So, after watching The Angry Video Game Nerd's latest video (in which he gets abducted and sacrificed by a Shrek cult in a parody of 1970's horror classic The Wicker Man), I decided to rewatch the original Shrek on Prime Video. And that's what I did last night. And it's still a genuine classic.
The reason why Shrek is such an effective movie is because it functions as a bit of a statement on animated movies from the past decade: In the '90s, because of the popularity of the Disney renaissance that began in the late '80s with Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Little Mermaid, most animated movies were trying to ape the Disney formula. They were musicals, they had annoying animal sidekicks, and they felt fairly generic. And it was all because that Disney movies of the time (I.E. Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Hunchback of Notre Dame) all basically created this trap animated movies fell into where they had to be Disney to beat them at their game. Sure, there were exceptions, but these were a few and far between.
And then, Shrek came along.
Shrek was basically a giant dig at this "Disneyfied fairytale" genre that was so popular. It wasn't a musical, the animal sidekick was played for laughs and had a clear character arc, the hero was a male ogre rather than a female princess, etc. And indeed, certain elements of the film, like antagonist Lord Farquaad, act as a jab at Disney themselves. And it's incredibly hilarious!
I can safely say that Shrek is tied with The Emperor's New Groove and Team America: World Police as the funniest animated movie I've ever seen. Not one joke falls flat, the injokes and innuendos become more funny when you grow up, and most of all, there's HEART to the proceedings. And THAT's why Shrek is the biggest cult classic right now: Because underneath all the dank memes and AVGNs parodying The Wicker Man, and creepy fanfics where Shrek fucks Ellis from Left 4 Dead 2, there's a genuinely fun, and hilarious movie that still entertains to this day.