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 as a bold departure from the fairy-tale formula Disney had long owned. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, it paired irreverent humor with genuine heart, subverting genre tropes while still delivering a real love story. The film won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and helped establish DreamWorks as a serious rival in animation, proving that a green ogre and a cast of fractured fairy-tale characters could carry both box office and cultural weight for years to come.
This 35mm cell isolates Donkey, the endlessly talkative companion whose loyalty and comic timing became one of the film's defining pleasures. Voiced by Eddie Murphy, Donkey is often the character collectors chase first, since his presence anchors so much of the film's humor and warmth. A single-character cell like this one strips away the surrounding cast, offering a focused artifact tied purely to Donkey's own screen identity within Shrek's world.
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 appear clean with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along the bottom edge, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data block strip (blue dashed line) running alongside 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 neutral with no visible red shift or fading.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are apparent in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, and the animated character visible is consistent with the CGI animated film on record.
Era check
The combination of polyester cyan-tinted base, variable-area optical track, and Dolby Digital data blocks between the perforations 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 000063151
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
