MOVIEPokémon: The Movie 2000 Trailer/Pikachu’s Rescue Adventure Clip
SCENEBulbasaur/Slowking
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR2000
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000003522
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived in theaters courtesy of Warner Bros. and Kids' WB, riding the first wave of American Pokémania. As a promotional trailer and clip reel, it served to introduce audiences to the Orange Islands era of the anime, a transitional arc between the original series and its first theatrical sequel. These 35mm promotional pieces are scarce today, largely discarded once their marketing run ended, making surviving strips a window into how the franchise sold itself to a mainstream audience at the height of its cultural peak.
This cell draws from that promotional material, naming Slowking, Ash Ketchum, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Elekid as its cast. Slowking's presence is notable, as the character appears rarely in trailer or clip material and carries particular appeal for collectors tracking Pokémon beyond the core roster. Bulbasaur and Squirtle represent Ash's original starter lineup, familiar faces that anchored early promotional campaigns. As a trailer clip rather than a finished film frame, this piece exists to tease narrative moments and character groupings meant to draw ticket buyers into theaters for the Orange Islands storyline.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print or trailer strip of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, with the strip holding three frames, plus a partial neighbouring frame at the left edge.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, rounded-rectangle shape, cleanly punched with no visible tearing or missing perforations in this capture.
Soundtrack
A two-track variable-area optical track runs beside the picture, plus a dotted dash line inside the track edge; Dolby Digital data blocks sit in the gaps between the lower perforations.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue border tint along the edges; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no obvious fade or red shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size, apart from a few small dust specks; the round dark rings on the right frames are camera reflection and are ignored.
Picture
Positive colour image. The three frames are not one continuous shot: the first two match, while the third is a different cut. Animated Pokémon artwork fits the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a 2000-era release print: optical track plus Dolby Digital blocks between perforations were standard for that period's 35mm prints, and the animated picture fits the film.
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 000071297
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
