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 reshaped what audiences expected from a family film. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, it paired fairy tale trappings with modern comic timing, earning the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and establishing a franchise that ran for decades. Its success proved that animation could carry irony, pop music, and star voice casting without losing warmth, making it a touchstone of early 2000s studio filmmaking.
This cell brings together the film's three central figures: Shrek, voiced by Mike Myers, Donkey, voiced by Eddie Murphy, and Princess Fiona, voiced by Cameron Diaz. Together they anchor the story's core friendship and romance, the engine that drives the entire narrative forward. A cell uniting all three is prized by collectors precisely because it captures the ensemble rather than a single figure, representing the completed dynamic the film spends its runtime building toward.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Kodak 2383 theatrical release print of Shrek (2001).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on the top edge visible; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on the top edge, evenly spaced and cleanly punched; bottom edge perforations are also present, evenly spaced, consistent with four per frame.
Soundtrack
The lower edge shows a blue-tinted area containing what reads as a variable-area optical track, a Dolby Digital inter-perforation data block strip, and a dashed DTS timecode line — a multi-format soundtrack configuration.
Edge print
Top edge reads (mirrored as captured): '2383 504 0 69 1 37 K 00:4K 28 20 01 U' — consistent with a Kodak Vision stock key-number and timecode format.
Base & colour
Base shows a light cyan-blue tint typical of Kodak print stock; dye image appears neutral with no visible red shift or fading.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks or cue marks seen in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; three frames appear consecutive from a single shot; animated subject matter matches Shrek (2001) on record.
Era check
The Kodak 2383 print stock, multi-format soundtrack layout (optical, Dolby Digital, DTS), and cyan base are all consistent with a theatrical release print from the early 2000s.
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 000063224
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
