Pokemon Movie 20: Kimi ni Kimeta!

Even as Pokemon movies go, this one is little more than a bare faced affront to ones intelligence. Despite all of the clear positioning of this film as one harking back to the early days of Pokemon as was clearly evident in the artistic style and most obviously the plot. If you were hoping this was because the Pokemon company were trying to appeal to an older audience of fans who have been fans for years (similar to how they did for the X and Y anime) then either you are wrong for thinking that or the Pokemon company is just completely incompetent.

Early on, ... it didn't think my review would be like this - for the first 1/2 of the film it's actually far better than most other Pokemon films. However it quickly becomes evident that this is because it is effectively a mini anime episode and recap of prior stories as filler because the plot isn't close to being long enough for a film. The film is full of pointless filler - with team rocket appearing in the background, talking for a couple minutes then blasting off with no interaction with the characters or plot multiple times - assumedly just to fill time

Then we come to the ending. Like most Pokemon movies, this one treats the plot as an afterthought and a device for showing off the relevant legendaries (in this case Marshadow and Ho-Oh). However as it's ostensibly a kids show it's also completely essential that Ash does something Heroic in the ending and everything goes back to being fine. However in this case it just leads to the tightest knit group of Ex Machinas i've ever seen in fiction.

Again, I won't reveal too much, but suffice to say Ash vanishes without a trace in a valiant act of sacrifice. Sure would be sad if he magically reappeared out of another dimension or something - that would really make any emotional investment pointless as well as completely devaluing everything Ash gave up and sacrificed up to to that point. Oh wait, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS!

That's not the only instance either, earlier in the finally Marshadow suddenly acts completely out of character for no discernible reason with absolutely no motivation whatsoever. And I won't even get started on some of Pikachu's actions towards the end - which essentially boils down to 'Fuck you, internal consistency'.

It's really disappointing because early parts are quite good and in some (what I assume are) dream sequences are wonderfully directed - especially with the fantastic use of colour in them. Those fleeting scenes though barely if at all relevant to the 'narrative' are exceptional and deserve a lot of praise.

But overall, the film is a dumpster fire because of what it is. Make no mistake - this is not a film created to be a good film, it's a film designed to show off Marshadow as an advert for the Pokemon games. It really shouldn't be seen as anything else.

Pokemon: I Choose You The Movie, is part reboot and part retelling of Ash and Pikachu's first meeting and journey.
Some things are kept, but tweaked slightly (or a lot), and others are scrapped entirely in favor of entirely new ones. Notably Ash and Pikachu travel alone for fair bit before being joined by companions who are not Brock and Misty, nor is his rival/antagonist Gary Oak. The Team Rocket trio make sporadic and pointless appearances throughout the film, but never actually interact with Ash or anyone else. They do blast off a lot.

Art: An over reliance on bad CG effects and underwhelming animation left ... this feeling nothing like a big budget Pokemon movie. Some things were decent, sometimes it wasn't half bad at all. But there was no consistency and some scenes/things were simply dreadful to look at.

Sound: Now while I've heard good things about the soundtrack for the original, the Dub has not been well recieved, and for very good reason. I hope to eventually experience the Japanese version, but for now, the Dub is all there is, and it is underwhelming at its best, and absoloutely terrible at its worst! Ash isn't great but the person playing him does a somwhat decent job that kinda grows on you I guess. His new travelling companions (whose names I cannot remember because they were only mentioned like twice and weren't very memorable for me) are decent and horrible respectively. The girl is okay, and sometimes even pretty good, the boy on the other hand was sooo terrible I cringed every time he opened his mouth. Terrible choice of voice actor, the voice didn't fit, the guy playing him sounded bored, and bad directing made sure that the character was chore to listen to, and that's a shame, since the character himslef wasn't actually that bad. Most of the pokemon were voiced TERRIBLY too, especially charmander, who went from being cute to annoying in terms of sound. Also Meowth (shiver) and James, bleh.

ONE OF THE WORST DUBS I've heard in recent years.

Characters:

New: If the boy companion had gotten a better VA he'd have been okay. Both had an interresting backstory and fairly likable personalities, though with so little development, the boy was mostly bland. The girl was actually decent and had a ton of potential, but since they were given so little development, it was hard to grow attached to them. The girl would have made a great protagonist on her own actually, but as it was, she was pushed aside in favor of Ash, and I doubt we'll ever get to see her confront her past, so didn't really get to contribute much. Neither of them did. The rival, while less obnoxious than the character he was based on, was underdeveloped, let off too easy for his crimes, and overall pretty bland. He also had no backstory whatsoever.

Old: Ash was frustrating. Sometimes he was the embodiment of his best self, others he was a huge jerk. Like he did and said some things that series Ash never would have, and I wanted to SMACK him!
Somtimes he was a competent trainer, and other times he was just as bad as counterpart/analog could be, but more of a jerk about it.
His relationship with his mom was terrible! Just what?

Delia Ketchum was never my fav character, but her portrayal in this film was just awful!

