The Shrek Effect

Shrek (2001)

Back in 2001, Shrek was an absolutely groundbreaking animated movie, with equally groundbreaking animation, stars like Mike Meyers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy portraying its three lead characters while in the prime of their careers, an extremely popular and catchy soundtrack, and a completely original concept. At the time, it was unlike any other animated movie, and seemed knowingly compete with the reigning champions of animated film at the time - Pixar. Despite telling a story in a fairy tale setting it was filled with modern pop culture references, adult humor, and subtle jabs at Disney scattered throughout (which is hardly surprising considering producer Jeffrey Katzenberg left his job at Walt Disney Studios on bad terms). Shrek was original, hilarious, charming, and completely unique.

Then the Shrek effect took hold.

After the release of Shrek and its clever usage of modern music and referential humor in a fairytale animated world was shared with the world, other filmmakers decided to follow in its footsteps, and other filmmakers decided to follow in those filmmakers' footsteps. On top of it all, Shrek began launching sequel after sequel, spawning more toys, copycats, and even the spinoff film Puss in Boots. It's time we finally put a stop to this madness.

Shrek was innovative and groundbreaking with its clever combination of pop culture references with cleverly veiled adult humor, and it was for this reason that it spawned so much popularity and garnered such a good reputation as a family-friendly film franchise. Movies such as Hoodwinked!, Shark Tale, and Norm of the North are all forgotten the moment they leave theaters (sometimes even while still in theaters) because they bring nothing new to the table which wasn't already done by Shrek. To make matters worse, the Shrek franchise recognized its own popularity and after every sequel it releases is promised to be its last, another comes along.

Humor can be genuine and witty without referencing modern pop culture, and a film can have a memorable soundtrack without having a popular song by today's current artists featured on every track. These acts don't turn a film into something great which audiences can relate to, instead it dates them and marks them as a relic of the past when they are shown to generations in the future. Rather than viewing films (particularly those intended for children) as something which can be watched now and forgotten two days later, we must regard family films as an art form which is as valid as any other. While family movies like Toy Story and How to Train Your Dragon have held up for years, another installment in the never-ending Ice Age series will be forgotten in a matter of months (and I have a sneaking suspicion that studios are well aware of this fact, which is why they routinely rush to release another).

Shrek was a solid and fun movie, but let's stop racing to make the next Shrek and remember that children's movies should be as diverse and entertaining as movies intended for older audiences. Let's stop making pop culture references which children most likely aren't even going to understand in the first place, and start making something meaningful and thought provoking.

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