Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning

As the latest addition to the Digimon franchise, the 02 movie does a solid job of raising new questions and complications about the ideas of the original two series while staying true to the core themes that made Adventure and 02 so special. However, it must be said that this movie fundamentally has Lui as its emotional core, with the original 02 cast functioning as prominent yet ultimately supporting characters. This is not necessarily to the detriment of the show's quality. The emotional punch and themes of the story still remain powerful and are deeply intertwined with the core ideas of Digimon partners and what ... it means to be Digidestined. On the other hand, advertising the movie as a 02 continuation or feature film has created a detrimental expectation that this would centre on the original cast. No doubt this has much to do with the less than positive reception, yet it is somewhat unfair to the movie since that has to do with the context surrounding it instead of its contents. Even then, a significant part of the negative reception ultimately stems from the limitations of attempting to continue the already complete character arcs of the 02 cast. And perhaps, it also speaks to tensions between the audience's memory and expectations of Digimon from their childhood and the more mature and complex ideas it wants to cover now.

The most obvious issue is that while being advertised and titled as a 02 movie, the emotional core of the plot and themes is formed around Lui's story and struggles. Despite being understandably disappointing, there is also little room to manoeuvre in terms of constructing a story primarily around the 02 cast. This is not to say that the completion of their character arcs in the original show precludes them from growing or changing further. However, developing them more as young adults tends to lead to stories more in the vein of the Kizuna movie. These stories end up exploring the consequence of their change instead of being a more traditional narrative of characters facing challenges that prompt their growth. While it does make for a compelling character story, it will naturally revolve less around Digimon fights and external villains and more on introspection and exploring relationships between characters. That likely was not the story the writers wanted or were tasked with telling, and frankly, probably not what the audience desires in Digimon as a franchise.

What we are left with is requiring an external force to drive the plot, which in this case is Lui and his fraught relationship with Digimon. The alternatives to this range from lacklustre to measurably worse than what we have now, which is the 02 cast acting as paragon characters that guide Lui on his own journey with Digimon. A common pitfall that many shows run into is to have their characters regress, only for them to repeat their original arc again. These are often frustrating to see, bordering on character assassination at times, and thankfully is not an issue with this movie. Arguably worse is to have a show with no substance at all, where the plot simply occurs as a vehicle for fluffy character interactions and mindless action. For a franchise as old and nostalgic as Digimon, some amount of this fan service is desirable and even necessary, given that the target audience is primarily existing fans. However, having a movie solely revolving around that would end up lacking most substance and ultimately be a disservice since Digimon is so much more than just juvenile monster fights.

Despite it being understandable why they chose the approach of having Lui be the emotional centre of the story, it could certainly have been handled better. The focus on Lui becomes overwhelming with how little is done to tie back the questions and worries of his situation with Digimon to the original cast. The themes and questions around what it means to have a partner Digimon, the origin of that connection, and the implications of Digidestined growing in number are all interesting expansions and complications of the original ideas in the show. Yet so little time is devoted to having the 02 cast grapple or discuss this when they should have the most to say. The overwhelming presence of Lui continues into how the show's run time is used, featuring not just his relevance to the plot and current emotional conflict but a hefty chunk of his back story. While this is also not necessarily an issue, given the short run time of 80 minutes, it leaves precious few moments for any interaction solely within the 02 cast or time to unpack the many implied questions and themes. It is even more glaring when this is contrasted with the amount of time spent on Digivolution sequences. While nostalgic and appropriately employed, it also highlights how much time is spent on sequences that neither advance the plot nor add any depth in characterisation or themes. Given that these sequences are something of a necessity, there seems to be little way to improve things short of increasing the run time.

Lui's backstory itself is incredibly bleak and dramatic but nonetheless effectively conveyed in the amount of time there is to work with. Perhaps the negative reaction has to do with its degree of predictability, but those arguments often appear rather weak. Lui's story is interesting because it considers the potential implications of having a Digimon partner, questions their origin and roles, and the darker complications of such a relationship. These are logical extensions of a now twenty-year-old premise, and it's only natural that a sequel would take a magnifying glass to its original ideas. Perhaps, then, the primary issue is with Lui's backstory "retconning" other established Digimon media running in the same continuity. However, this is disastrously missing the forest for the trees, given Digimon has hardly been a congruent franchise in terms of plot.

What has united Digimon has primarily been its themes, ideas and focus on characters instead of any profound "lore" about the Digital World. While it is understandable and a bit disappointing that it does not all neatly join into some larger mythos, this seems to be a misunderstanding of the franchise's spirit. The setting has always been malleable and serves the plot and development of the characters. This demand for every franchise to have persistence and intricate worlds seems like a detrimental development in fandom spaces over recent years. One that crushes the importance of thematic connection beneath its heels. It is also ironic that this is a significant point of criticism when recent entries like Tri demonstrate the folly of focusing heavily on worldbuilding since it created a convoluted plot that bears little emotional or thematic meaning.

