Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Everett Collection
Here are some facts: First, I would watch Remy the Rat from Ratatouille do almost anything. Second, the animation in the trailer for the new Shrek movie is, some are saying, chopped and unc. Yet despite these unarguable facts, the direction of the animation world lately has been decidedly pro-Shrek and anti–French rat. What gives?
Let’s back up. DreamWorks and Universal recently confirmed that not only is Shrek 5 coming out in 2027 but they have scheduled an upcoming spinoff movie focused on Eddie Murphy’s character, Donkey, for 2028. It will be a prequel, showing Donkey’s transformation from “normal donkey” to the “talking Donkey” we meet in the beloved 2001 film. At the same time, Ratatouille director Brad Bird revealed he’s putting the kibosh on any sequels to that delightful, delicious film. “They’ve made little feints towards that to see how I would react,” he said, per Variety. “They’ll crack a joke, but the joke will be a little bit serious, like, ‘Would you?’ And I’m like, ‘No, we told that story.’” This runs contrary to the wishes of the movie’s star, Patton Oswalt, who told the Obsessed podcast he would absolutely do another if Bird wanted to make one. “Obviously, I’d love if there was a Ratatouille sequel,” Oswalt said. “So if he gets an idea, that’s the one I wanna do.”
We’re sympathetic to Bird here. His vision of succinct stories that don’t need to be overdone is a beautiful sentiment. At the same time … the studios are pumping out money grabs like Donkey at an alarming pace. The Shrek-iverse now includes six released feature films, two upcoming movies, a Broadway musical, a TV series, and two holiday specials (one Christmas and one Halloween). The world could stand to have a few more artistic Parisian rats with cooking skills. Remy could be today’s Julia Child.
