Sources: Wikidata. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pokemon: The Movie 2000 arrived as Warner Bros. and Nintendo's second theatrical push for the franchise at the height of Pokemania, following the original film's surprise box office success. Built around the Legendary Birds and the balance of the elements, it kept the Pikachu-and-friends formula central while widening the world beyond Kanto. For American fans it was a Saturday-morning institution turned multiplex event, cementing Ash, Pikachu, and their circle as fixtures of early-2000s childhood and setting the template for the annual animated movie tie-ins that followed.
This cell holds Ash, Pikachu, Maren, and Tracey together, a grouping collectors prize for placing a secondary human character alongside the series' two anchors. Maren's presence marks a specific narrative beat tied to her arc within the film, distinct from the trainers' usual travels. As a 35mm frame drawn straight from theatrical release stock, it functions like a fragment of a trailer or archival reel, a physical remnant of the picture as it once ran through projectors rather than a screen capture or reproduction.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual bilateral track; a separate digital data region consistent with Dolby Digital encoding is visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge.
Edge print
Partial text visible reading 'KO' at the upper right corner; remainder of edge print is not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-cyan tint consistent with a safety polyester stock; dye image reads as warm and saturated with no visible fading.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot and the animated characters and visual style are consistent with the Pokémon animated film on record.
Era check
The combination of dual bilateral variable-area optical track, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, polyester base with cyan tint, and saturated dye image is consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1990s to early 2000s, matching the 2000 release date on record.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063339
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
