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 in 2001 as DreamWorks Animation's answer to the fairy tale genre, a computer-animated feature that upended Disney conventions with irreverence, pop culture gags, and a soundtrack built for cynics and romantics alike. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, it became a commercial phenomenon and the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, cementing DreamWorks as a serious rival in the animation space. Its blend of crude humor and genuine sentiment reshaped what family entertainment could look like at the start of a new decade.
This cell preserves footage tied to Lord Farquaad's Guards, the anonymous enforcers of Duloc who serve the film's diminutive antagonist. Though never individually named, these soldiers represent the rigid, oppressive order Farquaad imposes, a visual shorthand for authoritarian menace played against the film's comedic tone. Collectors seek this material for its connection to the Duloc sequences, among the most stylistically distinct in the picture. As a 35mm frame, it stands as a physical fragment of the film's theatrical run, a tactile piece of animation history from a production that changed the genre.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital theatrical 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; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean throughout the visible strip.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, consistent with an analogue stereo print; Dolby Digital pixel blocks appear present in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge, indicating a Dolby Digital SR·D composite track.
Edge print
Edge print reads mirrored as: 'S 383 5 04 1 069 32 KOD. 4K 28 2001 U' — mirror-read text indicates emulsion-up orientation on the light panel.
Base & colour
Base appears with a light cyan-blue tint typical of Eastman colour print stock; the dye image reads as warm and fully saturated with no visible fading.
Projection history
No splices, cue marks or significant scratches are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the subject matter is consistent with the animated feature listed on record.
Era check
The composite Dolby Digital SR·D optical track format, cyan-tinted Eastman base, and edge code referencing 2001 are all consistent with a theatrical release print from that year.
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 000063202
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
