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National Film Vault

OFFICIAL FILM AUTHENTICATION BY CROWN GRADING
A
AUTHENTIC
CROWN CERTIFIED
Film cell NFV-000003378 Tap to enlarge
MOVIEPokémon 3: The Movie Trailer/Pikachu & Pichu Short Trailer
SCENECleffa, Igglybuff, Smoochum and Furret
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR2001
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000003378

FILM NOTES

Pokémon 3: The Movie arrived in 2001 as the third theatrical entry in the franchise, released domestically by Warner Bros. with 4Kids handling the dub, riding the tail end of the first wave of Pokémania. This particular reel preserves promotional material: the trailer for the feature itself paired with the short "Pikachu & Pichu," a format common to the era when theaters ran bonus animated shorts ahead of the main Pokémon film. These trailer and short reels are a distinct collecting category, separate from the movie footage proper, since they circulated briefly in theaters before being pulled.

This cell draws together Cleffa, Igglybuff, Smoochum, and Furret, a grouping of baby Pokémon forms alongside Furret, all popular among collectors who favor the gentler, youth-oriented side of the franchise over battle-heavy imagery. Their appearance here likely belongs to the "Pikachu & Pichu" short, which centered on young and baby Pokémon in a lighter, slice-of-life register distinct from the main feature's adventure plot. For collectors, a cell naming this specific quartet is valuable as a record of the short's ensemble cast, a snapshot of early-franchise character design before many of these Pokémon became secondary figures in later merchandising.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

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

Gauge
35mm layout, four perforations per frame along both edges, with three full frames visible on the strip.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, with clean rounded-rectangle punches and no torn or missing holes seen.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, with two tracks visible, plus a speckled pattern in the gaps between the lower perforations; no DTS timecode or SDDS seen.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Light cyan-teal tint to the outer edge bands, with the picture dyes looking saturated and neutral, and no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, splices or cue marks are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive image, three consecutive frames of one near-identical shot, and the animated style is consistent with the Pokémon film on record.
Era check
Consistent with an early-2000s release print, since it shows a 35mm optical track with Dolby Digital-style data between perforations and saturated dye image.
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 000071153
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