Whether you’re a kid or a kid at heart, you know Mike Myers’ work in one form or another. Adults that grew up with Saturday Night Live and Wayne’s World are likely to have kids that may have watched Shrek at one point in their lives. For specific generations, the Dreamworks animated franchise with a prestigious cast is required and/or fondly remembered viewing. However, for Myers’ own children, they never really latched onto their father’s iconic role, all thanks to some deep seated skepticism.
During his recent interview on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, the legendary comedian revealed just how much of his past output his children have dug into. The good news is that not all of his past projects have slipped by the youngsters in the house. This lead to what some might call the bad news, as Mike Myers gave the following explanation as for why the green ogre just doesn’t cut it for his kids:
They they love Cat in the Hat. The oldest has seen Austin Powers one. They didn't really care for Shrek much. And it was... it's absolutely true. And, but I have tough, these are tough New Yorkers.
Forgive my surprise at what we’ve just read, but I never thought I’d see the day where children would prefer the infamous Cat in the Hat live-action adaptation over any of the Shrek movies. Yes, the Dr. Seuss adaptation considered so reviled and nightmarish by some that it inspired an IT style trailer parody over a decade later is somehow preferred in the household of Mike Myers. Maybe a swamp based ogre’s world view really is incompatible with the more cynical, city based youth of today.
This would perhaps explain why a Shrek reboot has been in the works, as the most recent update on the saga that supposedly ended with Shrek Ever After is still on the books over at Dreamworks/Universal. Oddly enough, producer Chris Meledandri is keen on keeping the voice cast from the original films, opting to reboot the story only. As such, the writers should probably keep the following notes from Mike Myers’ children in mind:
There's a lot of 'Dad that would never happen. A talking donkey would never say that.' No, he's very... they're just New Yorkers, dude. You know, they're a tough crowd, but when they like something, they love it. And Spike has Austin Powers one memorized. And my youngest is... and she's not a fan. She's tough. She's tough. She's a New Yorker this kid.
If there’s a bright side to this story, it’s the fact that the first Austin Powers movie seems to hold up with younger children. While this is a claim being based on a very small sampling of people, perhaps this is enough motivation for Mike Myers to also push ahead with Austin Powers 4, which also has a potential revival in the works.
Again, I’m still having a problem guessing how younger children would latch onto that Myers project over something that’s build for kids. However, so long as future generations aren’t reviving the likes of The Love Guru, the world will continue to be in good, if not confusing, hands.
Mike Myers fans young and old can rejoice, as his latest project has just debuted. You can catch Myers in The Pentaverate, an offbeat comedy series that’s among the new series Netflix has to offer in May 2022. How that project will go over with audiences of all ages is yet to be seen, so you may want to test the waters with a showing of So I Married An Axe Murderer before you move forward.
Moving back to the world of current events, the schedule of 2022 movie releases will be able to keep you informed as to what current films will be available in the weeks and months to come.
