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 sly rebuttal to fairy-tale convention, pairing state-of-the-art CGI with a script that skewered the very genre it inhabited. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, it became a critical and commercial phenomenon, launching a franchise and winning the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Its humor, aimed as much at adults as children, and its willingness to mock Disney-style princes and castles, made it a touchstone of early 2000s pop culture.
This cell centers on Lord Farquaad, the diminutive, status-obsessed ruler of Duloc and the film's chief antagonist. Collectors seek him out for his sharp comic design and his role as the engine of the plot, the tyrant whose ambitions set Shrek's journey in motion. A frame built around him alone speaks to his outsized presence in the story despite his stature, a reminder of how thoroughly he defined the film's satire of fairy-tale royalty.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour optical 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 soundtrack track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, consistent with a standard optical release print.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers, manufacturer text, or SAFETY FILM legend.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-amber tint; the dye image reads as a warm, saturated colour positive with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Faint longitudinal lines are visible running the length of the strip, consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks seen.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, and the animated character and environment are consistent with Shrek (2001).
Era check
The variable-area optical track, colour positive print stock, and base tint 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 000063167
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
