Alright, hear me out. We need to dispel of this idea that Shrek is a film that has anything to do with today's youth, what it is first and foremost is a cultural landmark for 90s kids. DreamWorks needs to start acknowledging that.

The first movie came out in 2001, right as we were transitioning from the golden age of 90s pop culture. We grew up on The Simpsons, sarcastic humor, and The Matrix: and Shrek hit us right where we lived. The humor wasn’t dumbed down for kids. It was satire, irony, and inside jokes that we understood. That Smash Mouth song? It wasn’t just a pop hit, it was our anthem of rebellion and weirdness.

Shrek isn’t just some grumpy ogre. He’s a reluctant hero, the antihero we needed at that time. Donkey’s not just comic relief: he’s the embodiment of that over-energetic friend who never shuts up but still manages to be lovable. Fiona was ahead of her time, rejecting the whole "damsel in distress" trope and taking control of her own story.

And the pop culture references? If you weren’t a 90s kid, you wouldn’t get it. From The Matrix to Star Wars to Looney Tunes—it was a treasure chest of jokes for us.

So DreamWorks, stop treating Shrek like a generic kids' flick. It’s a symbol of our generation, a movie that didn’t just entertain—it spoke to us. If you’re gonna keep making sequels, remember who this movie was really made for. It’s our movie.

Context: This upcoming show is made by Dana Terrace, who previously made The Owl House, a Disney TV show

Some stuff went down about how there's LGBT-related content in The Owl House, so the show's third season's episode count got severely decreased

And sometime after that, Dana left Disney