Shrek Forever After is still a step down from the first two films, but in addition to having much better comedy than Shrek the Third, it has a much better handling of its characters, resulting in a story with a great lesson for Shrek and much more heart than anyone would have expected so late into the franchise. Shrek 5 might officially be in development, but when Shrek Forever After first came out, it was still a far better finale to the franchise than people gave it credit for.

Since it is the fourth movie in the Shrek franchise, most viewers expected the writers to be running out of steam by this point. However, Shrek 4 is just as wonderful as the three previous movies. Rumplestiltskin is a great villain and the movie feels very high-stakes and action-packed, taking viewers on yet another adventure with the characters they've come to know and love.