Stephen Thompson

And this movie breaks those rules right and left.

There's like a river dance joke in the first one.

It opens with freaking Smash Mouth.

It closes with freaking Smash Mouth.

It is so exactly 2001.

And yet, for some reason, because the movie is so popular and because it's resonated with so many people, that it doesn't matter that it's as carbon dated as it is.

And Shrek 2, which came out in 2004, closes with a performance of Livin' La Vida Loca.

Make you live her crazy life But she'll take away your pain Like a bullet to the brain Offside, inside, oh She's giving a vida loca

And if you can imagine something more dated to 2004 than Live in La Vida Loca, I don't know what it would be.

And yet that movie made $800 gajillion and is just as entrenched in the Gen Z firmament, I think, as the first one.

So I have one last kind of overarching question.

In preparing for this taping, our producer and friend, Candice Lim, compiled a list of some of kind of her hot takes on Shrek.

like detailing how it's a commentary on race and gender and marriage and gentrification, oppression, beauty standards, Disney, the entertainment industry.

We've talked about a couple of these things.

And then tucked into this long list are the words, Shrek 2 has the same plot as Get Out.

That floated around as a little bit of a commentary on the internet at one point, other than the fact that they're both drawing from some of the same tropes about meeting the family.

Do you have any favorite hot takes on Trek or favorite in general among the list I just mentioned?

Okay, let me get this straight.

You're gonna go fight a dragon and rescue a princess just so Farquaad will give you back a swamp, which you only don't have because he filled it full of freaks in the first place.

Is that about right?