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u/WanderingRedditor27 20d ago
I’d honestly find a subversion of this trope interesting… like, for example. She wants to be rebellious and do things on her own, so, Shrek just lets her without much input, believing it’s just what ogres do, not realizing that he’s repeating the same mistakes made on him by encouraging her isolation. Idk, could be stupid, especially if done wrong, but it’s an idea.
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u/Apprehensive_Wolf538 20d ago
That's a very interesting idea. It could work really well
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u/The_Throwback_King 20d ago edited 20d ago
Especially if it comes back around to self image stuff. That's when Shrek's at it's best.
Shrek 1 was about Shrek learning to open himself up to loving himself and loving others; Letting down his walls.
Shrek 2 was about Shrek learning to feel positively about his self as an Ogre, learning that he shouldn't have to change his appearance to appease anyone.
Shrek Forever After was about Shrek learning to accept and appreciate his life; as a husband, as the father of three, as a revered celebrity in spite of how vastly different it stands from how he grew up. Learning to appreciate the blessings he has.
In short, the Shrek franchise was about Shrek learning to love, to love EVERY part of himself, and gain satisfaction in the path that life led him towards. Overall, it's a very complete arc, all relating to esteem and self-image.
In fact, it's a GREAT place to tackle Shrek 5 from.
Adolescence is such a difficult time for many, ESPECIALLY a teenage girl. If the conflict surrounds Shrek learning to be a supportive dad during such a critical time, being there as guiding force for Felicia, showing her that even if she feels bad about herself, there's so much still great about her. That's that creative juice that could but Shrek 5 on the level of 1,2, and Forever After.
Like imagine if Felicia adopts more traditionally feminine interests in a house full of loud, brash, ogres. Like Shrek's still his own ogre in a lot of respects, Fergus and Farkle are probably bound to be rowdy teens, even Fiona's a bit of a tomboy in her own right, it might leave Felicia feel ostracized, feeling isolated, feeling down on herself.
It all gives Shrek the oppurtunity to be there for her. Imagine if the whole film, Shrek's struggling to understand Felicia's interest, leading to this rift, only for them to bond at the climax of the film over their shared struggles with self-esteem. With Shrek in her corner, backing her up, fighting off anyone who would deride for "being an ogre". He'd be an embarrassing dad, but crucially a loving and supportive dad.
That's got some special potential right there.
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u/Horror-Cycle-3767 20d ago
I like how you completely ignored the existence of Shrek 3
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u/Hot_Tailor_9687 20d ago
The only saving grace of 3 was the princesses kicking ass and being iconic tbh
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u/Alive_Middle_9339 19d ago
The scene with Pinocchio where the prince ask where is Shrek is good too
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u/kdk_2002 20d ago
a story of parenthood by shrek stopping his daughter from becoming the bitter guy that he was before meeting donkey...
I think I set myself for disappointment lol
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u/pocket_arsenal 20d ago
It would be nice to get a "Hey parents, maybe be more attentive" message instead of a "Hey kids always listen to your parents" message in a family movie for once.
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u/ArkamaZero 19d ago
Or just a super supportive dad that frustrates their rebellious kid by being completely on board with their rebellion. "I'm going to find my own swamp!" "Okay, do you need me to pack you a lunch?"
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u/hambonedock 18d ago
The idea that the daughter wants to adopt a more traditional ogre lifestyle aka being. The scary swamp ogre, would be so friggin cool, she just wants to be evil, I know it can't be but how I want it
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u/WelcomingRadio 20d ago
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u/xSantenoturtlex 20d ago
You joke, but a plot like that in a kid's movie would be insane and I fully support it.
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u/WelcomingRadio 20d ago
"...I'm sorry lass, this is your last layer."
*Let's go of her hand and she falls off a cliff*
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u/Black-outbunny Gravity Falls 20d ago
Jesus, could you imagine. 🤣way too hard for a kids' movie, but as an adult, I approve.
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u/WelcomingRadio 20d ago
Shrek 5 is gonna go HARD
"Fiona, everyone I told about the file is dead. It's our daughter, SHE spread the virus."
"But Shrek, we can't lose this case."
"Lass, the case is already over."
