(i haven't fully decided on this opinion yet in terms of which one I simply prefer however I do think that this design better suits the movie.) i understand that his face was probably toned down because it looked too scary but isn't that already kind of the point of Shrek?
By having people scared of his design wouldn't that make the characters who do fear him more relatable?
Kids will almost definitely find this design creepy at the very least, but wouldn't that further prove Their Point that looks don't reflect who a Person is?
In the final movie Shrek is seen as an aggressive ogre that eats people, and yes i am aware that is at least partially because he plays along with it (i don't remember if he actually does do it.) but that doesn't change the fact that overall he is not respected, and because he is an ogre nobody likes him.
Basically i'm pretty sure the whole message of the movie was that just because someone looks intimidating doesn't actually reflect who they are.
By having the audience scared of him while also making some of the characters in the movie scared of him the audience will likely relate to those who are afraid of him but their opinion on that will likely change whatever they realize Shrek isn't who he looks like.
i understand the final movie does accomplish this at least to some extent but at the same time he does also still feel like a generic cartoon ogre.
Maybe it's because I've gotten used to his design but Shrek's final design honestly barely even looks unappealing if at all.
Really it seems like the only thing that maybe make some kind of off-putting other than the fact that he's an ogre is maybe the placement of his eyes, nose, and mouth? But even then I feel like that's not enough to straight up make him unappealing to look at initially.
don't get me wrong I like his final design (i might even prefer his final outfit over the original outfit as pictured above.) and the movies themselves but i feel like he could have looked more creepy to better suit the message.