This month, I decided to something a little different. Pokemon is my favorite franchise. The world-building, the creativity, the imagination, the sheer possibilities you could do with this concept is marvelous. Now, with Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire upon us, I've decided to create a theme month. Here, on Pokecember, I will review all of the Pokemon movies, from the first to the last. I will do these in the style of my normal reviews. However, this will be an analysis of both the film on its own, and as a Pokemon film. If I haven't seen it, (I only haven't seen the most recent), I will try watch it. Note that this largely a fan's perspective, so certain terms might not be familiar if you don't know the source material. Also, there will be unmarked spoilers. This might bleed into January due to time restraints. So, sit back, and enjoy my review of Pokemon: The First Movie. Yes, the very first. Got released at the height of Pokemania in 1998 (1999 in the US. Drew in crowds, and the ire of film critics, who clearly only saw a marketing tool for an inexplicably popular franchise with esoteric character names and jargon that had adults up in arms, and savaged it. They saw this as epitome of cultural decline that Pokemon as a whole symbolized (Now that Pokemon is beloved, I could safely say that never happened)Me? I was too young ( just got out of diapers) to watch it in theaters, so my memories of this film come from watching it on home video during early 2000's. (I'll get to that) How does it hold up?
The film starts sometime in the recent past. A scientist named Dr. Fuji and his team have cloned the legendary first Pokemon, Mew, on a laboratory on a distant island. They decide to call this clone Pokemon, "Mewtwo." Fuji is attempting to study cloning in order to clone his dead daughter. During the embryonic stage, Fuji's daughter and Mewtwo bond telepathically. However, the daughter dies, causing Mewtwo to go into a rage upon awakening, killing most of the scientists, including Fuji, and destroying the lab. Upon this killing, however, he is approached by Fuji benefactor: Giovanni, head of the nefarious Team Rocket. Giovanni states that Mewtwo and him could create a partnership. Mewtwo joins forces with Giovanni, become his personal war machine, and also fighting in his gym. However, Giovanni tells Mewtwo (for no apparent reason) that he is little more than Giovanni's weapon. Mewtwo, obviously enraged, releases himself from Giovanni, and flees, returning to the island of his birth, there, he swears that he will take his vengeance. Later, in the Kanto Region, Ash, along with his loyal Pokemon Pikachu, and his friends, Gym Leaders Misty and Brock, are enjoying some quiet time during their journey, when a Dragonite brings a message from a mysterious source. A very powerful trainer seeks to battle the best and the brightest, and asks them to arrive on his fortress on New Island (yes, that is what it's called). Ash, jumping at the chance, takes the group to a port, but a storm has blocked passage. Ash, Pikachu, Brock, and Misty, along with several other trainers, brave the storm to reach the island. They arrive, and find that their challenger is none other than Mewtwo. Mewtwo, driven by a radical misanthropic ideology, wants to eliminate humans, as well as the Pokemon who serve them (viewing them as traitors). He challenges the trainers to a battle, where he reveals clone versions of the Kanto starters. His clones demolish the originals. He proceeds to capture their Pokemon using special Pokeballs. Pikachu holds out, but is eventually captured. Ash tries to free his friend. Meanwhile, the clones are sent to a special facility, where they are processed, and cloned. Team Rocket stumbled on it earlier in the film.Ash frees Pikachu and the others, but the clones have been made. Now, a battle begins between clone and Pokemon, and soon, another challenger arrives. Mew, the original that Mewtwo was born from.
I will start, as usual, with the good things, because there are a few. Mewtwo is a compelling villain. He's somewhat sympathetic, or at the very least, you understand why he does what he does. I haven't seen the Japanese version, but I've heard that it made Mewtwo even more sympathetic. He also seems quite the menance in this story (though compared with the god-like Pokemon of the other generations, his power does diminish), and he is a legitimate threat. Also, it doesn't feel like an hour and a half episode of the show. It does feel grander and larger in scale.Also, Ash's dedication to Pikachu is a nice symbol of their friendship (this is expanded upon in a later movie, but I'll get to that later (and boy, am I excited when I get there). The look of the island is also very unique, unlike the rest of the series, and the cloning apparatus is very creative. The battles are also very detailed, once again, unlike the tv show.
