“Shrek” Director Vicky Jenson Admits Love for the 2001 Film Was 'Big Surprise' (Exclusive)

'Shrek' Director Vicky Jenson speaks exclusively with PEOPLE about her previous works

No one could’ve predicted the cultural impact Shrek had on audiences — least of all the directors.

Vicky Jenson, one of the directors of the first Shrek film, admits that the movie's critical acclaim was a “big surprise” to her and the team.

“It just felt very small because it was a tight team,” she says in an exclusive chat with PEOPLE, noting much of the production on Shrek wasn’t done at the Glendale DreamWorks Animation studio. “We felt like we were on our own for a lot of the time.”

Related: The Voices of 'Shrek': Where Are They Now?

“It really wasn't until a few sequences started coming back in lighting, and we were watching full screenings, [that we] were going, ‘Wow, this. This is different,’ “ she continues. “This could either work really well or not at all.”

It wasn’t until the film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival that Jenson and the rest of the DreamWorks team realized that Shrek was a movie that could make some serious waves.

Upon its release in 2001, Shrek was one of the highest-grossing films of the box office that year, usurped by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The animated film received critical acclaim and international recognition, inspiring multiple sequels (with Shrek 5 already confirmed to be in the works).

The film’s franchise has continued to thrive, even inspiring a “Shrek Rave” for fans of the film’s bouncy beats to meet up and dance together. In 2020, Shrek was selected as one of the 25 films to be preserved in the Library of Congress alongside Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

Jenson was one of five different directors to be tied to the film at one point or another, though she and Andrew Adamson were the final co-directors credited at the film’s conclusion.

Though Adamson continued to work with the Shrek franchise, directing Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, Jenson departed the franchise after the first film.

Related: John Lithgow, Shrek’s Lord Farquaad, Would ‘Say Yes in a Minute’ If Asked to Join Upcoming 5th Movie (Exclusive)

“I was busy on Shark Tale for Shrek 2 and the beginning of [Shrek the Third],” Jenson says. “[The films] were in really good hands, and I was just moving on to other other arenas.”

Shark Tale, another DreamWorks film that was released in 2004, may not have left as big of a splash on the face of animation as the Shrek franchise did, but Jenson admits she feels the film is “a bit underrated.”

“It was so fun working with that cast too,” she says of Shark Tale, which features voice acting from A-listers Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renée Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Jack Black and Martin Scorsese.

Jenson's newest directing venture, Spellbound, is yet another animated family film, which released on Netflix on Nov. 22.

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The director says she has no plans to return to Far Far Away as development for Shrek 5 is underway, though she says “the spirit of the original is still there in these Shreks.”

“I'm very curious, just like everybody else, to see the fifth one," she shares. "It's just like watching your kid graduate high school and go to college and then graduate college and go and get married — it’s like, it's not up to me anymore. This is your life, you know?”