National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

DreamWorks Animation released Shrek in May 2001, marking a turning point in computer-animated filmmaking and signaling a genuine challenge to Disney's long dominance of the genre. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, the film became a cultural phenomenon and the inaugural winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Its irreverent humor and layered storytelling resonated across generations, cementing its place as one of the defining studio releases of the early 2000s.

This cell captures Donkey against the shadowed interior of Dragon's castle, the looming machinery and ironwork of that memorable setting visible behind him. Three continuous frames from the same scene, the strip offers a quiet, sequential portrait of one of the film's most beloved characters in a genuinely dramatic moment of the story.