National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2020
“Even by DreamWorks standards, the charm and magic of "Shrek" seemed extraordinary upon its initial release almost 20 years ago — and its power has yet to diminish in the intervening years.”
Selected for preservation as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Directed by
Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
Studio
DreamWorks · DreamWorks Animation · Pacific Data Images · 90 min
Box office
$488.4M worldwide on a $60M budget
Honors
Academy Awards — 1 win, 2 nominationsAnnie Awards — 1 winBritish Academy Film Awards — 1 winCritics' Choice Movie Award — 1 winAll 4 wins · 3 nominations on record
Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature
Annie Awards: Best Animated Feature
British Academy Film Awards: BAFTA's Children & Young People Award - Feature Film
Critics' Choice Movie Award: Best Animated Feature
Scholarship
Named in the title of 17 peer-reviewed works
Examples
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Shrek arrived from DreamWorks Animation in 2001, a computer-animated feature that helped redefine the studio comedy for a new generation. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, it took the fairy tale formula and turned it inside out, pairing an ogre hero with a wisecracking donkey and a cast of storybook characters pulled from every corner of childhood memory. The film's success at the box office and its Academy Award win for Best Animated Feature marked a turning point, proving that animation could hold satire, romance, and genuine heart in the same frame.
This cell brings together Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, borrowed wholesale from the Brothers Grimm and Disney tradition and recast inside Shrek's crowded fairy tale universe. Collectors prize these figures because they represent the film's constant wink toward classic animation, familiar faces repurposed for a new kind of story. A 35mm cell featuring this grouping likely comes from a scene assembling the storybook ensemble, the kind of moment studios often used for trailers or promotional stills to signal the film's playful crossover of beloved characters.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Shrek (2001).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the lower edge beside the picture, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data-block strip in the inter-perforation zone on the same edge; a DTS timecode line also appears present as a thin stripe adjacent to the optical track.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer text or key numbers.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-cyan tint consistent with modern safety stock; dye image reads as warm and fully saturated with no visible fading.
Projection history
Light horizontal scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be the same or near-identical shot, and the animated characters visible are consistent with the DreamWorks animated feature Shrek (2001).
Era check
The combination of Dolby Digital data blocks, DTS timecode stripe, variable-area optical track, and cyan-tinted safety base is consistent with a theatrical release print from the early 2000s, matching the 2001 release date on record.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063141
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
