Six Shrek-universe feature films have been released: four Shrek films, then two Puss in Boots films. For the main story, watch Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After. For everything, continue with Puss in Boots and then Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which is release order. Shrek 5 is announced but not yet released, and holiday specials and shorts are optional extras, not part of the six.
The four-film Shrek route
Years come from DreamWorks’ official film pages. The one-line premises come from the British Board of Film Classification’s (BBFC) summaries and stop at the setup:
- Shrek (2001): an ogre sets out to persuade a scheming lord to remove the fairy-tale creatures exiled to his swamp.
- Shrek 2 (2004): Princess Fiona’s father is unhappy about her marriage to Shrek.
- Shrek the Third (2007): reluctant to leave his swamp after inheriting the throne, Shrek looks for another heir.
- Shrek Forever After (2010): tricked by Rumpelstiltskin, Shrek ends up in a world where ogres are hunted.
For a newcomer, our recommendation is to watch these four in sequence. That way each film’s introductions and running jokes arrive in the order the films set them up, and you have a clear stopping point if the main series is all you want.
Adding the two Puss in Boots films
Puss joins the series in Shrek 2: DreamWorks’ Shrek 2 page introduces Antonio Banderas as Puss In Boots, an ogre-killer who is a pussycat at heart. He later got two films of his own:
- Puss in Boots (2011): the BBFC calls it a spin-off from the Shrek films in which Puss searches for the eggs of the Golden Goose.
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022): having used up most of his nine lives, Puss sets out to find more, in the BBFC’s summary.
These are two separate features, not alternate titles for one film. If Puss is the main interest, a shorter route is Shrek 2, then Puss in Boots, then The Last Wish.
Release order or story order?
A film set earlier can still have been made later, so these are two different lists. DreamWorks presents Puss in Boots as the story of how the cat found his fame, which is why some chronological lists move it ahead of the Shrek films.
- Release order: the order the films came out, and the one we recommend for a first watch.
- Story order, as our own reading: Puss in Boots can move to the front on a rewatch. We found no official timeline that places The Last Wish precisely, so we keep it last in both lists.
If you share a story-order list, label it as story order, so nobody mistakes it for the release sequence.
How long is each route?
All six timings below are the BBFC’s, for the original UK cinema 2D versions.
- Shrek: 90 minutes 19 seconds
- Shrek 2: 92 minutes 44 seconds
- Shrek the Third: 92 minutes 39 seconds
- Shrek Forever After: 93 minutes 4 seconds
- Puss in Boots: 90 minutes
- The Last Wish: 102 minutes 15 seconds
That adds up to about 6 hours 9 minutes for the four Shrek films and about 9 hours 21 minutes for all six, before breaks.
Your own copy may differ. The BBFC timed later home-entertainment versions separately, for example Shrek at 86 minutes 20 seconds and The Last Wish at 98 minutes 8 seconds. Use the running time shown on the edition you are actually watching.
UK ratings, and which film to preview
The BBFC rated the four Shrek films and the first Puss in Boots film U for their cinema releases, and The Last Wish PG. Ratings can also change between editions: a 2022 home-entertainment submission of Shrek 2 was rated PG for mild bad language, although its 2004 cinema version was U.
The BBFC’s notes describe the Shrek films’ violence as comic, and call the original’s mild violence, language and rude humour unlikely to upset even very young children. Shrek Forever After adds some scary scenes, which the BBFC says are broken up by comedy.
Light spoiler for The Last Wish’s premise: the BBFC says it explores themes of death and anxiety, with Puss pursued by Death in the form of a red-eyed wolf, panic attacks it says are handled sensitively, bladed fights, brief blood and jump scares. These specific notes are why we suggest a parent previews it, whatever the rating on your edition.
Shrek 5: announced, not released
DreamWorks’ Shrek page currently promotes Shrek 5 as a future cinema release, and the BBFC’s Shrek 5 entry lists only trailers, classified in 2026. As of 28 October 2026, it is not one of the six released features, and its announced date could still change. We will add it to the route only once it has actually been released.
Holiday specials and shorts are extras
The Shrek world also includes television specials and shorts. One example is Shrek the Halls, a holiday special the BBFC lists at about 27 minutes.
Specials like this can suit a short evening, but they sit on a separate optional list rather than between two films. If a listing shows a Shrek title that is not one of the six above, check its format and running time before treating it as a missing seventh film.
Our six-feature count refers only to the four Shrek films and two Puss in Boots films named above. It is not a claim that no other Shrek screen material exists, and it says nothing about which service carries which film in your country.
The short version
Watch the four Shrek films for the main story, and add the two Puss in Boots films for the full six, in release order. Preview The Last Wish first if your family is sensitive to its themes, and treat specials and Shrek 5 as separate from the list.
Related reading
For another animated family series with sequels and specials to sort out, see the Hotel Transylvania movies in order.