Crown Grading

FILM NOTES

Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in North American theaters in November 1999, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures following its original 1998 Japanese release by Toho. Produced by OLM, Inc. and 4Kids Entertainment, the film marked the first theatrical feature for the globally dominant Pokémon franchise, drawing record-breaking opening weekend numbers and cementing animation's commercial power in the late 1990s multiplex landscape.

These consecutive 35mm frames capture Ash Ketchum in a moment of physical collapse, his head tilted back and eyes closed against a stark blue field. Voiced throughout the film by Veronica Taylor, Ash anchors the story's emotional core, and this quiet, vulnerable image stands apart from the film's more kinetic sequences — a rare still portrait of the series' defining protagonist at his most human.