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 in the summer of 2000, riding the crest of Pokémania at its commercial peak. Following the original film's success, this sequel brought Ash Ketchum and companions into a broader mythic quest involving the legendary bird trio, expanding the franchise's cinematic ambitions beyond television. For a generation of young viewers, it was an essential theater event, cementing Pokémon's place in mainstream American pop culture and marking a high point for anime distribution in Western multiplexes.
This cell preserves Ash and Pikachu together, the foundational pairing of the entire franchise. Ash, the series' trainer protagonist, and Pikachu, his signature partner, represent the emotional core collectors seek above all other characters. A pairing like this, drawn from actual release printing stock, offers physical proximity to that partnership as it appeared in theaters during the franchise's defining cinematic moment, a tangible fragment of the bond that carried Pokémon from card game to global phenomenon.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds two frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible below the picture area, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data block strip and a DTS timecode line also present in the lower edge region.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base shows a light blue-cyan tint consistent with a colour print stock; dye image appears neutral with no obvious red shift or fading.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks seen at this size.
Picture
Positive colour image; both frames appear to be from the same continuous shot, and the animated cave setting is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
The combination of variable-area optical track, apparent Dolby Digital data blocks, and DTS timecode line is consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1990s to early 2000s, matching the 2000 release date of the film 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, 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
