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  • Accidental Aesop:
    • If you need some time for yourself, by all means take it before you snap and say or do something terrible that you'll regret.
    • True love is a two-way street. It's good to have someone who supports you, but you have to be willing to support them. Just as Fiona's always supported him and his ogre ways, Shrek repays her (or at least her alternate self) by freeing the ogre resistance with Rumpelstiltskin's free wish.
  • Alternative Joke Interpretation:
    • Due to the way Alternate Puss' toes move both times he slides down a rope, he's either being dragged down by his own weight... or delicately lowering himself down on the power of spirit fingers.
    • A few people have compared the opening act to the Shrek franchise's reputation after Shrek the Third, becoming more commercialized and kid-friendly than it was when the first two movies were released. This is best summed up with this line during Shrek's argument with Fiona:
      Shrek: I used to be an ogre—now I'm just a jolly green joke!
  • Awesome Music: It's a Shrek movie, so naturally it has a lot of gems in its soundtrack.
    • Light FM's cover of The English Beat's "Click Click".
    • The use of The Carpenters' "Top of the World" is highly appreciated during Shrek's montage of getting to act like a "real ogre" again.
    • The Pied Piper performing the Beastie Boys' "Sure Shot".
    • Stevie Wonder's "For Once in My Life", the perfect accompaniment to the film's closing credits.
    • Maxine Nightingale's "Right Back Where We Started From" is just as good—if not, even better—as a song to close the movie on.
  • Broken Base: The movie not being a fairy tale parody. On one hand, people say it takes away the fun of the previous films. On the other hand, people do acknowledge that the franchise needed something fresh and that the fairy tale parody genre had become a dead horse at this point.
  • Contested Sequel: To some, it's a mild improvement on Shrek The Third but still not a very good movie. To others, it's a huge improvement with an interesting plot, tons of Continuity Porn, presents the characters in fresh ways, and a great villain, and indicative of DreamWorks Animation's beard-growing, and to others it's even worse than Shrek The Third, completely abandoning the actual characters and thus leading to a waste of time.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Butterpants, the "Do the roar" kid, is a minor one who's seen some use in memes. He's even given a spot in the DVD and Blu-ray boxset of The Whole Story.
    • The Pied Piper, like Puss in Boots before him, manages to be both a funny, clever take on a fairytale character and a badass bounty hunter.
    • Brogan, who's both a stone-cold ogre warrior and a genuinely Nice Guy.
    • Cookie is stanned by many for being so fun and unapologetic for who he is.
    • In fact, all of the new ogres qualify, since they provide lots of personality to the film and teach Shrek some things about his heritage.
  • Evil Is Cool: Rumpelstiltskin easily rivals the Fairy Godmother and Lord Farquaad in terms of popularity and coolness. Many see him as the best part of the movie thanks to his cunning intellect, his grand manipulative skills, and hilarious lines. And what makes him stand out among Shrek villains is that he actually succeeds in his plan, to the extent that the goal of the movie is to undo Rumpel's victory! He tricked Shrek into signing the contract to remove the day the ogre was born, which allows him to take over Far Far Away.
  • Fanfic Fuel: Considering that most of the movie takes place in an alternate reality, there are many examples, such as the status of the previous villains and characters that were present in the previous movies but not in this one.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In Russia, Shrek 4 is the second-highest grossing movie OF ALL TIME, losing only to the inevitable Avatar.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: In this film, Puss in Boots is shown to have retired from adventuring in favor of becoming Fiona's largely overweight lapcat, which he clearly relishes. In Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the titular character ends up briefly retiring in the main timeline as well, only this time it's far from voluntary due to the threat of Death hanging over him.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Shortly after Rumpelstiltskin begins a witch hunt for Shrek, one of the villagers brings him a troll (which he promptly rejects). Six years later, and DreamWorks Animation actually produces Trolls, complete with Mike Mitchell (director of Shrek Forever After) and Walt Dohrn (head of story and the voice of Rumpelstiltskin in the same film) as directors and John Cleese (voice of Harold) voicing another King.
