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 and reshaped what audiences expected from a family cartoon. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, it paired irreverent humor with genuine warmth, skewering fairy tale conventions while still honoring them. Its success at the box office and with the Academy, where it won the first Oscar for Best Animated Feature, marked a turning point for the studio and for animation as a whole. The film's blend of pop soundtrack, contemporary wit, and a decidedly unglamorous hero gave it lasting cultural reach, well beyond its initial theatrical run.
This cell centers on Shrek himself, the ogre whose swamp-dwelling solitude gives way to reluctant heroism across the story. Collectors seek him out because he is the anchor of the entire franchise, the character whose voice and design carried the film's tonal gamble. A cell bearing simply his name, without other figures present, reads as a study of the character in isolation, a moment belonging to him alone before the story's wider cast complicates his 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 look clean with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data-block strip in the inter-perforation zone on the same edge; a blue DTS timecode line is also visible adjacent to the optical track.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer text or key numbers.
Base & colour
The base shows a light cyan-blue tint consistent with a dyed safety base; the dye image reads warm with amber and gold tones, no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light horizontal lines are visible across the frame area, consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks are seen.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, and the animated character style is consistent with the CGI animated film on record.
Era check
The combination of a cyan-tinted safety base, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, DTS timecode stripe, and variable-area optical track 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 000063162
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
