In many ways, the animated film Shrek is timeless. With its irreverent take on the fairy tale, it’s one of those films that open up new avenues of pleasure with each viewing. One thing that has always marked Shrek as special has been its humor. Situated at that treacherous crossroads that divides the children’s film from a more mature fare, Shrek has a foot in both worlds.
However, while many of the jokes from the film are as funny now as they were when the film premiered all of those years ago, there are some that are, to put it mildly, a little cringe.
Aged Well: "One Of Those Onion Things"
Full joke: Donkey: "Who Are You Trying To Keep Away?"
Shrek: "Let It Go, Donkey."
Donkey: "Oh This Is Another One Of Those Onion Things Isn't It?"
Shrek: "No, This Is One Of Those Drop It And Leave It Alone Things."
This joke builds off of an exchange Shrek and Donkey have about how ogres are like onions – smelly and with lots of hidden layers. Donkey clearly doesn’t quite get the layered metaphor, but he still tries to go with it in this conversation.
Shrek, however, none too gently tells Donkey to let it go. What’s so great about the joke is that it reveals, even at this early stage, the undeniable chemistry between these two animated characters.
Aged Horribly: The Magic Mirror’s Presentation Of Women To Lord Farquaad
When the Magic Mirror is presenting several women to Lord Farquaad, it makes a slightly off-color joke about Snow White living with seven other men.
It’s one of those jokes that slides ever so slightly to the line of what is normally acceptable in a children’s film. What’s more, in an age in which it’s become less and less acceptable (thankfully) to objectify women, this joke feels more than a little uncomfortable to watch.
Aged Well: Privacy
Full joke: Shrek: "I Like My Privacy."
Donkey: "Y'know, Me Too. That's Another Thing We Have In Common. I Hate It When You've Got Someone In Your Face, You Try To Give Someone A Hint And They Won't Leave, And Then There's That Big Awkward Silence... Can I Stay With You?"
Shrek: "What?"
Donkey: "Can I Stay With You? Please?"
This is one of those jokes that, even now, showcases why Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers were the perfect people to play these two characters. Obviously, the voice actors are having the time of their lives in these roles, and one can almost hear that uncomfortable silence before Donkey breaks it to ask the reluctant ogre if he can stay with him.
Their bond is truly one of the most extraordinary in the history of animated film.
Aged Horribly: The Dumbo Reference
Dumbo is one of those Disney films that, like so many other pieces of culture from an earlier age, hasn’t matured terribly well, thanks in large part to the racist caricatures that are the crows.
Unfortunately, Shrek also decided to try to make use of this particular trope by referring back to those same crows. Given the fact these lines are delivered by Donkey, it seems more than a little tone-deaf from the vantage point of 2020.
Aged Well: Overcompensating
Full joke: Shrek: [Looks Up At Farquaad’s Castle] "You Think He's Compensating For Something?"
This is another one of those jokes that really does skirt that delicate line between appropriate and inappropriate. The slyness of the humor stems from the fact that the compensation in question might be for Farquaad’s notoriously small stature (he’s really quite diminutive, particularly compared to Shrek).
However, there is obviously a more mature part of the joke that makes it one of those things that the adults can smile at, even as it goes over the heads of most younger viewers.
Aged Horribly: Shrek: "Oh No No No, Dead Broad Off The Table!"
Whew, what to say about this one? Obviously, the humor in this instance stems from the fact that the seven dwarves have plopped Snow White onto a table. However, it’s that troublesome word “broad” that makes this a joke that, from 2020, doesn’t look so great.
There’s just something too earthy and, frankly, misogynist about it that is unlikely to sit well with most people, and it’s a reminder how far society has come from the days when the film was first released.
Aged Well: Shrek: "Ogres Are Like Onions."
This is the beginning of the whole onion metaphor. There is, of course, something quite hilarious about the whole exchange, beginning with the fact that, as Donkey points out, onions and ogres both smell bad.
More than that, though, it’s a timeless meditation about just how unique ogres are, how beneath their rough and unpleasant exterior there is often a great deal more at work and even, when one gets right down to it, a sort of earthy beauty.
Aged Horribly: "...Is That About Right?"
Full joke: Donkey: "Okay, Let Me Get This Straight: You Gonna Go Fight A Dragon And Rescue A Princess Just So Farquaad'll Give You Back Your Swamp, Which You Only Don't Have 'cos He Filled It Full Of Freaks In The First Place, Is That About Right?"
Donkey is one of those characters who always knows how to tell it straight, even if it’s not exactly what Shrek wants to hear at a particular moment. In this case, he’s poking holes in Shrek’s idea to get his swamp back from Farquaad. Unfortunately, to get his point across he uses the word “freaks.”
Given the ableist overtones that word has had in the past, it’s a rather poor choice of words and one that hasn’t aged well in the last several years.
Aged Well: Rotten Berries
Full joke: Donkey: "And Then One Time I Ate Some Rotten Berries. Man, There Were Some Strong Gases Seepin' Outta My Butt That Day!"
This joke is probably not to everyone’s taste, particularly those who are a bit on the squeamish side. However, it must be said that there is something strangely timely about flatulence jokes, perhaps because the condition is just such a fundamental part of human life.
The fact that it is Eddie Murphy delivering these lines, as only he can, adds that little extra something that makes the joke hold up even after the passage of so much time.
Aged Horribly: Shrek: "That'll Do, Donkey. That'll Do."
Unlike many of the other jokes mentioned here, this one hasn’t aged horribly because of its offensiveness, but simply because the reference isn’t one that most people will probably understand.
Those who watched the film when it originally came out would have recognized this as a call-back to Babe, the charming film about a little pig who learns to be a sheepdog. Nowadays, it’s unlikely that even the most astute observer would necessarily get this joke.