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FILM NOTES
Pokemon: The Movie 2000 arrived at the height of Pokemania, the second theatrical outing produced by OLM under Nintendo and The Pokemon Company's supervision, distributed in North America by Warner Bros. Following hot on the heels of the original film's box office success, it pushed the franchise's animation into wider release, playing to packed houses of a fanbase still riding its first great wave of enthusiasm. For many collectors it marks the peak of the era before the property diversified into countless spinoffs, a snapshot of Pokemon as pure singular event.
This cell carries Ash Ketchum, the series' central figure and the character through whom the entire adventure is filtered. A 35mm piece bearing his name alone speaks to his role as the throughline of the story, the constant presence around whom the legendary birds and the Pokemon world's balance revolve. Collectors seek Ash cells precisely because he anchors so much screen time, making any surviving frame a fragment of the protagonist's own journey through the picture, a tangible piece of the hero's continuous presence across the film's runtime.