Professor Oak mangaged to have no real prescense what so ever. He was completely forgettable and also seemed to lack any sort of relationship with Ash, barely knowing who the kid was.

Team Rocket were terribly (well I guess Jessie was passable) voiced, and absoloutely pointless to the story. No interactions with anyone, no "genius" plans, just tiny cameos before pointless blastoffs.


Story: Maybe they could have pulled it off in a series of OVAs but in a movie, and a short one to boot, it was just too rushed. It wanted to be too many things at once and ended up shooting itself in the foot. Underwelming. It had its moments, kinda, but everything was just too rushed and too many scenes badly handled. So much potential, and they ruined it.

Can't say I enjoyed it. My recomendation is to skip the dub entirely, but if the japanese version becomes available, maybe check it out for posterity, I guess, but really I wish I'd just read a recap.

Too all the pokemon Fans out there, I'm talking about the really OG fans.

This I can't help but emphasise that this pokemon movie left me with no feels no reminiese. Just a fairly decent movie which is clearly made to sell to the new nintendo DS pokemon generation, for them to somehow appreciate what has happened in the franchise if any.

I mean the very start of the movie I was fully invested to watch but then the new villians flips the script and makes what it is to mean about pokemon something else as if he was actually one of us playing the ... gameboy advance version of Pokemon Red (He is literally that)

Side note to villains Team Rocket was some of the most entertainment I have got from pokemon and to see what has happened to them at the end (nothing happened) is somewhat disappointing.

But all in all I only wanted to finish it because it was Pokemon and HOLY FKING SHIZ pikachu!!!!
a series that I was practically raise on that turns on me so hard that nurse joy cant help to revive me. I Think most of us has to just accept that pokemon is just a money cow for future generations and on that note we must cherish the good old pokemon series and movies even though that is all we can do at this moment.

For a movie that was neither necessary nor wanted, it was quite an easy watch. Most of it was a slow burn through the basic stories Pokemon watchers know well. It's mostly executed well enough not to be annoying. The plot and characters are middling in every way. They're not interesting, but are a watchable shake up from the dreaded, completely faithful rehash people expected. The only question remaining is, out of all dropped characters, why the hell have they brought Team Rocket back?

Technically, it's a competent movie. Most surprisingly, music isn't terrible this time around. Also notable, movie features a remix of the original ... Japanese opening paired up with a battle montage. In hindsight, I should've expected this, but I gotta say: it's pretty neat.

As the movie drew near a close, I was ready to shrug it off and never think about it again. But then they just had to kill Ash and resurrect him, like in the Mewtwo Strikes Back. Fuck this movie.

I'm not going bother making a big review, as there's nothing to talk about. It exists and it exists on the border between an uninspired remake and an unintentional, borderline offensive self-parody. Definitely not recommended.

"Hey let's rewrite everyone's childhood memory of the series with a reboot movie that only focus on two Pokemon of Ash's team and screw everything else" - TPC

Such a shameless excuse for a movie.

Ash had Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charizard, now they removed all of them except for two for no reason.

The story is basically the same but they replaced interesting and fun characters (Misty and Brock) with bland, dull and boring characters that do nothing to the plot and literally are just there to show their Lucario and Piplup to sell merchs.

Charizard story is a retelling for the worse.
Pikachu is cringy and an annoying ... asshole as ever.

The legendaries have no real plot except of course just being there for nostalgia and of course merchs.

The whole movie is a bad excuse to attract nostalgia fans, and you might have fun watching it the first time but overall it's terrible and awful.

In the good side, the art and music are good and the action scenes are fun too.

-----------MASSIVE SPOILERS DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE-----------------------
What the heck happened???? I am a true Pokemon fan since I was a kid. I watched the series from Season 1 to the Hoenn Region. I stopped watching it because it was repetitive, the characters are not growing up and so bad right now. Kanto Region arc is my favorite. It was legendary. I thought I give this movie a shot to regain my childhood memories.

The first scene is amazing!!!! It DID bring my memories, so much nostalgia. Then I noticed no old characters like Brock or Misty. I was disappointed. There's a lot ... of conflict in this movie.

First, the Celadon Gym. If I remember correctly it was located in the Kanto region and it is placed properly on the timeline. Then I saw a Piplup on Kanto?!?! What the??? Nope. Then I saw legendary dog Pokemon in Kanto..... So confusing, the setting is. The place and region didn't mention on the movie. You all messed the timeline!!! The Pokemon battles gave me a little goosebumps and it is good. Then what really bothered me is the last battle. Pikachu TALKED!!!!!!! Ehhhh...... What a lousy script!!! Dunno if that was a dream or not but it is a huge letdown.

The animation is suberb. The story is not new if you have seen many episodes of Pokemon. The enjoyment is a BIG disappointment. The character development is OK. Too much disappointment if you asked me.

Could have been better if it is a remake of Kanto Region arc. Ruined potential. I suggest skip this movie. Rewatch season 1 for better story execution.