10 Best Animated Movies Like Shrek to Watch Next
Finished Shrek and wondering what could possibly follow an ogre, a talking donkey and a fairy tale that refuses to behave? You are looking for more than another animated film with a few adult jokes. You want the combination that makes Shrek so rewatchable: unlikely friends, familiar stories turned upside down, ridiculous comedy and a surprising amount of heart.
No film reproduces that exact mixture. Some of the picks below share Shrek’s affection for misfits; others parody a genre just as gleefully as it parodies fairy tales. One even takes you back into the same storybook universe.
We have ranked these ten films by how well they satisfy the “I loved Shrek—what next?” question, not simply by which is the greatest animated movie in isolation. There is a choice for the family that loves Donkey’s chatter, the viewer who wants another fairy-tale remix and the adult who enjoys jokes about the rules stories are supposed to follow.
Enjoy our movie recommendations? You can support That Love Podcast and find more conversations about stories we love on our episodes page. Start with our Shrek review if you want to revisit what makes the original work.
10. The Bad Guys (2022)
A wolf, snake, shark, piranha and tarantula have spent so long being labelled villains that they have turned crime into a profession. Then Mr. Wolf’s crew attempts its biggest con yet: convincing the world that they have become good.
That setup makes The Bad Guys a natural pick for Shrek fans. Shrek is treated like a monster before anyone takes the trouble to know him. Mr. Wolf and his friends face a similar question: if everybody already expects the worst, why try to be anything else? The film handles that idea with considerably more heists and far less swamp mud.
Its visual style gives the action a springy, comic-book energy. The crew’s personalities bounce off one another, and the story is smart enough to let “becoming good” feel more complicated than simply saying the right things in public. Beneath the capers is a satisfying argument that reputations can be changed—but not without some genuine effort.
This is less of a fairy-tale spoof than Shrek, and the jokes arrive at a faster, more modern pace. If your favourite part of Shrek is the friendship between outsiders rather than the princess parody, though, it is an excellent place to start.
The Shrek connection: Supposed villains discover that other people’s labels need not define them.
Watch it for: Heists, quick jokes and an appealing team of misfits.
DreamWorks describes the film as a criminal crew’s attempt to become model citizens. Film details: DreamWorks.
9. Chicken Run (2000)
On a grim poultry farm, Ginger repeatedly tries to lead the chickens to freedom. When a boastful rooster called Rocky arrives, she sees a possible answer to their biggest problem: perhaps he can teach them all to fly.
Aardman’s stop-motion comedy is not a fairy tale, but it shares Shrek’s pleasure in deflating heroic poses. Rocky looks like the dashing saviour the story has been waiting for. Ginger is the one doing the difficult work. Their uneasy partnership produces humour because they each see through the other’s performance.
The film also builds a wonderfully specific world. The chickens have plans, disagreements, fears and distinct comic rhythms. Mrs. Tweedy’s pie-making scheme gives the escape a suitably outrageous threat, while the handmade animation lends every expression and frantic movement extra personality.
Families who love Shrek’s mixture of danger and silliness may appreciate how Chicken Run balances the two. It is especially good for viewers who enjoy a group pulling together after a succession of disasters. Some younger children may find the farm’s atmosphere and the threat to the chickens a little intense, so this is not quite the softest option on the list.
The Shrek connection: A boastful outsider meets a far more capable partner, and comedy grows from the gap between image and reality.
Watch it for: British humour, inventive stop-motion and a rousing escape plot.
Aardman identifies Chicken Run as its first full-length theatrical feature and outlines Ginger and Rocky’s attempted breakout. Film details: Aardman.
8. Madagascar (2005)
Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo are comfortable residents of New York’s Central Park Zoo. Then they end up stranded on Madagascar, where the rules of their old lives are not much use.
If Donkey is your favourite Shrek character, Madagascar’s nonstop chatter may be exactly what you want next. Its comedy is powered less by fairy-tale references than by clashing personalities: Marty wants freedom; Alex misses the pampered life he understands; the others have to manage both of them.
Like Shrek, the film finds jokes in the distance between what a character thinks they are and what the world reveals them to be. Alex has played “king of the jungle” for an audience, but real wilderness asks something entirely different of him. The friendship at the centre is tested by that discovery.
The film is lighter and more gag-driven than Shrek. Not every emotional turn lands with the same force, but the energy rarely dips, and the supporting animals provide plenty of memorable interruptions. It is a particularly useful choice for a family movie night when everyone wants something brisk and silly.
The Shrek connection: Familiar characters are thrown out of their comfort zone and learn whether their friendship can survive it.
Watch it for: Loud laughs, odd-couple banter and scene-stealing side characters.
DreamWorks’ synopsis follows the four zoo animals after they are shipwrecked on Madagascar. Film details: DreamWorks.
