Crown Grading

FILM NOTES

Pokémon: The Movie 2000 was released in Japan in 1999 and internationally by Warner Bros. in 2000, arriving at the peak of the global Pokémon phenomenon. The second theatrical entry in the franchise, it expanded the mythology beyond Mewtwo, centering on the Legendary birds and the ocean guardian Lugia. Produced by OLM and distributed with considerable ceremony, it remains a cultural marker of turn-of-the-millennium animation.

This cell captures Ash and Pikachu riding Lugia through what appears to be the film's kinetic underwater or emergence passage, rendered in deep blues and purples with white energy streaks cutting across the frame. The abstract, almost painterly composition reflects the sequence's scale and urgency, preserving a genuinely striking moment from one of the film's most visually ambitious scenes.