National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Released in 1999, Pokemon: The First Movie arrived at the height of a cultural phenomenon that had swept across playgrounds, television, and trading card tables worldwide. For a generation of young fans, it marked the moment their favorite series made the leap to the big screen, and the trailer that preceded it built anticipation to a fever pitch. As theatrical animation drawn from a beloved franchise, it remains a touchstone of late-1990s pop culture and a fond memory for those who grew up alongside it.

This cell comes from the "Training Is Over" moment featured in the trailer, a phrase that captured the film's sense of building toward something momentous. Holding an actual frame of 35mm film from it connects you directly to how audiences first experienced that excitement in the theater.