For more family-night choices, browse our family-friendly Netflix picks.
7. Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Count Dracula runs a hotel where monsters can relax without worrying about humans. His carefully controlled world is disrupted when a human backpacker arrives—and catches the attention of Dracula’s daughter, Mavis.
There is an obvious overlap with Shrek: monsters are not the problem the old stories claim they are. The hotel takes creatures audiences have learned to fear and gives them friendships, parenting concerns and embarrassing social lives. Dracula’s efforts to keep Mavis safe are recognisably parental, even when the setting involves vampires and werewolves.
The comedy moves fast, with exaggerated poses and visual gags doing as much work as the dialogue. Where Shrek often mocks fairy-tale romance, Hotel Transylvania finds its heart in a father learning that love cannot mean controlling his daughter’s future.
It is broader and less sharp than Shrek. If you want biting genre satire, look higher on this list. If you want a colourful monster comedy with a sweet family centre, however, this fits the bill beautifully. It is also a good bridge for children who like spooky imagery but are not ready for a genuinely frightening horror film.
The Shrek connection: Supposed monsters turn out to have ordinary emotional lives, while the “normal” outsider challenges their assumptions.
Watch it for: Cartoon chaos, monster jokes and a warm father-daughter story.
6. Tangled (2010)
Rapunzel has spent her life in a tower, dreaming of the floating lights she sees every year. Flynn Rider, a thief on the run, stumbles into her home and becomes a reluctant guide to the outside world.
Tangled is more sincere about fairy-tale romance than Shrek, but that contrast is part of its appeal. Rapunzel and Flynn form an excellent mismatched pair. She is curious and capable, despite her lack of experience; he is experienced but far less sure of himself than his charming act suggests. Their banter has the same pleasure as watching Shrek and Fiona slowly abandon their assumptions about one another.
The film also has fun with traditional storybook furniture. Its horse behaves like a determined law-enforcement officer, its tavern is full of intimidating men with unexpectedly tender ambitions, and its heroic outlaw discovers that he may need to become a better person rather than simply look like one.
The songs and romantic sweep make it gentler than Shrek’s sarcasm. Yet both films ask viewers to look past appearances and distrust the roles people have been assigned. Mother Gothel’s manipulation may be unsettling for younger children, but Rapunzel’s growing confidence gives the story a lovely payoff.
The Shrek connection: An unlikely travelling pair overturns fairy-tale expectations on the way to finding a more honest identity.
Watch it for: Sharp banter, songs and a beautifully animated storybook adventure.
Disney’s official page describes Rapunzel and Flynn’s journey from her tower into the wider kingdom. Film details: Disney.
For another look at overlooked choices from Disney’s catalogue, try our underrated animated Disney movies.
5. The LEGO Movie (2014)
Emmet is an ordinary construction worker who follows the instructions, likes what everybody else likes and has no reason to think he is special. Then he is mistaken for the one person capable of saving his world.
The LEGO Movie has the anarchic spirit of a child dumping an entire box of bricks on the floor. Characters and settings collide; jokes arrive from every direction; a supposedly epic prophecy may not mean quite what everyone thinks. That last point should sound familiar to Shrek fans. Both films delight in asking why a hero has to look or behave the way stories insist.
Emmet makes an engaging answer. He is not secretly cool beneath his ordinary exterior. His kindness, enthusiasm and willingness to work with others are genuinely his. Watching more glamorous characters gradually realise those qualities matter is one of the film’s pleasures.
There is also a clever tension between following instructions and making something new. Children can enjoy the chase and the visual invention; adults may find more to think about in the film’s affection for imaginative play.
The pace can feel relentless, so this may not be the best choice for a quiet evening. But if your family loves Shrek’s references, reversals and “anyone can matter” heart, The LEGO Movie is an inspired follow-up.
The Shrek connection: A supposed nobody wanders into a grand adventure and exposes how silly heroic rules can be.
Watch it for: Rapid-fire humour, visual invention and an unexpectedly touching message about creativity.
You can listen to That Love Podcast for more conversations about the stories and characters we cannot stop revisiting.
4. Megamind (2010)
Megamind has spent years playing the supervillain opposite Metro Man’s perfect hero. When he finally wins, he discovers that being the bad guy is much less satisfying without a good guy to fight.
This is Shrek’s genre-reversal instinct applied to superheroes. What if the villain is the most interesting person in the story? What if the handsome hero is tired of his assigned role? And what happens when a character who has been told he is evil begins to wonder whether that identity was ever truly his choice?
The film gets plenty of comedy out of Megamind’s theatrical inventions and his eagerness to deliver a properly dramatic speech. But its best idea is emotional: once the old hero-villain routine collapses, he must decide who he wants to be without an audience telling him.
