. It combined irreverent pop culture references with darker humor for a unique mix.

The CGI animation style was cutting edge for the time, and the DreamWorks smash-hit was a perfect anтιтhesis to Disney and Pixar’s squeaky clean movies. Several sequels followed throughout the rest of the decade, and Shrek even had a few spinoff films to keep the franchise alive after the main series ended.

While financial success was never an issue for the lovable ogre, critics tired of the franchise as the Aughts wore on. The final two installments got drastically worse reviews, though the movies weren’t all that bad in hindsight. Considering the series is still wildly popular today (with a fifth movie coming soon), its poorly-reviewed installments are still hidden gems.

Shrek Forever After Is Actually A Pretty Good Movie

Shrek Forever After had the Herculean task of ending the main Shrek series (for the time being, at least), and it was mostly up for the challenge. The fourth film in the franchise got middling reviews from critics, but is actually far better than its 58% score on Rotten Tomatoes might suggest.

Audiences were still excited for a new Shrek movie in 2010, and Shrek Forever After grossed a whopping $750 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Though its critical reception was down compared to the first two movies, it was a marked improvement over Shrek the Third, which is where the franchise bottomed out.

Both of the final two films had stellar animation and great casts, but Shrek Forever After had an emotional core that was lacking in its predecessor. Shrek had always been humorous and irreverent, but there were also deeper themes running just below the surface that made it a compelling watch on multiple levels.

Shrek Forever After Has An Emotionally Satisfying Conclusion To The Series

One thing that Shrek Forever After did brilliantly was conclude the main series, and it did so with style and grace. Instead of opting for some large finale, the fourth movie was all about the тιтle character and his journey of rediscovery. He had grown so much across the franchise, it was interesting to see him long for his roots.

Clearly inspired by It’s a Wonderful Life, Shrek Forever After takes place almost exclusively in an alternate reality where Shrek never existed. This allows the film to take big swings without disrupting the established canon. When it all wrapped up, Shrek was back where he started, but he had grown as well.

The Themes Of Self-Idenтιтy & Love Are Well Done

After the franchise had wandered away from its original theme in movies two and three, Shrek Forever After brought things back to center. The finale embraced the core ideas behind the first movie, that being idenтιтy and love. Shrek spends the whole movie questioning who he had become, only to find he was still himself deep down.

This was the perfect pay-off to a decade of storytelling, and it concluded the franchise’s dissection of fairy tales and “true love”. Shrek Forever After isn’t a perfect movie, and it pales in comparison to the first two Shrek movies, but it is still one of the shining gems of the series and has only gotten better with age.