SHREK RETOLD (2018)

Why did 2001’s SHREK become so many memes across so many cliques and aesthetics? Presumably it’s a combination of things:Nostalgia, with those raised on it now in their twenties and thirties); the dated cultural stamps which go from “funny at the time” to “past their expiration date” back to “funny for aging so poorly”; 2001 was one of the first times that the Internet was used to gain notice and target audiences, leading to lots of awkward art and ideas. No matter the reasons, Shrek is love and Shrek abounds on the interwebs.

But easily one of the best extensions of this avant garde obsession is 2018’s SHREK RETOLD. Led by artist collective 3GI, SHREK RETOLD gathers over 200 artists to each recreate a scene from the Dreamworks Animation film. Similar efforts have been done before with 1987’s ROBOCOP and 1984’s GHOSTBUSTERS, but RETOLD has a whole new bizarre spin on it with so many cartoon approaches, technology, and aesthetics (plus the janky live action sequences are hilarious, too). Check out the original trailer:

Freaky AND intriguing, right? You can watch the whole thing below. You can buy the fan reinterpretation at 3GI’s site (and also download it all for free). And yes, there was a sequel made in 2021—SHREK 2 RETOLD—but that all that’s been released of that is a trailer. In the meantime, be an all star and enjoy the phantasmagoria that is SHREK RETOLD.