Ultimately, nothing about Lui's story fundamentally "breaks" the Digimon world. It does bend ideas or reimagine them, but they were in service of a compelling story and interesting themes. Frankly, it is also astounding that those who are upset over the supposed "retcon" have failed to reason that Lui might simply be speaking from his perspective given what he knows instead of it being a "lore" fact. Again, this seems like missing not only the forest for the trees but also the point of a series that has always been about character. The fights, Digivolution, and Digimon partners were all ultimately a metaphor, a tangible extension of a character and their growth. It is a simply but effective means of tying character growth directly to power and progress of the story. While the monster designs and action are still a big draw of the franchise and good entertainment, to desire to accord it primacy is frankly disappointing.

While Digimon has been known for its surprising character depth and tackling of heavy issues, at least by the expectations of a children's show, the predominant memory of Digimon in the minds of fans seems to be its more action-oriented elements. While nothing is wrong with this, it is now in conflict with the fact that the 02 cast has grown up as well and requires stories to age up with them. Unfortunately, it seems that the show's writers were fully aware of this, with how often Daisuke's character is used to circumvent any heavy discussion by just blustering through it. This is appropriate and in character, but the number of times it happens seems to signal that they have little faith that the audience will be patient or interested in exploring the ideas raised or the more profound character responses. All this is ironic given how old 02 is. The primary audience is likely young adults, but the show feels like it does not play strongly to this demographic. This tension is understandably challenging to resolve without resorting to a plot in the vein of the Kizuna movie, where it's one final farewell. But what we get is the 02 movie not quite committing to being a character piece, still focusing heavily on the drama but not quite the substance of it, yet not quite sacrificing this in order to pander to its audience and be a feel-good nostalgia action film.

Personally, I find that Digimon is enduring because of its themes. This movie is intriguing but lacks the full commitment to its ideas to really dig into them. The fights were compelling enough, but in a way that excited the child-like side of me at seeing my favourite characters from the past back in action. Once that wears off, it does not stick with you like it once did, watching it back in the early 2000s on a Saturday morning. In that sense, the lack of focus on the 02 cast was disappointing, not because they failed to be the heroes of the day or control the plot, but because they spent so little time grappling with the tough questions and responding in ways that highlighted their characters. It could have been a chance to show how they have grown up but potentially also grown apart on issues like this. Especially since some of them, like Daisuke and Ken, have taken different life paths. It was also a missed opportunity to have given them access to Jogress Digivolution so early. Unlocking it again could have been the perfect milestone in showing that they accept the changes in their friends they perhaps are only now noticing because of the events of the movie. It might even have been a chance to add more depth to them compared to the original show.

However, with all that being said, the movie is still a compelling watch with coherent and compelling ideas, even if they are not explored to their fullest extent. Even for 02 fans who might be disappointed with the movie not focusing solely on them, there is still plenty to love and a great serving of nostalgia. Those who hold Digimon Tamers as their favourite series might also be pleasantly surprised with the darker themes and aesthetic the movie chooses. But most of all, those like me who are interested in the themes of Digimon, connection, bonds, understanding, etc, will find a lot of emotional punch in Lui's story. Overall, given its negatives are more limitations or missed potential than anything fundamentally wrong with the story, it seems appropriate to give Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning a 7 out of 10.

For a movie clearly made to pander to people like me, grown-up Digimon fans, it sure spent a long time on a surprisingly depressing new character. Very dark stuff, I was honestly a little surprised.

The art was passable. I liked the song.

I still enjoyed all of the moments with the OG cast interacting with each other and their Digimon, and I liked it more then Kazuna, so that's something. There's not a ton of action, but that didn't bother me as I really care more about the characters.

If you really like the 02 cast, it's worth watching but be prepared for a kind ... of intense story from the newcomer.

I went to the movie with some kinda hope after watching the trailer

Pretty soon after the movie started I got disillusioned pretty fast because the movie mostly consisted of building up the backstory for a totally boring new character (poor boy got abused in his childhood, had a rough family background) and waaaaay too much talking for a Digimon movie...

Overall the fight scenes and evolution scenes where animated in a fresh, modern style - yet this is by far not enough when you lack the overall feeling for a Digimon movie because of missing real, extended fights...

Gotta say that this movie lacks nearly everything for ... justifying giving it a positive review - was a real disappointment to me and have to say: Guys,don't waste your time watching this utter disgrace to the Digimon franchise