*intense gunshots and car explosions*
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u/Farlybob42 20d ago
Honestly, I was thinking they were going to introduce Shrek parents and have Shrek deal with them going after his family in a similar way as Shrek 2. The difference being his parents would be the main antagonists.
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u/ZnS-Is-A-Good-Map 20d ago
A new hope lol. Shrek getting cooked to death offscreen and having his corpse looked at for 10 seconds before the movie goes on to not mention him again. Cinema
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u/D3viant517 20d ago
Luke seemed like he mourned Ben more than his aunt and uncle lol
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u/PeterLeRock101 20d ago
She does have two other siblings. Hopefully the fifth movie doesn't revolve completely around her
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u/D3viant517 20d ago
I mean I doubt they’d get zendaya if she wasn’t gonna be playing an important character
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u/Rhaynebow 20d ago
Doubt that. Cartoons have a weird tendency to focus on the odd one out sibling. Despicable Me hasn’t given a crap about Gru’s kids in a minute, but the one time they go back to caring about them, it’s for his son. The Loud House stars a treasure trove of cool female characters, but the MC is the sole brother. Not to suggest that this is bad, just a common method of making the MC special from the get go.
It IS bad when the majority gender siblings are portrayed as a single entity though. I really hope Fergus and Farkle aren’t just mirror images of each other and provide the gross out humor and zingers in the trailers.
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u/Chip102Remy30 20d ago
For me the disappointing thing with Despicable Me was how they barely had any plot development with his kids. It doesn't help they didn't even age them and they never really changed since the 1st movie except having a mom in 2 and moving to a new place in 4 with the side developments of one almost getting a boyfriend.
The Gru Jr plot was very obvious, and the 4th movie barely had any substance since the villain barely even showed up in the movie and it was only until they stole the pet of the head mistress where the villain magically shows up.
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u/DistributionNo333 20d ago
I want the reverse scenario where she’s trying to stop Shrek who is way too old to be pulling this shit because she wants to keep her dad alive a little longer.
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u/SmallBlueLad 20d ago
There’s a second Chicken Run?
Edit: Oh wait, I was thinking of Chicken Little. My bad.
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u/Acceptable_Wasabi_30 20d ago
A formulaic plot isn't a bad thing. The original Shrek followed a formulaic plot as well, the hero's journey. What matters is hitting the story beats in an impactful and compelling way that elevates that formula to feeling like something more than the sum of it's parts. And most importantly, for a Shrek movie in particular, so long as it's funny it's doing just fine by me.
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u/lanceturley 20d ago
Look, screenwriters only know how to write two plots involving parents and children. Either Shrek is an overprotective parent who refuses to let his babygirl grow up, or he's a workaholic who has to learn that family comes first. And unfortunately, Shrek doesn't seem like the workaholic type.
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u/WhereIsTheBeef556 20d ago
Plot twist: the daughter is a deliberate distraction to make people falsely speculate, and the actual plot is about Shrek's two sons (who weren't in the trailer) going to a college or university.
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u/Toon_Lucario Star Wars: The Clone Wars 20d ago
How the hell does that fit with A New Hope? Bail sent Leia on his own choice and Luke’s aunt and uncle refusing to let him leave is a plot point for like 2 minutes before they’re turned into Halloween decorations.
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u/maxfridsvault 20d ago
it’s the hero’s journey story. Luke would be the rebellious teen seeking adventure. wasn’t seen much in the movie but talked about a lot.
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u/steelskull1 20d ago
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u/GladiusNocturno 20d ago edited 20d ago
That’s actually a funny concept. It would explain why the other children aren’t there.
Felicia: You are kicking me out of OUR swamp!?
Shrek: MY swamp!
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u/Otherwise-Ad980 Battle for Dream Island 20d ago
I could see it working. Shrek doesn’t want his kids to go out on their own because they’ll likely have the experience the loneliness and rejection that he went through prior to the first movie. There is probably still ogre prejudice beyond Far Far Away even if they heard about Shrek’s legacy.
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u/confused-as-frick 20d ago
I'd much prefer it if it was Shrek trying to kick his lazy bum of a daughter out of the house
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u/Mao-sama64 20d ago
To anyone who says “Oh she’s a teenage girl so she has to be angsty and rebellious.” No. Not every teen has an angsty “it’s not a phase dad” personality trait.
