CrownGrading Pro
Crown Portal
Submit cards Submissions Start your submissions Submission walkthrough Grading process Pre-Grade estimator Film authentication Programs Crown Ascension Crown Royal Tier Resources About Crown CrownStandard Knowledge Center CrownVault Contact Crown Portal
Ready to grade your cards? Submit Cards →
Crown Grading

National Film Vault

OFFICIAL FILM AUTHENTICATION BY CROWN GRADING
A
AUTHENTIC
CROWN CERTIFIED
Film cell NFV-000003375 Tap to enlarge
MOVIEPokémon 3: The Movie Trailer/Pikachu & Pichu Short Trailer
SCENECleffa, Igglybuff, Smoochum and Furret
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR2001
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000003375

FILM NOTES

Pokémon 3: The Movie arrived in 2001 from Warner Bros. and 4Kids Entertainment, riding the tail end of the franchise's first great theatrical wave in the West. Paired with the Pikachu and Pichu short, it followed the pattern set by earlier entries: a feature built around a new legendary creature, bundled with a lighter companion piece showcasing fan favorites in a gentler setting. For collectors, these promotional reels mark a snapshot of Pokémon's peak cultural saturation in America, when trailers themselves became collectible ephemera tied to the toy and card boom.

This cell gathers Cleffa, Igglybuff, Smoochum and Furret, baby forms and a weasel-like evolution line that trailer and short material often leaned on for their charm with younger audiences. Cleffa, Igglybuff and Smoochum belong to the Baby Pokémon generation introduced in Gold and Silver, prized by collectors for their novelty status, while Furret rounds out the group as a more familiar early companion. As a trailer or promotional frame, this cell represents the marketing layer of the franchise rather than the main feature itself, a piece of the era's advertising machine preserved alongside the film it once promoted.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

Consistent with a 35mm release trailer print of Pokémon 3: The Movie (2001).

Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with cleanly punched rounded-rectangle holes and no tears or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
One variable-area optical track runs beside the picture. Dolby Digital data blocks in the gaps between the lower-edge perforations are not clearly visible in this capture.
Edge print
Reversed 'SAFETY' is legible along the lower edge, reading backwards; no key numbers or other codes are legible in this capture.
Base & colour
Pale aqua-blue base tint with a neutral clear picture area; the dye colours appear saturated and not faded or red-shifted.
Projection history
No scratches, splices or cue marks seen at this size; the dark oval marks across the frames are camera reflections and are ignored.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-identical shot, in a style matching an animated Pokémon feature, consistent with the film on record.
Era check
A 35mm safety-base print with an optical track and cleanly punched perforations is consistent with an early-2000s release or trailer print 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 in partnership with National Film Vault, 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.
CROWN SERIAL 000071150
Original Film Capture As received
The film strip as photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size