All the Shrek Movies Ranked by Soundtrack
by Jackie Lamb
2022 marks twenty-one years after the cinematic debut of the cantankerous, swamp-dwelling ogre that would go on to win hearts and the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. With a total of four movies from 2001 to 2010 (production on the fifth Shrek movie began in 2016, but the film’s release has been delayed until later this year), and two movies dedicated to Shrek’s feline sidekick, Puss in Boots, the brainchild of DreamWorks Animation has enjoyed a lasting legacy.
Apart from the franchise’s iconic imagery and sardonic wit, music is at the heart of Shrek’s appeal. From Smash Mouth’s pop-punk anthem “All Star” to the Fairy Godmother’s rendition of “Holding Out for a Hero,” the soundtrack to the Shrek films are as beloved as the characters themselves.
As audiences around the world anticipate the release of Shrek 5, it’s the perfect time to take a nostalgia trip with this ultimate ranking of the four Shrek films from worst to best soundtrack.
Worst: Shrek Forever After (2010)
After three Shrek films were released in the span of eight years, the fourth installment of the franchise struggled to live up to audiences’ expectations. This film starts where the “Happily Ever After” ends, with Shrek (Mike Myers) experiencing a midlife crisis and questioning his life with Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and their three ogre-children. It’s this plus a dearth of musical hits that makes Shrek Forever After the only lackluster soundtrack of the franchise.
Second Worst: Shrek the Third (2007)
Unlike the first two Shrek films, Shrek the Third sought to distance itself from musical numbers with a pared-down soundtrack. This is especially surprising considering that pop star Justin Timberlake has a major role as the teenage Arthur Pendragon, yet the “Can’t Stop the Feeling” singer isn’t featured on the soundtrack. While the mournful “Live and Let Die” by Paul McCartney and his post-Beetles band Wings effectively amplifies the grief expressed in King Harold’s funeral scene, the overall soundtrack doesn’t hit home as strongly as its predecessors.
Second Best: Shrek (2001)
As the first entry in the franchise, the soundtrack for the original Shrek film challenged the Disney formula of animated films about amiable fairytale creatures singing about the wonders of true love by instead focusing on a curmondeongy loner who enjoys scaring pitchfork-wielding villagers. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the only artist to be featured in more than one song on the soundtrack is the pop-punk band Smash Mouth with their hit “All Star” and a punk-rock cover of “I’m A Believer.” When Shrek and Fiona start to fall in love, “My Beloved Monster” by Eels serves to remind the viewer that, in this case, the outsider wrongly deemed “the bad guy” by society is actually the hero of the story who gets to live Happily Ever After.
Best: Shrek 2 (2004)
There’s one reason why Shrek 2 is ranked as the franchises’ best soundtrack and that is the Fairy Godmother’s memorable rendition of “Holding Out for a Hero.” After all, who can forget the film’s climactic scene where Shrek, in human form, races against time to save Fiona from the villainous Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) while Charming’s mother, the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders), serenades the prince and princess? In the same scene, there’s the selfless sacrifice of Mungo the giant gingerbread man who dies while helping Shrek reunite with Fiona that compounds the song’s emotional impact.
Note: While the Fairy Godmother’s dialogue was voiced by Saunders, it was the British electronic duo Frou Frou, composed of Imogen Heap and Guy Sigsworth, that recorded the actual song.
Here’s to the next 20 years of Shrek! (And, if we’re lucky, the release of Shrek 5).