The first trailer for the fourth outing of Shrek, Shrek Forever After, has been released online. We heard last month that this would be the last Shrek film, and DreamWorks are using that as a marketing ploy. “It’s the last film everyone, come and see it!”

Watch below:

After challenging an evil dragon, rescuing a beautiful princess and saving your in-laws’ kingdom, what’s an ogre to do? Well, if you’re Shrek, you suddenly wind up a domesticated family man. Instead of scaring villagers away like he used to, a reluctant Shrek now agrees to autograph pitch forks. What’s happened to this ogre’s roar? Longing for the days when he felt like a “real ogre,” Shrek is duped into signing a pact with the smooth-talking dealmaker, Rumplestiltskin. Shrek suddenly finds himself in a in a twisted, alternate version of Far Far Away, where ogres are hunted, Rumplestiltskin is king and Shrek and Fiona have never met. Now, it’s up to Shrek to undo all he’s done in the hopes of saving his friends, restoring his world and reclaiming his one True Love.

USA Today got the first official image from Shrek Forever After, which they say will be the last outing for Shrek and the gang. It had to end at some point, and I got the feeling they were running low on creative steam during Shrek the Third. However, they plan to finish on a high:

“All that was loved about Shrek in the first film is brought to the final film,” promises Bill Damaschke, head of creative production at DreamWorks. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz are back as the voices of Shrek, sidekick Donkey and ogress wife Fiona.

After rescuing a princess, getting hitched and fathering triplets, Shrek is feeling over-domesticated. “He has lost his roar,” says director Mike Mitchell. “It used to send villagers running away in terror. Now they run to him and ask him to sign their pitchforks and torches.”

To regain his ogre mojo, he strikes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin, the wee troublemaker who popped up briefly in Shrek 2 and 3. Of course, the pact goes awry and Shrek must confront what life would be like in Far Far Away if he had never existed. That translates into Donkey being forced into cart-pulling duty, fat and lazy Puss in Boots trading his sword for a pink bow and the underhanded Rumpelstiltskin ruling the kingdom.

Shrek Forever After will be released next May in the US (July in the UK) and we will be getting the first trailer with James Cameron’s Avatar next month.

Gingy is proud to announce the official title of Shrek 4:

SHREK GOES FOURTH

All of the principle cast members have signed up for the Ogre’s next big-screen romp, including Mike Meyers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas! The movie is slated for a May 2010 release.