DreamWorks classic to be dubbed into te reo Māori

Shrek is getting dubbed into te reo Māori – the first DreamWorks flick to be adapted into the language.
The beloved animated classic Shrek will soon be getting a te reo Māori makeover – marking the first time a DreamWorks Animation film has ever been adapted into the language.
In an announcement on Tuesday, the Māoriland Charitable Trust confirmed the much-loved flick will be dubbed into te reo Māori in collaboration with DreamWorks Animation, with a world premiere at the Māoriland Film Festival slated for March 2025.
Five special screenings across Aotearoa will follow, Māoriland producer Libby Hakaraia said in a statement.
“We are hugely excited to re-imagine this phenomenal and captivating story, which has captured the hearts of families worldwide in te reo Māori,” Hakaraia added.
The original 2001 film, which has already been dubbed into more than 40 languages, will be the first DreamWorks Animation flick to be adapted into te reo Māori.
“This project is more than a movie – it celebrates cultural diversity and the power of storytelling to connect people. Just as Shrek brings unlikely friends together, this project highlights that same unifying power,” Scott McCarthy, the vice president of localisation for DreamWorks Animation, said on Tuesday.
The irreverent ogre and his ragtag group of fairy-tale folk have long enchanted audiences young and old, evolving into a lucrative media franchise spanning several films, two television specials, and a stage musical adaptation. The original film – featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz – spawned a series of sequels, including Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), and Shrek Forever After (2010). A fifth film, Shrek 5, is currently in production for a 2026 release, while two spin-offs centred around the character Puss in Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas, were released in 2011 and 2022.
“Shrek is a sensational movie because it’s a masterpiece of comedy, loaded with irony, puns and sly references to Western pop culture. Any re-versioning of Shrek presents significant but delicious linguistic and performance challenges,” said Māoriland director Tainui Stephens.
Film production company Mātewā Media have already re-versioned five animated films into te reo Māori, including Moana, The Lion King, and Encanto Reo Māori, which was released this month.
“I’m a father of six, and I see this film as not only being gratefully received by my tamariki, their friends and whānau, but by non-Māori speaking people as well, as it’s that sort of film where you are carried away by the story and the music,” lead translator Te Kiwa Goddard added.
“There’s a hunger for stories in te reo that bring the world to our tamariki. The biggest challenge is to find the ‘sweet spot’ when it comes to matching the humour – which is funny when expressed in English – and then find its equivalent in Māori.”
The project will have funding support from Te Māngai Pāho, the entity responsible for the promotion of Māori language and culture, and the New Zealand Film Commission (Te Tumu Whakaata Tāonga).
“The New Zealand Film Commission acknowledges that te reo Māori is a taonga to be nurtured and celebrated. The re-versioning of Shrek with Māoriland fosters progression of Māori talent, especially rangatahi/youth, grows the industry, and grows te reo Māori,” said Karen Te O Kahurangi Waaka-Tibble, the commission’s chief Māori adviser.
The animated movie Encanto Reo Māori, the Māori language version of Disney’s 2021 hit Encanto, landed in theatres across Aotearoa on September 12 in time for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, or Māori Language Week.
Rotorua te reo Māori singer, Te Waimarie Ngatai-Callaghan, 20, made her Disney debut in the animated adaptation, telling the Rotorua Daily Post: “It’s every little girl’s dream to be a Disney princess and… to be a part of a Disney film was just absolutely surreal.
“Never did I think that a Coastie girl would be in a Disney film.”
In 2020, the te reo Māori version of Moana was made available on the streaming service Disney+, three years after it premiered in New Zealand cinemas.
The original script for Moana was written by New Zealand filmmaker, actor and comedian Taika Waititi and released in the US in 2016. He and Mātewā Media’s Tweedie Waititi – his whāngai sister – worked with the media giant to dub the movie in te reo, while Kiwi cast and crew travelled to Los Angeles to record the voice-overs.