Sources: Wikidata. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived from Warner Bros. and Nintendo/4Kids at the height of Pokémania, a theatrical follow up to the franchise's blockbuster 1999 debut. Built around the Legendary Birds and Lugia's role in restoring elemental balance, it cemented Pokémon as a global cinema event rather than a passing fad, drawing families and collectors alike into theaters for a story pitched above the television series in scale and stakes.
This cell carries Team Rocket, the trio whose comic scheming runs through the Pokémon films as a counterweight to the main adventure's grandeur. Jessie, James, and Meowth are perennial favorites among collectors precisely because their antics offer levity and personality distinct from the legendary creatures at the story's center. A cell bearing their name preserves a strip of 35mm celluloid from the actual theatrical print, a physical artifact of the animation process rather than a reproduction, tying the piece directly to the film's original release and to the enduring appeal of its most reliably entertaining supporting characters.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds one frame.
Perforations
Four perforations per frame visible on both edges; spacing appears even and punching appears clean.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running alongside the picture area, appearing as a dual bilateral waveform strip.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight cool-neutral tint; dye image shows saturated colour with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; the single frame shows animated content consistent with the Pokémon franchise and the film on record.
Era check
A dual bilateral variable-area optical track on a colour positive 35mm print is consistent with a theatrical release print from 2000.
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, 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.
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
