Crown Grading
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FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in 1999 from Warner Bros., riding the crest of Pokémania as it swept American theaters, pairing the Mewtwo Strikes Back feature with the Pikachu's Vacation short. Produced in Japan and localized for Western audiences, it marked the franchise's leap from television and trading cards to the big screen, introducing a generation of young viewers to a darker, more philosophical corner of the Pokémon universe. The accompanying trailer served as an early promotional tool, built to stir anticipation months ahead of release and to signal that this was more than a typical kids' cartoon outing.
This cell preserves a moment from that trailer centered on Ash Ketchum and Mewtwo, the two figures most responsible for the film's dramatic weight. Ash, the franchise's enduring hero, represents the human stakes of the story, while Mewtwo, the lab-born Pokémon at the heart of the plot, embodies its themes of identity and conflict. A trailer cell like this one captures the promotional language used to sell the film before audiences ever saw it complete, making it a touchstone for collectors who value early marketing artifacts over finished theatrical prints. The pairing of these two names alone signals the clash the whole campaign was built around.
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital release-print trailer strip of Pokémon: The First Movie (1999).
- Gauge
- 35mm layout, four perforations per frame along both edges; the strip holds about three and a half frames, with one frame cut off at each end.
- Perforations
- Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched with rounded-rectangle holes; no torn, missing or stretched perforations seen.
- Soundtrack
- A variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations, and the gaps between those perforations hold grey speckled Dolby Digital data blocks.
- Edge print
- Not visible in this capture
- Base & colour
- Clear base with a light blue tint along the edges; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no obvious fading or colour shift.
- Projection history
- None seen at this size; no scratches, cue marks or splices are visible across the frames.
- Picture
- Positive colour image; the frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the animated artwork is consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
- Era check
- Optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks on a clear base fits a late-1990s 35mm release print, matching the 1999 date of the trailer on record.