Now, you might think I like this movie. Well, I don't dislike it. A lot of people do, but personally, I always felt it was okay. Not good, not bad, just mediocre. And I still feel that way. The bad stuff is largely what this movie is teaching. Yes, this is a lesson film. Okay, fine, but I don't agree with either message. First, there is the "fighting is bad" message. Yes, a Pokemon movie has that message, wrap your head around that. You see, we see the clones and the regular Pokemon duke it out, and it is brutal, and there are scars, and there's music. Nurse Joy (Mewtwo's hypnotized servant) proclaims "Pokemon shouldn't fight; not like this." Yeah, they shouldn't fight with their fists. They should fight with energy beams, fire punchs, high velocity water pumps, cuts, and leaching their energy... A lot of people have said this "This is unbelievably hypocritical," and they are absolutely right. Also, the resurrection scene. Bear with me, folks. During the end, Mew and Mewtwo are about to release these high energy beams at each other, and Ash move in their path. The attack causes him to turn to stone (as opposed to vaporizing him). The Pokemon see this, and they shed tears. Their tears are enough to bring Ash back to life. Yes, you did just read that. Tears were about to bring someone back to life. Seriously. Do I have to tell you this is stupid? I mean, what is this teaching kids? Urgh, and you have minor 4-Kids hiccups, like misidentifying Pokemon, and leaving out plot details.
The question I ask myself is "Why was this released to theaters?" Perhaps, I'm biased in that I never saw it in theaters (or really any other Pokemon movie), but enjoyed it on home video. I feel that the latter was a better place for it. This, along with most other pokemon movies, are direct to video or DVD fare. I don't think this was good enough to warrant a theater release. Maybe, it was really Pokemania that brought this to the theaters, but really, this should have been released to video. Does this make it terrible? No. I don't hate this movie, as much as other people do. I just feel it isn't very good. As a stand-alone film, it barely explains anything, and thus the situation has no meaning to those who aren't already familiar with the franchise. It also has messages that are either hypocritical or simply are too fantastic and whimsical to teach children. As a Pokemon movie, it's decent enough. The Battles are detailed, Mewtwo is powerful, the animation is slick, and it does have an intensity to it. Overall, if you want to watch the first one, watch it. If you want to get into the franchise, this film is not the place to start. If you just want to show a child this, there are far better childrens films, or hell, far better Pokemon movies, you could show them. Anyway, Join me next week for Pokemon:2000.
The film starts sometime in the recent past. A scientist named Dr. Fuji and his team have cloned the legendary first Pokemon, Mew, on a laboratory on a distant island. They decide to call this clone Pokemon, "Mewtwo." Fuji is attempting to study cloning in order to clone his dead daughter. During the embryonic stage, Fuji's daughter and Mewtwo bond telepathically. However, the daughter dies, causing Mewtwo to go into a rage upon awakening, killing most of the scientists, including Fuji, and destroying the lab. Upon this killing, however, he is approached by Fuji benefactor: Giovanni, head of the nefarious Team Rocket. Giovanni states that Mewtwo and him could create a partnership. Mewtwo joins forces with Giovanni, become his personal war machine, and also fighting in his gym. However, Giovanni tells Mewtwo (for no apparent reason) that he is little more than Giovanni's weapon. Mewtwo, obviously enraged, releases himself from Giovanni, and flees, returning to the island of his birth, there, he swears that he will take his vengeance. Later, in the Kanto Region, Ash, along with his loyal Pokemon Pikachu, and his friends, Gym Leaders Misty and Brock, are enjoying some quiet time during their journey, when a Dragonite brings a message from a mysterious source. A very powerful trainer seeks to battle the best and the brightest, and asks them to arrive on his fortress on New Island (yes, that is what it's called). Ash, jumping at the chance, takes the group to a port, but a storm has blocked passage. Ash, Pikachu, Brock, and Misty, along with several other trainers, brave the storm to reach the island. They arrive, and find that their challenger is none other than Mewtwo. Mewtwo, driven by a radical misanthropic ideology, wants to eliminate humans, as well as the Pokemon who serve them (viewing them as traitors). He challenges the trainers to a battle, where he reveals clone versions of the Kanto starters. His clones demolish the originals. He proceeds to capture their Pokemon using special Pokeballs. Pikachu holds out, but is eventually captured. Ash tries to free his friend. Meanwhile, the clones are sent to a special facility, where they are processed, and cloned. Team Rocket stumbled on it earlier in the film.Ash frees Pikachu and the others, but the clones have been made. Now, a battle begins between clone and Pokemon, and soon, another challenger arrives. Mew, the original that Mewtwo was born from.
