National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Released in 1999, Pokémon: The First Movie arrived at the height of a cultural phenomenon that had swept from Game Boy screens and trading cards into television and, finally, theaters. For a generation of young fans, the trailer was the first glimpse of their favorite characters rendered for the big screen, promising a story larger than anything the weekly series could offer. It remains a touchstone of late-'90s animation and the merchandising wave that defined the era.

Cubone, the lonely Ground-type known for the skull it wears, has always resonated with fans for its quiet melancholy. To hold a physical 35mm cell featuring this character is to own a tangible fragment of that celluloid history—a single frame that once passed through a projector.