Pokemon Movie 20: Kimi ni Kimeta!

After the bunch of generic movies that the franchise was bringing (especially XY's), this film felt like a breath of fresh air, a necessary change and an interesting experience. Even so, it could have been handled much better.


At first, the film was very ambitious, trying to mix classic elements with new elements in a single story with the classic theme of "chosen by the legendary", which is not bad, but that same ambition made the development of the film was very inconsistent: they added key elements of the first season, such as the way Ash and Pikachu became friends, Caterpie's capture and subsequent release and ... the abandoned Charmander, beautiful scenes that contributed to Ash development, but didn't impact as they intended to do (speaking from the perspective of the new generations of fans, which is the main audience to which the film aimed). In addition, the new elements were incorporated in a very superficial way, resulting in a very hasty plot, which handled too much issues: Cross as an antithesis of Ash, Verity and Sorrel, even the same legend of "chosen by Ho-Oh", the old man who wrote the book and Marshadow as an evil being and his world of illusion were treated very superficially. While the subplots were placed "just because", the main plot was developed inconsistently.


The plot is not the only thing that remained half developed, the characters too:

-Both Verity and Sorrel, although they are not the most original characters in the world, they are charismatic and have interesting motivations, respectively: wanting to show your real value and being a professor due to a traumatic experience that made you see things from a broader perspective, each one was introduced with quite remarkable personalities, but once they joined to Ash, all that disappeared, and they went into the background in such a blatant way that it's offensive, giving the feeling of wanting to see more of them.

-Cross and Marshadow were only used as a plot device. The first as the typical edgelord who treats everyone badly, considers that everything is brute force and friendship is useless but without the redemption that differentiates him from others like Paul and Trip, who in the end was the one who unleashed the chaos due to his imprudence. The second as the evil entity that has to stop our characters "just because", if there is a real reason for its participation, this was not very clear or was never explained properly.

-On the other hand we have the same Ash as always, but due to the focus they gave him, his development as a newly initiated Trainer was better appreciated, in the best way that has been seen in the franchise so far, as well as his relationship with Pikachu... But yes, the way he "revived" was one of the most cheeky deus ex machina of all the anime, and don't tell me it was Ho-Oh because he was not present and the Rainbow Wing had disintegrated.


In short: very ambitious plot, mixing new and old elements in a very superficial way, focusing on some things and leaving aside many others, hasty development and interesting characters but very badly used. As I said at the beginning, it was a renewed experience with respect to the last films, and it was pleasant to see, but it doesn't prevent that it could have been better.

What started as overhyped expectation for a tribute to the classic 90’s anime, a feature length film that promised to shine some light on one of the show’s most discussed fan-theories, ended with affirmation that it’s time for Ash’s journey to come to an end.

As to be expected from a Pokemon movie, the visuals were stunning. Like seriously, wow. This film looked incredible, from the lush forests and sprawling mountain ranges to the interior design of the pokemon centers and other buildings, I was never not impressed with the backgrounds and environments. Also stunning was the array of colors. The bright sky blues, the robust ... red Flamethrowers, and foreboding shadowy purples were a treat to behold. Everything in this show was masterfully animated, and the attention to detail impressed me, especially since they could have easily got away with doing much less. Way to go the extra mile!

Unfortunately, this is where the praise ends.

The narrative was all over the place. Any time the plot started to pick up, all of a sudden, a new subplot is introduced and then dropped just as rapidly, thereafter abruptly switching gears again with nothing in the way of a transition except for a scene cut. These include, but are not limited to, Ash’s adventures from the show (Butterfree, etc) and anything regarding Marshadow.

The action (pokemon battles) were also an area of issue for me. The fights were far too numerous and excessively forced on the viewer (seriously, they can’t go 10 minutes without having some sort of battle). Also, the amount of bullshit taking place in Ash’s battles is insane. In this ~90 minute film, Ash evolves his pokemon mid battle at least 3 or 4 times, and some of his combat strategies are so frustratingly idiotic that despite his plot armor, I’m genuinely surprised they worked. There is NO WAY Pikachu should be able to Iron Tail a Snorlax and launch it 100 feet in the air after being pinned moments ago by a Body Slam. Snorlax is like, 1,000 pounds. How do they get away with this?!?! Even kids have to realize how absurd this is at some point, right?

I suppose I ought to at least mention the other technical aspects of the film.
Here you go:
Sound: SFX were great. Soundtrack was whatever, the remixed medleys from the original series were a nice homage, but still unimpressive.
Voice Acting (dub): Some of the side characters were well voiced, but Ash and the usual suspects are as mediocre as ever.
Characters: Ash still sucks, but at least his companions were enjoyable. Despite being every single stereotype in the book, Cross managed to be one of Ash’s better rivals, not like that’s saying much though…

Visuals aside, I was let down with this film, though I can’t say that I’m completely disappointed because at least I got some (canonical?) insight into the Ho-oh fan-theory. Am I perhaps being too harsh on Pokemon 20XX?
After all, it is a “kids” movie.