Compared with Shrek, Megamind spends less time on romance and more on the pleasure of watching a familiar formula fall apart. It is a particularly good recommendation for viewers who love Shrek’s opening move of making the apparent monster the protagonist. Some jokes are gloriously ridiculous; the character arc gives them somewhere to land.
The Shrek connection: The designated villain gets to tell his side of the story—and may be capable of much more than his reputation allows.
Watch it for: Superhero parody, a flamboyant lead and a surprisingly satisfying redemption arc.
DreamWorks describes Megamind’s crisis after he defeats Metro Man and a new threat emerges. Film details: DreamWorks.
3. Hoodwinked! (2005)
Little Red Riding Hood, the Wolf, Granny and the Woodsman are all caught up in one strange incident. The authorities interview them, and each tells a different version of what happened.
If your favourite thing about Shrek is watching someone pull apart a fairy tale and reassemble it with jokes, Hoodwinked! deserves a place on your watchlist. Red is not merely waiting to be rescued. The Wolf has a story of his own. Granny has secrets. The pleasure lies in discovering how little the familiar version explains.
Its mystery structure is a smart variation on Shrek’s fairy-tale rebellion. Rather than simply replacing traditional character traits with opposite ones, the film asks who gets to control the story in the first place. Every new account changes the meaning of scenes you thought you understood.
There is one important caveat: the animation has aged more noticeably than the writing. This does not have the polished look of the larger studio films around it. The humour can also feel uneven. Go in expecting a scrappy, inventive comedy rather than a visual showcase, and its personality becomes much easier to appreciate.
The Shrek connection: A familiar fairy tale is turned inside out, and nobody is quite what the original story led you to expect.
Watch it for: Storybook parody, a playful mystery and offbeat comic energy.
2. The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)
Self-absorbed Emperor Kuzco is transformed into a llama and left stranded far from his palace. His best chance of getting home is Pacha, the decent man whose village Kuzco had planned to destroy.
That is a wonderful comic engine: the person most harmed by Kuzco’s arrogance becomes the person he needs. Their journey is full of arguments, narrow escapes and slowly growing respect. Fans of Shrek and Donkey’s bickering will recognise the appeal immediately, even though Pacha is considerably more patient than Donkey.
The film’s other great asset is its refusal to take imperial grandeur seriously. Yzma and Kronk turn villainy into an extended comic double act, while Kuzco’s narration keeps puncturing any moment that threatens to become too noble. The jokes are quick, strange and remarkably rewatchable.
For all that silliness, the character change matters. Kuzco does not become likeable because a spell magically improves him. He has to notice another person’s needs and accept that being important is not the same as being good. That gives the film a satisfying emotional through-line beneath the slapstick.
It is arguably the best choice here for someone who wants Shrek’s laugh rate but does not require another fairy-tale plot.
The Shrek connection: A prickly lead is forced into an odd-couple journey that makes him confront his selfishness.
Watch it for: Quotable jokes, perfect comic timing and one of animation’s great mismatched duos.
Disney’s official film page identifies Kuzco’s llama transformation and his partnership with Pacha. Film details: Disney.
Our guide to movies to watch if you love Shrek has more suggestions if your movie marathon is only getting started.
1. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
Puss in Boots has burned through eight of his nine lives. Suddenly, the fearless image he has built around himself feels less convincing. His search for the mythical Wishing Star brings back Kitty Softpaws, introduces the endlessly optimistic Perrito and sends several competing storybook characters after the same prize.
This is the easiest answer to “What should I watch after Shrek?” because it belongs to the same universe. Puss first appeared in Shrek 2, and The Last Wish gives his familiar swagger a story substantial enough to stand on its own. You do not need to have seen every earlier adventure to understand the central problem: Puss is frightened, and he hates admitting it.
The film delivers the fairy-tale mash-up you came for. Goldilocks travels with the Three Bears; Jack Horner becomes a gleefully excessive villain; the action bursts into stylised motion. Yet its strongest scenes slow down enough to let Puss’s fear matter. Perrito’s kindness is not treated as a joke to be dismissed. Kitty asks whether trust is possible when someone keeps running away from honesty.
That combination of mockery and sincerity is precisely what makes the best Shrek stories work. The Last Wish is more visually adventurous and, at times, considerably darker. The Wolf is genuinely menacing, and the film openly explores mortality and panic. For older children and adults, those risks help it become more than a nostalgic spin-off.
The Shrek connection: It is part of the franchise, packed with twisted fairy-tale characters and centred on a hero learning to drop his performance.
Watch it for: Puss himself, inventive animation, Perrito’s warmth and a story with surprising emotional depth.