  • Ho Yay: After Shrek says "true love’s kiss” and looks at Donkey, this is Donkey’s response:
    Donkey: You’re gonna have to take me to dinner first.
  • Improved Second Attempt:
    • Some people complained of Fiona's gradually diminishing role from the second movie onwards. Here, Fiona once again takes the forefront as a badass Action Girl leading an ogre resistance and we get to see how she truly felt about being locked in that tower.
    • Puss and Donkey are given more to do in this film, unlike the last one. In fact, Donkey and Shrek’s roles are reversed when going into the alternate universe.
  • It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: One of the most common criticisms. While it takes a different approach with the It's a Wonderful Plot and expands on the universe and characters, it's the fourth movie in a row where the villain's plot is to make himself King, and once again creates drama by pitting Shrek's ogre nature against the more sympathetic aspects of his personality and by having the outcome hinge on True Love's Kiss.
  • Karmic Overkill: Rumpelstiltskin when Fiona kills Fifi, given he'd already been imprisoned for his crimes and caring for her was his one redeeming trait; he even has a look of despair when Fifi is blown up.
  • Like You Would Really Do It: There were some Shrek fans who were skeptical about Shrek dying at the near end. Sure enough, Shrek returns to the normal universe alive and well after he and Fiona kiss to reverse the contract.
  • Love to Hate: Rumpelstiltskin, for being more downright nasty and vicious than the previous villains while remaining Laughably Evil.
  • Magnificent Bastard: The Pied Piper is a tall, dark and mysterious Bounty Hunter with an ability to control the form of anything he chooses through use of his flute. His past of overthrowing the Rat King to conquer his kingdom detailed in prequel comics, the Piper is hired in the present by Rumpelstiltskin to hunt down the Ogre rebels, to which the Piper proves himself capable of the job by humiliating Rumpelstiltskin's witch minions. Luring the Ogres into staging an ambush of Rumpelstiltskin's chariot, the Piper disguises himself as Fifi the goose to complete the trap before whipping out his flute and taking control of nearly the entire rebel army, forcing them to "fandango themselves into oblivion" as Rumpelstiltskin's captives.
  • Memetic Mutation: See the franchise's page.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Seen in the flashback in the alternate-universe when Rumpelstiltskin is shown completing the deal with Fiona's parents to make "their problems go away", doing so by making them go away. That would have also happened if the messenger had arrived a few seconds later at the beginning of the movie, but we don't know that at the time. When we see the king and queen's looks of indescribable horror as they realize they're being erased from existence, Rumpelstiltskin crosses the line from just a simple trickster who wanted to rule the kingdom into utterly, irredeemably evil.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: The ogre babies are integrated into the plot more organically than in Shrek the Third, where they were dismissed as a kid-oriented marketing gimmick. It helps that Shrek shares a few genuinely sad and heartwarming moments with them.
  • Retroactive Recognition: The witch telling Shrek to shut up and knocking him out with a pumpkin is voiced by Kristen Schaal. Back then, she wasn't really well known as a voice actor, but after 2012, it's impossible to unhear Mabel Pines telling Shrek to shut up.
  • So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus from fans is that while it's an entertaining watch and an improvement over the third movie, it doesn't live up to the magic or humor of the first two.
  • Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Shrek Forever After has a rating of 58% on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to 41% for Shrek the Third. Among fans, the movie has more defenders than the unanimously disliked The Third, if not to the level of the first two movies. Some praise the movie for its unique ideas, its heart, and its villain in the kooky but murderous Rumpelstiltskin.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: These characters mentioned below were actually supposed to return in the film, but their scenes were cut during production, mostly due to time.
    • We never find out what happened to Lord Farquaad in the alternate timeline, since he likely never died. It doesn’t help that he was mentioned in the movie synopsis when the first trailer came out.
