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 defining shift in studio-era animation, pairing fairy tale parody with a subversive, adult-aware humor that had rarely been aimed so squarely at family audiences. It won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and helped establish DreamWorks as a rival to Pixar and Disney, launching a franchise that reshaped how animated films balanced comedy, music, and irreverence. Its cultural footprint, from memes to merchandise, remains vast two decades later, making original 35mm material from the production a genuine touchstone for collectors of early 2000s animation history.
This cell preserves a scene between Lord Farquaad, the diminutive, status-obsessed antagonist, and the Gingerbread Man, one of the fairy tale creatures rounded up under his rule. Farquaad's interrogation of the Gingerbread Man is among the film's most quoted sequences, a scene that crystallizes both his cruelty and the film's comic irreverence. For collectors, this pairing represents a foundational character exchange, the kind of frame that anchors the film's early tone and remains instantly recognizable to fans of the series.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Shrek (2001)
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no torn or deformed holes visible
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single bilateral track
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Base shows a light blue-cyan tint consistent with a colour print stock; dye image appears warm and well-saturated with no visible fading
Projection history
Fine longitudinal lines consistent with projection are visible across the frame area; no splices or cue marks seen
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be the same shot, running consecutively; the animated character and style are consistent with the CGI animated film on record
Era check
The bilateral variable-area optical track, colour print stock with cyan base tint, and perforation layout are all 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 000063186
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
