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 from DreamWorks Animation in 2001 and quickly became a cultural landmark, upending the fairy tale conventions that Disney had long dominated. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, it paired irreverent humor with genuine heart, and its success proved that animated features could appeal to adults and children alike through subversive wit rather than saccharine sentiment. The film's box office triumph and Academy Award win for Best Animated Feature cemented its place in animation history, launching a franchise and reshaping how studios approached the genre for years afterward.
This cell centers on Princess Fiona in a moment of combat alongside Robin Hood, a pairing collectors prize for capturing Fiona's departure from passive fairy tale heroines. Her willingness to fight, rather than wait to be rescued, became one of the film's most quoted subversions of genre expectation. Robin Hood's presence situates this within the forest ambush sequence, a comic high point built on mistaken heroics and reversed rescue tropes. As a 35mm frame rather than a trailer or title card, it preserves an actual production moment from that pivotal scene.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Shrek (2001).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or deformation.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible on one edge alongside what appears to be a Dolby Digital data-block strip between the perforations on the same edge, and a blue DTS timecode line is also visible running along that edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to quote any text or key numbers.
Base & colour
The base shows a light cyan-blue tint consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image appears neutral with no visible red shift or fading.
Projection history
No splices or cue marks are visible; faint longitudinal lines are present across the frames, consistent with a projected print.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, and the animated characters and environment are consistent with the film on record.
Era check
The combination of Dolby Digital data blocks, DTS timecode, variable-area optical track, and cyan-base colour stock is consistent with a theatrical release print from the early 2000s, matching the 2001 release of the film on record.
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 000063211
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
