National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived in North American theaters in July 2000, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures following the original film's record-breaking performance. Produced by OLM, Inc. and directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, it expanded the mythology of the franchise by centering on the legendary Pokémon Lugia and the elemental birds. The film marked a high point of the late-1990s Pokémon phenomenon and remains a touchstone of that cultural moment in theatrical animation.

The cell is titled Magikarp by the operator, though the imagery across all three frames depicts a large pale grey rounded form against a deep purple field — consistent with Lugia moving through water or open sky. The slight positional shifts between frames suggest a brief continuous motion sequence, preserving a quiet, atmospheric passage from the film's more visually spare moments.