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
FILM NOTES
Shrek arrived from DreamWorks Animation in 2001 as a defiant answer to the fairy-tale conventions that studios like Disney had spent decades perfecting. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, it paired computer animation with a script that poked at the very genre it inhabited, folding beloved storybook figures into a green ogre's unlikely journey. The film's success at the box office and its Academy Award for Best Animated Feature marked a turning point for the medium, proving that animation could carry irreverence and adult wit alongside family appeal. Its cultural footprint, from soundtrack to catchphrases, remains part of why the picture still draws attention two decades later.
This cell brings together Snow White and her Seven Dwarfs, characters borrowed wholesale from the Brothers Grimm and Disney tradition, repurposed here as residents of Shrek's swamp-adjacent fairy-tale world. Their presence signals one of the film's signature gags, placing a beloved princess among familiar companions but recontextualized within DreamWorks' sly universe. Collectors prize this pairing for its instant recognizability and its role in the film's broader parody of classic animation. A frame like this one captures a piece of that ensemble moment, the kind of reference-heavy scene that gave Shrek its reputation for layered humor.
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; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along one edge, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data-block strip in the inter-perforation zone beside it, consistent with a dual-format optical release print.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
The base shows a light cyan-blue tint typical of modern safety polyester stock; the dye image appears warm and well-saturated with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No visible splices, cue marks or heavy scratching are apparent; the surface appears consistent with a projected release print.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, and the animated characters visible are consistent with the CGI animated feature Shrek (2001).
Era check
The cyan-polyester base, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks alongside a variable-area optical track, and fully saturated positive dye image are all consistent with a theatrical release print from the early 2000s.
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 000063143
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