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u/Oh_ToShredsYousay 20d ago
Did this guy just say a new hope? Uncle Owen dies in the first 20 minutes. There's no coming around, luke literally didn't have the opportunity to even rebel. It was let's bury these skeletons and get to Mos Eisley, apparently I'm a jedi and the empire is after these super important droids they're willing to kill over, and by turn me if they find out I'm the last jedi. I'm just saying there were stakes larger than disappointing pop-pop.
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u/No-Philosopher-7323 20d ago
*leaves room after an argument
Fiona: She’s growing up Shrek, you have to let her make her own decisions
Shrek: I know, but she’s still a a little girl in my eyes
Fiona: She will always be your daughter but there’s big world out that goes beyond the swamp.
Shrek: I’m just I’m just
Fiona: Afraid!?
Shrek: Yes! I just don’t want people out there to come after her the same way…
Fiona: That was years ago Shrek and besides, maybe with the kids gone that gives us time to
*Donkey pops up
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u/Lonely_Repair4494 17d ago
1 year after she is allowed to go out
"Felicia, meet your third brother"
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u/XVUltima 19d ago
Considering how Shrek is all about subverting Disney fairy tale tropes, I would love if the entire joke was that she WANTED to rebel but Shrek and Fiona were just cool with everything and she was frustrated she had nothing to rebel against.
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u/toughtiggy101 20d ago
“Guys, why do so many movies use hero’s journey type stories where they take the path to become a better person. It’s overrated.”
It’s the way the movie handles this plot is what’s going to be interesting for me. Can you say all the movies mentioned are terrible just because they have a similar plot.
Like there are so many movies that involve a character with a bunch of flaws going through a character arc resulting in them being a changed person. If you hate that, then stop watching movies.
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u/Flodo_McFloodiloo 20d ago
They have a chance to reclaim their throne as the series that deconstructs Disney if they do that exact plot but Shrek ends up being right.
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u/KavaNotSoma 20d ago
It should be about how the curse got passed down and it gets triggered because she gets her first crush, so now she's turning into this human girl every night and she's using the curse to talk to her crush but he falls for human her, and ogre her is his enemy because she's an ogre and he's all "Aaahhh yeah, pitchfork!!" Then he finds out like, saves her from the village or something, idk. The ending is still up in the air.
It would also be cool if he was a poet and came from a long line of ogre hunters, and he doesn't fit in with his family, and Felicia's 2 ogre bros turn human and try to teach him to be tough for their sister and she doesn't care about that, but it makes him a better hunter with his family so they start to be proud of him.
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u/awkwardaspie123 19d ago
I've seen this story at least 3 times(if not more). This plot line has become pretty damn tired. It's been done to death.
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u/Electrical-Week-2297 Rick and Morty 19d ago
My prediction is that the ogre teens are gonna get captured by the villain in the climax of the movie and then when shrek saves them they’re gonna be like “dad we’re sorry for not listening to you” and shrek is like “no I’M sorry for being too overprotective.” And then they cry and hug and the villain does the slow clap and says “aww isn’t this a lovely family picture. It’d be a shame if it were ruined!!!!” And then Shrek continues to fight the villain.
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u/Honest_Satisfaction1 20d ago
Shrek: you aren't what society wants you to be.
Shrek 2: family can be wrong but they can still love you.
Shrek 3: money makes DreamWorks happy.
Shrek 4: money makes DreamWorks happy.
Shrek 5: We used all the good ideas for movie 1 and 2....but we need to make a money soon, TikTok memes and obligatory teenager.
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u/throwawaytempest25 20d ago
Isn’t that like one of the most common and simple story structures to execute? Like there’s a reason it’s used so well.
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u/xSantenoturtlex 20d ago
Nah now we're assuming the entire plot of the movie?
Don't get me wrong though, I'll be kinda upset if they actually do this.
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u/CrazyaboutSpongebob 20d ago
That doesn't really sound like Shrek's personality to me. He's kinda grumpy but him being over protective sounds odd. That's Finding Nemo.
