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 4Kids Entertainment at the height of Pokémania, the second theatrical feature built from the Japanese anime phenomenon that had overtaken American playgrounds, trading cards, and Saturday morning schedules alike. Following the surprise box office success of the first film, this sequel sent Ash and company chasing the Legendary Birds across the Orange Islands, cementing the franchise's early cinematic footprint. For collectors, strips from this release mark a snapshot of peak-era Pokémon mania, when the anime's film tie-ins were cultural events in their own right.
This cell preserves a gathering moment from that adventure, placing Ash Ketchum, Misty, Tracey Sketchit, Pikachu, and Togepi alongside Melody, the Shamouti Island character introduced specifically for this film. Melody's presence narrows the scene to the Orange Islands arc, a region beloved by longtime fans for its departure from the mainline games. Collectors prize cells featuring secondary cast like Melody and Tracey, since their screen time was comparatively limited, making authentic frames of the full group together a more unusual find within the film's surviving 35mm material.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm release print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm: four perforations per frame along both edges, and the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with rounded-rectangle holes and no tears or missing perforations.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track runs inside the lower perforations, with a dotted SDDS-style line along the outer edge; Dolby Digital blocks between the lower perforations look like grey speckled squares.
Edge print
Reads "KODAK 2383 SG 1999" (backwards, with a purple square mark), printed along the upper edge.
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue tint at the edges; the dye image looks neutral and fully saturated, with no visible fading or colour shift.
Projection history
None seen at this size; no scratches, splices or cue marks, and the faint ring on the two right-hand frames is a camera reflection.
Picture
Positive image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-identical shot, and the animated style is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
Consistent with a 1999–2000 release print: Kodak 2383 print stock with an optical track plus Dolby Digital and SDDS-style data is typical of that period.
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 000071319
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
