More Than Memes: Why Shrek and Shrek 2 Hold Up

This is a response to No Matter How Old I Get, I Will Always Love These 9 Childhood Movies

What do you think of when you hear the word ogre? Is it a monster? Or is it a green character from a children’s movie? If you answered with the second one, you are thinking about Shrek.

The character of Shrek first made his pop culture debut in 1990 in the children’s picture book, Shrek!, by William Steig. The book would end up spawning four movies, a spinoff series for the character of Puss In Boots, and a 2008 musical. The first film also took home the first-ever Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

In 2004, Shrek 2 was released and was a hit both at the box office and critically. Shrek and Shrek 2 also became a hit with children and parents alike. Shrek is also a giant joke between my friends and I. We just recently rewatched Shrek 2 and for being released in 2004, it holds up pretty well.

I think that Shrek 2 holds up well for many reasons. For one, for being made almost 20 years ago, and the animation still looks very good. Sometimes I go back and watch a cartoon from my childhood and think that the animation isn’t really that good.

Another thing is that the movie is funny and most of the jokes land well and aren’t super dated like some other movies to come out of the same period. My friends and I were genuinely laughing and finding scenes funny. The movie does a great job of being entertaining for everyone.

A lot of people seem to only regard the Shrek series as one big meme and well there is plenty of meme-worthy material, there is a genuinely good film underneath it all. People are starting to see now that there is more to Shrek as it had been added to The Library of Congress in 2020 alongside other films such as The Dark Knight, and A Clockwork Orange. To fit the criteria of The Library of Congress, a film must be at least ten years old and considered to be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”. With its introduction, maybe now people will start to take it more seriously.

Overall, Shrek is always going to have a special place in my friend group and we will always consider it to be iconic.