National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

DreamWorks Animation released Shrek in May 2001, marking a turning point in computer-animated feature filmmaking. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, the film earned the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and demonstrated that a studio outside Disney could command both critical respect and enormous popular success. Its irreverent approach to fairy tale conventions left a lasting impression on the medium.

This cell captures Lord Farquaad presiding over the interrogation of the Gingerbread Man, a scene that establishes the villain's menacing authority early in the picture. The dim, close-quarters staging gives the frames a theatrical tension unusual for an animated family film, making this a visually distinctive moment from one of the more memorable sequences in Shrek's opening act.