...I really don’t think so. It is possible to make a good kids movie. Dreamworks and Pixar do it all the time, and the legendary Hayao Miyazaki never fails to amaze. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask of Pokemon company to put some effort into their writing and create a story that can be enjoyed by fans of all ages.

I’ve said it for a long time, but the biggest issue holding back the Pokemon anime is the company’s attachment to its protagonist. He’s dried up, and stopped being interesting 10 years ago. There are pokemon fans of all ages, a sizable demographic being in their 20s and 30s. It wouldn’t kill them to make a series, or even a one-off movie, starring a mature protagonist, or at least a teenager more mature than Ash.

That being said, it was fun watching Pokemon again after all these years, but after seeing this film, my hiatus will likely continue. I was actually planning on watching some of the other Pokemon movies as well, but until they kick Ash to the curb, it just isn’t worth my time.

So I happened to stumble into another nostalgic beartrap; well not all that nostalgic, since I do still play the games regularly, but as far as the anime goes, I've been mostly disinterested in most things Pokémon since Sinnoh I guess. Now, since gen VI probably, Gamefreak has seemingly grown progressively more aware of us "geezers", who never could quite put down the game boy and say goodbye to our PG-13 digital armies of "dog fighting"-animals. Next to the mega stones, alolan forms and 3DS re-releases of classic games, this movie is another example of this. Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You is in a ... lot of ways a remake of the original series; a decision, that was met with both praise and criticism from the "gen-wunner"-fan base. Some of them welcomed the possibility of a remake, even if not completely faithful, others just couldn't live with the changes, the film attempted to make. Me, I was as already explained in the intro, initially indiffirent to the movie's existence, but now that I've seen it, I'd honestly dare saying, that (apart from some irritating choices made in the climax of the movie) it is one of the better Pokémon films, if not the best one yet. Let me elaborate;

Story (☆):
There's alot of re-using of ideas from the source material, but honestly I'd have to say, the writers made their homework. I'm generally not a fan of remaking and re-hashing, but what we get in this movie is pretty well structured and the source material they chose patches together the movie neatly. The premise is basically classic Pokémon; Ash Ketchum is now 10 and can leave his mom and embark on an adventure capturing odd animals with weird abilities, making them fight, collecting badges and trying to become the very best, like noone ever was. Now what the movie did well, is to choose just the right aspects of this journey to make it compelling. The episodes they picked to remake and eventually lead into a new story find a common ground in a story about (big shock) friendship and trust. It's not the most original concept, not new to Pokémon or the genre it is a part of, but it is handled well.

Characters (☆):
Common complaint about the Pokémon anime is, how bland the characters are and to some degree this is the case in this movie as well. The new side characters serve mostly as plot devices, the antagonist is the classic trainer, who only wants power and considers companionship with his Pokémon unnecessary and Team Rocket are ultimately reduced to comic relief cameos; but at the core of it all, you do have Ash and his Pokémon and their character arcs. Fair enough; alot of people probably won't be able to seperate this Ash from his series' counterpart; the series Ash being way too often the dimwited over-enthusiastic shounen hero, who learns lessons only to forget them within the next 10 episodes, but if you manage to seperate this Ash from that Ash, you might not be as dissapointed in him after all. Well, there's always the classic complaints you can make; "Why is he using, that Pokémon against that Pokémon?" or "Why is he using that attack on that Pokémon", but then again you can't really apply your quantitative experience from the video games in the more layered and less predictable fighting mechanics of the anime. Not to mention this is an Ash with far less experience, then the series' one, so mistakes are always a possibility.

Art (☆☆):
Not much to complain about here; it's colourful and pleasing to the eye. The artstyle is typical Pokémon movie-artstyle with designs to appeal to all ages, especially the younger demographic. The fights are well choreographed, dynamic and immersive. All in all it's pleasing to the eye.

Soundtrack (☆):
It's funny, but even though I consider myself a big music nerd, I never really dissect anime soundtrack too much. I can always spot a brilliant soundtrack and voice acting and differentiate it from a complete travesty, but I never go too deep into it (Not that it even affects my overall enjoyment of the anime too much). With that said; Pokémon was fine; decent voice acting, soundtrack you would expect, nothing was off.

