Ranked #1884

Pokemon: The First Movie

This was a movie that broke the box office records for an animated feature at the time. Of course, records have come a long way since then, but this was still a fun movie.

STORY - As a kids' movie for a kids' show, the themes in Mewtwo Strikes Back are actually quite impressive. The morality of cloning and genetic modification/enhancement is a very real debate that ripples through the scientific community now and again, and it's interesting to see that idea translated into a Pokemon movie. Thus, as far as its target audience goes, the core plot of this First Movie is definitely doing something uncommon. The arrangement of the story around this central theme is a little more normal as it retains many typical elements from the anime series.

CHARACTERS - Let's skip over the normal cast of the series because I'm going to assume you already know there isn't a lot going on there. Now, Mewtwo is a fun character -- his monologue presented at the beginning of the movie and the constant destruction he finds himself in is a great way to start the foundations of his character. His feelings are very logical and easy to understand while offering possibilities beyond what's obvious. His repeated question of "What is my purpose?" highlights the deepest theme of the movie well, and I find it very exciting that the rest of the movie is based around the fact that he creates a purpose for himself, since no one else is able to provide him with one. If you take a step back and go through Mewtwo's train of thought, it's really not that riveting or different from what you would expect, but when you remember again that this is a movie directed towards a younger audience, I think the philosophical and moral implications of those kinds of questions and actions is very potent, thus making for a great movie character.

Mew and Mewtwo's clones pretty much make up the rest of the movie-exclusive characters. The simplicity of Mew was a great foil to the complexity of Mewtwo, though I still wonder if they could have been more clear about Mew's intentions because certainly she had some. The rest of the clones were rather generic, bending easily to the whims of the movie's message with no real personality of their own. That's perfectly forgivable though; after all, kids' movies need morals.

ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - Honestly, there wasn't much notably different from a normal Pokemon episode. Maybe things were animated a bit more smoothly, but other than that, just average.

MUSIC - I'm actually rather fond of most of the music in this movie. It was great that they used the full version of the normal TV introduction (whether in English or Japanese). There are some pretty epic tracks played during Mewtwo's reign of terror, and many of the movie's other background tracks are reminiscent of melodies also found in the series. Mew's innocent little theme also comes to mind as a pretty fun and memorable tune.

VOICE ACTING - I've seen this movie in English, Japanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin. I'll just talk about the first two though, lol. The English dub... well, I'm sure you already have your own opinions about Ash and the gang, but I liked Mewtwo's voice. It suited him very well. And so did Mew's! But I guess that really isn't that impressive. I liked the Japanese better mostly because I like the main cast better. Especially memorable is the opening scene with Ash and his friends, during which he's challenged to a random Pokemon battle. The Japanese version offers some brilliant Engrish that just can't be rivaled: "OH MY GODDDDDD!!!"

OVERALL - Pokemon the First Movie is my favorite Pokemon movie (keeping in mind I've only seen the first three). Sure, it's definitely a film aimed for the younger audience, but even for an older audience, as long as you can bring yourself to swallow some of the corny bits, I think it retains a lot of merits. Cloning and genetics is always an interesting subject, anyway. read more

I used to be a Pokemon fanatic, as many youngsters did, but unlike everyone else I probably saw this movie for the first time in 2001 because I jumped the bandwagon later than everyone else. I remember very little about watching it, but I do remember that, in contrast to the series, it was exceptionally dark and very sad.

Let's put some perspective here: the movie, in the English dub, opens up with Mewtwo coming out of some cloned form of hibernation (which is strange for a children's movie) and it's assumed that he's absolutely pissed off that he's been cloned and what-not. So he proceeds to kill everyone in the laboratory.

You read that right... the movie STARTS with Mewtwo killing a bunch of scientists contracted by evildoer Giovanni to 'create' the strongest Pokemon of all time. That's not Mewtwo knocking people all over the place, but Mewtwo actually murdering people. As in, they're dead after that scene. How do I know? Explosions and shit. Epic ones. That's the only spoiler you get, I promise.

I decided to rewatch it earlier today while I had about an hour to spare but was around people and suddenly realized that it had been seven years and I was going to be emotional about it for whatever reason. Whether it's the fact that it's seven years gone and so much has change or the fact that it's genuinely sad movie I almost cried several times throughout.

At the climax of the movie shit starts happening and when shit starts happening shit goes down. Let's just say that I'm a fairly strong guy (that's right, guy) and I pride myself on never getting sad. I've seen people die in horrible ways, I've watched close relatives become nothing in hospital beds over a matter of weeks and then die. This hit me more. I realize how strange that sounds.

But as I said, the climax of the movie is really the point where they try to get you, even as an adult, to cry. And they almost did it. It's very very very heartwrenching and again I dunno whether it's that I hadn't watched it in seven years, whether I'm a pussy, or whether it's actually that sad. Leaning towards the first two though.

If you've never watched this movie you're horribly behind, but other than that it's still fresh. It's been ten years since it hit theaters in the US (I'm pretty sure, but I wasn't a fan back then) and it feels as good now as it did on my first time watching it. I'm sure others have duly noted that the comedy found throughout the series (to this point) is pretty much stripped and this movie is all about seriousness, sadness, and... moral issues. Not to say that's a bad thing, it's definitely still a good movie.

If you're going back, expect this one to be a shocker. The closest I've gotten to a Pokemon movie being this shocking is the one about those two Lugia-like Pokemon from generation III which I never paid any attention to. Now let me say at least one more time that you will probably be shocked if you haven't seen it before, but probably in a good way.

Story is an 8/10 because it just puts you in a lab (since the dub apparently cut off 15 minutes of things that would be "shocking" to western viewers) and boom the movie is going, art is 10/10 because it's basically a more glossed and shiny version of the normal series, the sound is a 10/10 because the soundtrack matches the moods throughout the film, including the climactic moments, the character is 5/10 because the characters have no development and often fail to act like themselves, and the enjoyment factor is an 8/10 because it's enjoyable but serious and sad. Overall score is an 8/10, definitely worth watching if you can deal with the kiddie themes, since this movie was for younger western audiences... which is pretty gay if you ask me. read more