I will start, as usual, with the good things, because there are a few. Mewtwo is a compelling villain. He's somewhat sympathetic, or at the very least, you understand why he does what he does. I haven't seen the Japanese version, but I've heard that it made Mewtwo even more sympathetic. He also seems quite the menance in this story (though compared with the god-like Pokemon of the other generations, his power does diminish), and he is a legitimate threat. Also, it doesn't feel like an hour and a half episode of the show. It does feel grander and larger in scale.Also, Ash's dedication to Pikachu is a nice symbol of their friendship (this is expanded upon in a later movie, but I'll get to that later (and boy, am I excited when I get there). The look of the island is also very unique, unlike the rest of the series, and the cloning apparatus is very creative. The battles are also very detailed, once again, unlike the tv show.
Now, you might think I like this movie. Well, I don't dislike it. A lot of people do, but personally, I always felt it was okay. Not good, not bad, just mediocre. And I still feel that way. The bad stuff is largely what this movie is teaching. Yes, this is a lesson film. Okay, fine, but I don't agree with either message. First, there is the "fighting is bad" message. Yes, a Pokemon movie has that message, wrap your head around that. You see, we see the clones and the regular Pokemon duke it out, and it is brutal, and there are scars, and there's music. Nurse Joy (Mewtwo's hypnotized servant) proclaims "Pokemon shouldn't fight; not like this." Yeah, they shouldn't fight with their fists. They should fight with energy beams, fire punchs, high velocity water pumps, cuts, and leaching their energy... A lot of people have said this "This is unbelievably hypocritical," and they are absolutely right. Also, the resurrection scene. Bear with me, folks. During the end, Mew and Mewtwo are about to release these high energy beams at each other, and Ash move in their path. The attack causes him to turn to stone (as opposed to vaporizing him). The Pokemon see this, and they shed tears. Their tears are enough to bring Ash back to life. Yes, you did just read that. Tears were about to bring someone back to life. Seriously. Do I have to tell you this is stupid? I mean, what is this teaching kids? Urgh, and you have minor 4-Kids hiccups, like misidentifying Pokemon, and leaving out plot details.
The question I ask myself is "Why was this released to theaters?" Perhaps, I'm biased in that I never saw it in theaters (or really any other Pokemon movie), but enjoyed it on home video. I feel that the latter was a better place for it. This, along with most other pokemon movies, are direct to video or DVD fare. I don't think this was good enough to warrant a theater release. Maybe, it was really Pokemania that brought this to the theaters, but really, this should have been released to video. Does this make it terrible? No. I don't hate this movie, as much as other people do. I just feel it isn't very good. As a stand-alone film, it barely explains anything, and thus the situation has no meaning to those who aren't already familiar with the franchise. It also has messages that are either hypocritical or simply are too fantastic and whimsical to teach children. As a Pokemon movie, it's decent enough. The Battles are detailed, Mewtwo is powerful, the animation is slick, and it does have an intensity to it. Overall, if you want to watch the first one, watch it. If you want to get into the franchise, this film is not the place to start. If you just want to show a child this, there are far better childrens films, or hell, far better Pokemon movies, you could show them. Anyway, Join me next week for Pokemon:2000.
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