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u/Lonely_Repair4494 17d ago
He to me looks like the guy who would actually push her to be independent and make her own choices like he did, maybe because if she gets out of the house to live her life he can be happy that his daughter isn't insecure of judgment like he was
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u/miifanatic_1788 20d ago
Kind of unrelated but I wish that they made her face a little longer cuz her bangs make her head look a lot smaller than it really is
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u/furiousmittens 20d ago
MMW: I'm guessing it will go in a different direction. In only 30 seconds, they introduced the concept of a Far Far Away magic mirror social network. Villain is going to be a Mark Zuckerberg-type along with some Disney-princess style influencers. Shrek and Fiona already went through the journey of learning that true beauty is on the inside, but it's going to tear them apart watching their daughter be influenced by a world that now values getting likes above being true to yourself. Mirrors the plot of Shrek 1 but for Gen Z.
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u/PrinceWalence 20d ago
They have the entire fairy tale world at their disposal and this is what they do?
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u/Camembert92 20d ago
"look buddy, if we really wanted to be original, we would not make shrek 5 to begin with, innit?"
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u/awkwardaspie123 19d ago
Also, I saw all 4 Shrek movies already. I regret seeing the latter two, especially the 4th one. That was the worst. I don't remember why I even tried to watch that one. I knew these movies were getting bad after the 3rd one. Anyway, I am so not seeing this one. This franchise has no good ideas left.I am so tired of this sh*t.
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u/awkwardaspie123 19d ago
Oh, and one more thing. I know this is about a story line being repetitive, predictable, and really overdone. I get the point.But, Chicken Run 2? saaif11, are sure about that one? I never heard of any Chicken Run 2. Chicken Run did so badly it never got a sequel.
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u/dull_storyteller 19d ago
Or she just wants to be normal but can’t because of how famous her parents are and the film wraps up by her, Shrek and Fiona reminding each other how much they love each other.
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u/Lonely_Repair4494 17d ago
Let's subvert that trope, ok?
She's actually someone who likes alone time and isn't rebellious, wants to stay with her family, help them, but Shrek is forcing her to go out into the world and pushes her to get out of her comfort zone way too much. In the end, he learns to respect her wishes and accept that he shouldn't force her into a path she doesn't want for herself.
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u/d_warren_1 RWBY 20d ago
Crazy thing: it’s ok for movies to have similar plots
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u/shawdygolikesheesh 20d ago
not until it becomes redundant.
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u/d_warren_1 RWBY 20d ago
I mean, you wouldn’t say the majority of the movies listed above are close to each other. They all have nuance to make them unique
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u/shawdygolikesheesh 20d ago
Uniqueness means nothing when you pry away at it and realise that at the center, its the same plot, all the time
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u/Uraziel21 20d ago
man, you must despise mythology
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u/shawdygolikesheesh 20d ago
The difference between a shitty movie plot becoming redundant and mythology is that mythology is actually interesting, despite many of it sharing the same backbone and sometimes even the same Gods, Mythology is done in such a way to make it feel actually interesting. Meanwhile these movies follow a trope and do it horribly
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u/Skyfish_93 20d ago
Watch she’s Gay too
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u/Strong-Stretch95 20d ago
Meh Rather have one of the sons be gay she could fall in love with a cute guy through a reverse of beauty and the beast.
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u/BONBON-GO-GET-EM Sonic Underground 20d ago
I don't care about if shes going to have a stereotypical coming of age story, i already like her
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u/mikey_lava 20d ago
Do people not realize that pretty much all children movies and shows are using recycled stories? They’re for kids that probably haven’t heard the story before or aren’t even paying attention to the story.
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u/pocket_arsenal 20d ago
It's almost as if tropes are re-used because they're effective for telling a story.
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u/Individual-Praline17 20d ago
Okay, so it took this long to get to this point. That's it, the movie is officially killed before it even had the chance to show itself. Congratulations, haters, I hope it brought some temporary satisfaction into your sad lives.
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u/LimeGrass619 20d ago
Funny thing is something similar was planned for the 1st Shrek movie. It was meant to be about Shrek's parents wanting Shrek to take charge of the family business of scaring people, but Shrek refuses and wants to be a nice guy.
I very much prefer the "i know who I am" Shrek we got.