National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

DreamWorks Animation released Shrek in May 2001, positioning the studio as a genuine rival to Pixar in the emerging field of computer-generated feature filmmaking. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, the film won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and redefined the fairy-tale genre through irreverence and layered storytelling. Its cultural footprint remains substantial more than two decades on.

This cell, titled Dragon and Donkey, captures frames from the Dragon's keep sequence, one of the film's most visually distinctive settings. The warm orange and red light of the cavernous interior illuminates both Donkey, voiced by Eddie Murphy, and Dragon, voiced by Frank Welker, in what is a pivotal early encounter between the two characters.