National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

DreamWorks Animation released Shrek in May 2001, marking a turning point for computer-generated feature filmmaking outside of Pixar. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, the film earned the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and demonstrated that irreverent, layered storytelling could find enormous audiences. Its visual ambition and cultural impact secured its place as one of the defining releases of early twenty-first century cinema.

This cell, titled Dragon, Shrek and Donkey, captures a continuous sequence in which Dragon rears upward, clutching Shrek in her claws against a misty, foliage-edged background. Across the three frames Donkey becomes visible as Dragon holds Shrek aloft, her head tilting back in the final image — a brief, kinetic passage preserved here in original 35mm.