DreamWorks confirms the film’s place in the Shrek universe, Puss’s nine-lives predicament and the characters pursuing the Wishing Star. Film details: DreamWorks.
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Final Thoughts
What makes a movie feel like Shrek is not simply a talking animal or a joke about a princess. It is the pleasure of seeing an old story from the perspective of the person it overlooked. Shrek gets to be more than a monster. Puss gets to be more than a swaggering hero. Megamind gets to question whether he is a villain at all.
For the closest match, watch Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. For nonstop odd-couple comedy, choose The Emperor’s New Groove. For a fairy tale that has been thoroughly rearranged, try Hoodwinked! or Tangled. And if what you really love is the idea that misfits deserve a story of their own, The Bad Guys is waiting.
Whichever you choose, do not be surprised if the next family-movie discussion turns into a debate about whether anyone could ever replace Donkey. Our answer? No—but it is a lot of fun watching other characters try.
If you enjoyed this guide, you can support That Love Podcast and listen to our latest episodes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the closest movie to Shrek?
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is the closest match because it takes place in the same storybook universe and features a character introduced in Shrek 2. It shares the franchise’s fairy-tale mash-ups and humour, although its approach to fear and mortality is darker. If you want a similar comic dynamic without staying in that universe, The Emperor’s New Groove is an excellent choice.
Do I need to watch the first Puss in Boots movie before The Last Wish?
No. Knowing that Puss is a confident, adventure-loving cat is enough to follow The Last Wish. The film explains his immediate problem—he has only one of his nine lives left—and builds its own quest from there. Watching the earlier film may add context to his history with Kitty Softpaws, but the emotional story remains clear for a newcomer.
Which movie like Shrek has the most fairy-tale jokes?
Hoodwinked! is built around reinterpreting Little Red Riding Hood and is probably the most direct fairy-tale parody on this list. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish also pulls several storybook figures into one adventure. Tangled plays with fairy-tale expectations, but it is more interested in romance and character growth than in mocking the genre.
What should I watch if Donkey is my favourite Shrek character?
Try The Emperor’s New Groove for its constant odd-couple banter, or Madagascar for an ensemble that rarely stops talking. Perrito in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish also brings the cheerful, persistent affection that makes Donkey such an important counterweight to Shrek. He is not a copy of Donkey, but he understands the power of refusing to give up on a prickly friend.
Are these movies suitable for young children?
They vary. Tangled and The Emperor’s New Groove may be easier starting points for some families, while Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has frightening moments involving the Wolf and themes about death. Chicken Run features a threat to the chickens, and The Bad Guys has fast-paced action. Check a current parents’ guide and consider your child’s sensitivities rather than assuming every animated film has the same tone.
Is Megamind a fairy-tale film?
No. Megamind parodies superhero stories rather than fairy tales. It earns its place because it uses one of Shrek’s best ideas: let the character labelled a villain tell the story, then see whether that label survives closer inspection. Its humour, identity questions and willingness to make the “hero” role more complicated should appeal to viewers who enjoy Shrek’s reversals.
Which film is funniest for adults?
That depends on your sense of humour. The Emperor’s New Groove is the strongest choice for rapid jokes and comic performances. The LEGO Movie has a dense stream of references and playful genre humour. Chicken Run offers a drier, distinctly British comic rhythm. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish may be the richest overall film, but its emotional intensity means it is not trying to be a pure comedy.
Which movie has the best friendship like Shrek and Donkey’s?
Puss and Perrito in The Last Wish come closest to the emotional pattern: a guarded adventurer is repeatedly met with kindness he does not know how to accept. Kuzco and Pacha in The Emperor’s New Groove provide the strongest bickering partnership. For a bigger group dynamic, the animals in Madagascar discover that friendship becomes harder—and more valuable—outside a comfortable routine.
Where can I stream these movies in the UK?
Streaming catalogues change frequently, and availability can differ between the UK and other countries. Check your subscription services for the specific title on the day you plan to watch. Some films may be available only to rent or buy digitally, or on DVD or Blu-ray. Disney’s film page currently promotes Tangled on Disney+, but do not assume that every film in this list shares the same home.
Is Shrek 2 worth watching before these recommendations?
Absolutely. If you have only seen the first Shrek, its sequel is the most natural next stop and introduces Puss in Boots. This list focuses on films beyond the main Shrek series, but Shrek 2 is important context for the character who tops our ranking. You can still enjoy The Last Wish without it; you will simply get a little more pleasure from Puss’s earlier arrival if you watch in order.
More Places to Find Great Movies and TV Shows
For additional film information and recommendations, visit IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Collider, Screen Rant, CBR, MovieWeb, /Film and ComicBookMovie. Check current regional listings before planning a streaming movie night.
For more film guides, reviews and podcast news, visit That Love Podcast.
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