Final Verdict:
As stated in the introduction; I think it's well put together and thoughtout and tells a cohesive story. Ash and his Pokémon are surprisingly the stars of the show with decent character arcs. It's a decent film, but nothing we really needed and as a remake, nothing that does something unexpected, but it is a competent product alltogether. 5/10

Rating system:

As seen above, I use a star system (symbols I have stolen from Yu-Gi-Oh!'s entries here on MAL) to rate the series/movie in terms of four categories, which can indicate its quality. Those ratings do affect the final score I give the series/movie, but I do not use a mathematical method to assign the score. Ultimately I weight the final ratings by considering the stars given. I do not consider the categories to be equivalent and value a good story and characters over good art or a cathcy soundtrack. As far as the stars given go, I use a four stage scale:
(-) - bad, a series/movie is terrible in this category
(☆) - okay, it's fine, tolerable, but likely nothing special
(☆☆) - good, it's good, but may have flaws or isn't quite among the best I've seen in the category
(☆☆☆) - great, the best rating I can give, when it's truely remarkable in the category

Well, it's Pokemon. What did you expect?

Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You is the latest installment in line of the long-running Pokemon movies that were sloppily put together for the mere sake of having an annual movie. It's an obligation, really, for most currently airing shounen anime (like Naruto and One Piece used to do when they were on air). Being an obligation, it's understandable, albeit not acceptable, that they put together a half-ass movie with a mediocre storyline and soundtrack.

Story - 6
Being the 20th anniversary movie, the story is unsurprisingly decent with fair bits of emotional moments. You get to see Ash's early years ... in Kanto being retold, with him actually earning the badges fair and square this time rather than rely on the gym leaders' pity. There are also some memorable scenes too that once brought a tear to your eyes.

Most of all, the movie explores the classic subject often talked about in Pokemon: the struggle between being a strong trainer and being an ethical one. It's honestly my favorite theme of the anime, since being honorable and upholding sportsmanship in battle has always been what made Ash unique as a trainer compared to those who merely seek strength and Uber-tier Pokemon, so it's nice to see that subject explored through him and Cross (the edgy elitist Smogonfag in all of us). That being said, there's nothing new that is said here. Diamond and Pearl already explored that theme thoroughly enough with Paul, so this rehash is rather unwelcomed.

There are also certain dark moments due to Marshadow's introduction, but I feel like they squandered a chance to really push the envelope with his ability to bring out the dark side in people. This could have easily been a new chapter in the Pokemon franchise that reinvents the Pokemon anime and Ash Ketchum in new and groundbreaking ways. A lot of people often dismissed Ash as some naive loser who relies on the power of friendship and bad writing, but there's a moment in the movie when Ash acted like us who wished we could have chosen a better Pokemon instead, but that moment is brief and doesn't have much bearing on the story. The anti-climatic way the conflict gets resolved through a contrived revival calls to mind some other better animated movies out there that handled death and loss far, far better (i.e.: The Iron Giant).

Character - 5
Other than Ash Ketchum, you won't be bothered with most of the throwaway characters here. You have imitations of familiar characters here travelling with Ash as his "new companions": Verity is Misty, a water Pokemon user, Sorrel is Brock, a medic wannabe, and Cross is Paul the edgelord. They don't add anything significant to the story other than offering mild platitude from the side. Just when I was expecting a really dark backstory from Verity that could have made me cared for her, the movie disappointed me with a mediocre one. Sorrel's backstory fares better though and is actually a better version of Brock, giving him a more powerful and sensible motivation in becoming a medic. I couldn't care about Cross at all. He comes across as a spoiled kid who got bullied and ended up whining about how the world is so tough and blah blah blah.

Needless to say, the character writing for Pokemon movies has always been lousy. But , Ash's writing fares far better than previous movies. As mentioned earlier, there's a squandered opportunity here in writing Ash's character. In storytelling, especially in sequels that further explore established or familiar characters, the protagonist would often be treated to suffering that would question his ideals and values, reveal exactly the kind of person, or in this case, trainer he really is inside. There's some of that here with Marshadow's involvement as he wonders if strength and power are truly the only things that matter in Pokemon, but I feel like it's one of those unresolved sub-plots in movies that goes forgotten.

Art - 7
Probably the best part of the movie is its animation. It's updated with a fresh coat of paint that brings the world of Pokemon to life. All the vibrant colors and sharpness as expected of a 2017 animation are present here, albeit nothing revolutionary. If there is something to complain about, it's perhaps the display of powers by Marshadow and Pikachu. I wish we could have seen some Z-powers here, particularly by Pikachu. It would have been nice to see the 10 Million Volt Thunderbolt attack in full-resolution animation.

