New Shrek 5 Teaser is Reminding Fans of a Sonic The Hedgehog Nightmare But Are We Overreacting?
- Shrek 5 first teaser released; fans are not happy with the changes in character designs.
- Zendaya to voice Shrek and Fiona's daughter for Shrek 5.
- Shrek 5 to release in 2026 December
Directed by Walt Dohrn and Conrad Vernon, the upcoming animated fantasy comedy movie Shrek 5 is loosely based on a picture book titled Shrek! By William Steig. The movie is a sequel to 2010’s Shrek Forever After and serves as the fifth main and overall seventh installment in the Shrek film series. The film will once again feature Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and Mike Myers, with the addition of Zendaya.
The Shrek film series is one of the most beloved and highest-grossing media franchises of all time. Upon release, Shrek’s animation was regarded as revolutionary, expanding the boundaries of CGI and accepted the challenge of adjusting according to the tone of children’s movies. It became a phenomenon in no time, and now, the fifth installment is almost here. But fans noticed that the Shrek 5 teaser reminds them of Sonic The Hedgehog and the nightmare that followed.
Fans are ‘not happy’ with Shrek 5’s teaser, compare it with Sonic The Hedgehog
The first teaser for the highly awaited Shrek 5 was released on February 27, 2025, and it revealed that Zendaya is joining the OG cast; Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and Mike Myers. The Dune actress will be voicing one of the three triplets, Felicia’. While fans are excited about Zendaya joining the cast, the same cannot be said about their reaction to the teaser.
It’s not surprising that the fans have grown very attached to the characters of the franchise, and any change in their appearance makes them uncomfortable. Following the release of the teaser, fans noticed that the character designs had visible changes compared to the 2010’s Shrek Forever After. They even compared this change to Sonic The Hedgehog, as the character design of the main hero in the trailer was visibly different.
Fans took it to their social media to share, ‘Feels like the Sonic trailer all over again.’ Another user wrote, ‘Modern animators ruin everything. Literally just get the model from Shrek 1-4. It doesn’t have to look like garbage, man.’
A third user noted that they are hoping this ‘updated’ look is just for the teaser and that they have not put a bunch of pop culture references in the movie. A user mentioned that they understood that the visual needed rehauling as well as the style to make it modern, but they could have kept the overall character design intact. They added that if the makers had paired the OG design with modern visuals, it’d be great.
While a lot of fans were not happy with the updated character design, some of them made a reasonable statement regarding the change. One user commented,
‘It feels like another Sonic situation.’ No, it does not. Convinced some of you were not there for Sonic. That redesign was atrocious; this is just an animation change, which looks weird because we’ve had the same design for 4 movies.
Some wrote that it’s been 15 years since the last movie premiered, so it makes sense for the character design to change a bit. The characters have aged, and with that, a few tweaks in the design make sense.
Filmmaker Jeff Fowler addressed Sonic the Hedgehog character design backlash
In his interview with Deadline, Jeff Fowler reflected on Sonic’s character design changes. Upon the release of the trailer, the character design was highly criticized as fans noted that his small eyes, gloveless hands, and human teeth did not sit right. However, Paramount decided to take suggestions and redesign the character, which eventually pushed the movie from 2019 to 2020.
The director said,
Every movie is going to face challenges, and obviously, we had some very public ones with the redesign, but all that stuff has just become part of our story. And it’s something that I sort of champion. We now have this amazing relationship with our fans. They obviously voiced some opinions, and those opinions were heard and addressed.
The audience accepted the changes in the character design, but upon release, it received mixed reviews. However, it went on to set the record for the biggest opening weekend for a video game movie. Similarly, Shrek fans are hoping that the creators will hear and read their suggestions, as the movie is scheduled for release in December 2026.
Fans believe that they have time to go back to the original character design and simply scrap the new one if they want the audience to watch the movie. There has been no comment from the studios as of now regarding the character design backlash.
Shrek 5 is scheduled for release in December 2026.
