National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Shrek was released by DreamWorks Animation in May 2001 and marked a turning point for computer-generated feature filmmaking outside Pixar. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, the film subverted fairy-tale convention with irreverent humor and genuine emotional weight, earning the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Its cultural footprint has only grown in the decades since.

This cell, titled Dragon, Shrek and Donkey, captures the towering Dragon rearing up against a misty, yellow-green atmospheric background, with Shrek and Donkey visible in the foreground across the preserved frames. One frame places Dragon prominently alongside both companions; another isolates Dragon and Shrek within the same ethereal setting. It is a memorable passage from one of animation's defining films.