    • And what happened to the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming? The former case is rectified in the video game, however, in which the Fairy Godmother is shown to be queen of Far Far Away for a day.
    • Artie's fate is also never touched upon, due to Justin Timberlake’s scheduling conflict.
    • Given Fiona's alternate self only appears in the night, the movie also never shows what her human form looks like in the new timeline.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: A major criticism is that the whole alternate universe setting is not as thoroughly explored as it potentially could have been, mostly thanks to the short runtime the movie has. We also never see the aftermath of Shrek correcting the timeline, aside from Rumpelstiltskin's arrest in the ending — does Shrek feel any remorse or concern for possibly erasing all of his ogre friends from the alternate universe? They do appear at the dance party ending and in two Christmas shorts after the film, but it's unclear how they're still in the main timeline or how they still know Shrek, given he doesn't appear to know them when he first meets them.
  • Unintentionally Sympathetic: Shrek at the beginning of the movie is painted as ungrateful due to his growing dislike as a celebrity as well as his outburst at the babies' birthday party that he wishes he could go back to his old life before he met Fiona. It's fair to agree that Shrek was really mean when he yelled at Fiona that his life was much better before rescuing her from the Dragon's Keep, a thing he later totally regrets. However, anyone should realize that his act of punching the cake during the party was partly because most of the guests had irritated him enough to the point of driving him off the deep end. The ones who mostly annoyed him where Butterpants and his dad, requesting him to do his roar though Shrek had said that he only does it when he's angry and that they are on his kids' party, and coupled with Donkey licking the cake for the sake of it (with Shrek being blamed for that without allowing him to explain himself), Mabel mockingly reminding Shrek that he forgot the candles, the Wolf popping a balloon on Shrek's face, the Three Little Piggs eating the cake despite knowing that it's for Shrek's babies and Pinocchio running around Shrek loudly without any apparent reason, Shrek understandably was fed up with all things revolving around him that he just couldn't take it anymore and finally snapped, which causes Fiona to get mad at only Shrek as the guests get off scot-free for being the cause to Shrek's outburst.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic: When Shrek snaps at Fiona and says he wishes he had never saved her from the Dragon's Keep, Fiona is meant to be viewed as sympathetic, except she doesn't come off any better than Shrek since she brushes off his feelings when the guests at the babies' party drive Shrek off the deep end, getting mad at Shrek and accusing him of being ungrateful even though it was clearly shown that Shrek is grateful for what he has and was simply so aggravated by everyone's demanding behavior towards him that he just couldn't take it anymore. Fiona instead comes off as insensitive towards Shrek for refusing to understand Shrek's problem and also refusing to sympathize with him for what everyone put him through. Only until we go to the alternate universe do we actually start to feel bad for her.
  • Vindicated by History: When it was first released, Forever After received mediocre reception, with one of its positive aspects being that it was better than its predecessor, but that this was not saying much. However, as time has passed, people tend to view this film much more fondly and take more notice of the film's merits, feeling that it was a genuine effort to return to the franchise's roots as well as a proper sendoff to the series that fully respects its legacy.
  • What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The film gets pretty dark, even for a Shrek movie. From the malicious Rumpelstiltskin who erased Fiona's parents from existence and murders people (even his own followers) for his own amusement, to the Crapsack World that AU!Far Far Away becomes, there are some serious themes explored in this film. Then there's Shrek's motivation, where he is struggling to retain his individual identity in the face of also being a husband and father, which the parents in the audience might relate to more than their kids would. This is one of the main reasons why the film has been getting better praise over the years.
  • Woolseyism: In the Norwegian dub of the films, Shrek's species was changed from being an ogre to a troll instead, as there is no equivalent to the word "ogre" in Norwegian. In English, Rumpelstiltskin looks at a creature (a Shrek imposter) and says "That's not even an ogre, that is a troll." The Norwegian dub cleverly gets around this by saying "That's not even a troll, that is a jotne.", a "jotne" being (among other creatures) a different kind of troll in Nordic mythology.

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