Sound - 3
As for the worst part of the movie? It's undoubtedly the soundtrack. I had the unfortunate opportunity to experience the dub before I've seen the original Japanese version, and the terrible score leaves me wondering if the original fares better. It's a bunch of uninspired numbers that are barely audible in the background and definitely forgettable. Even the somewhat decent battle themes are boring. Remember the times in these animated movies when you would cheer during the climatic battles because the theme music comes up? This isn't one of those movies, and I was really hoping for it to be. Half of the reason the first movie had me grabbing for tissues was because of its emotional soundtrack that struck the right chords, a significant ingredient missing from the tearjerking scenes here. They even replaced the classic soundtrack, "Tears After A Cloudy Weather" during the Spearow scene. How dare they. Ever since TPCi took over the production of the anime from 4Kids (who at least bothered to use the original Japanese music), the soundtrack has been terrible, and this has been the most disappointing example yet.

The voice acting fares slightly better, but only because it's so forgettable and insignificant in my enjoyment of the anime. Music has always been a bigger factor than voice acting with anime that focus on battling. This isn't drama, so voice acting being bad isn't as affecting. I still prefer Veronica Taylor as Ash's voice of course, but mostly for nostalgia reasons. My favorite version of Ash will always be Rica Matsumoto anyway. Even the notorious Pikachu talking scene didn't put me off as much as it did for other people, as I'm curious what the Japanese version sounds like.

Enjoyment - 6
Most of my enjoyment for this movie comes more from the hype of an anniversary film than anything related to the actual production itself. It is nice to tread down memory lane and see Butterfree again, and it's nice to see Ash upholding his moral standards as per usual. There's these little charm here and there that prevents me from completely hating the movie, so it's not a total flop for an anniversary film.

Overall - 6
If you are expecting an amazing 20th anniversary film like Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare, look somewhere else. If you are seeking to feed your nostalgia, look to the first season of the Pokemon anime in either of the language you haven't seen. If you are looking to have more adventures with Ash Ketchum, look to the new season, Sun & Moon. If you are hoping to waste some time exploring what a 20th anniversary Pokemon movie would be like for your own morbid curiosity, however, then feel free to check this out.

This movie was... interesting. Not quite what I thought it was going to be. I came into this expecting it to be just one big nostalgia trip-- a recreation of the major events of gen 1, just polished up a little. And we do get some of that. But this movie also tried to tell its own story.

I don't have a problem with either of these two points by themselves. But they didn't mesh quite as well as I think the writers wanted them to... I think the idea for the new story had potential. Unless I missed that one, I don't recall there ever ... being a movie with Ho-Oh at its focus, even though it's the first legendary the series ever introduces. And on the note of the legendaries, I think the movie does that aspect of the story quite well. Each battle really drove home the difference in power between the legendary Pokemon and the regular ones, something I think the actual series and many of the other movies kind of lost touch with after a while, because the kids interact with them so casually.

I didn't mind that they gave Ash new companions just for this movie, but I can't say I was terribly impressed by either of them. That is one point where the callbacks to the original series started to feel intrusive. As cool as it was (at first) to see those scenes all over again, it started to feel like they were taking time away from developing Verity and Sorrel. By the end, I can't say I was really attached to either one of them. And I know that with each new generation, it's a chance to introduce a new era of kids into the franchise, but let's be honest. I think it's safe to say that most of the viewers were going to be older fans, and this problem could have been easily resolved by just using Brock and Misty (though maybe with their stories reimagined as well) who really don't need a proper introduction at this point.

All in all, I enjoyed it well enough... Honestly, the original series is one of my least favorite seasons of Pokemon, so maybe the nostalgic scenes wouldn't have really impressed me anyway. I was kind of just expecting this to be a polished recap of the beginning for newer fans, so I did think it was pretty cool that it had its own story. And in the Pokemon franchise alone, I've definitely seen worse.

I wanted to watch this movie so bad, and then when I did I was extremely disappointed. I wasn't a huge fan of the retconned story which HEAVILY borrowed from the first movie, and would have loved to have seen Brock and Misty, getting the original trio back together. I also thought the art style looked a little weird, but that could possibly be that I saw this movie on a small SD TV and it was meant for a big screen HD movie theatre. I have to say that I did really like the remake of the original English OP, and the dynamic between ... Ash and Pikachu was really cute.

*** minor spoilers? ***


This movie rehashes the first Pokémon season(s), more or less, but instead of a fresh start, it feels like a repeat performance with slight tweaks – like one of those recap episodes in the middle of a season. The plot is disjointed. Knowing how amazing characters the first seasons of the TV show had, these ones here and the relationships they try to create with the main character, feel very weak and underdeveloped – not to mention incredibly rushed.

Also, I cringed at talking Pikachu.

So many parallels to the original Pokémon movie, but not making any of it better.

I hear there’s going to ... be another new movie in 2018, and I fear they’ll just keep doing this same thing: recapping old events, giving them a little twist, entering weak new characters to fill the space around Ash, and simply upgrading it with better animation.