Pokemon Movie 01: Mewtwo no Gyakushuu

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Gekijouban Pocket Monsters: Mewtwo Strikes Back, Pokémon Movie 1, Pokémon: The Origin of Mewtwo, Pokémon: The First Movie Kanzenban, Pokémon: The First Movie Complete Version

Japanese: ポケットモンスターミュウツーの逆襲

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Information

Type: Movie

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jul 18, 1998

Producers: TV Tokyo, Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Imagica, Studio Jack

Licensors: 4Kids Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures

Studios: OLM

Source: Game

Genres: Action, Adventure, Award Winning, Comedy, Fantasy

Demographic: Kids

Duration: 1 hr. 25 min.

Rating: PG - Children

Statistics

Score: 7.65¹ (scored by 179,484 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1363²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #910

Members: 265,856

Favorites: 426

Available At

Official Site

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

Using the fossil of the Legendary Pokémon Mew, Team Rocket has created the first successful Pokémon clone. Named Mewtwo, the man-made Pokémon quickly becomes upset with the circumstances of its creation and goes on a rampage. It is soon approached by Sakaki, the leader of Team Rocket, and is manipulated into committing evil acts.

Repulsed by the tricks of mankind and the cruelties it has suffered, Mewtwo isolates itself from everyone and plots against humans whilst trying to discover its true purpose in life. Disguising as the world's strongest Pokémon trainer, Mewtwo draws in the region's most powerful trainers who want to fight the new, mysterious opponent. With the fate of the world at stake, renowned trainers Satoshi, Takeshi, and Kasumi must battle against Mewtwo and defeat it before it brings about the downfall of humanity.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit

Background

The Origin of Mewtwo was originally not included with the theater release but every subsequent release has included it, so this entry includes it as well in its runtime.<br /> <br /> Pokemon Movie 01: Mewtwo no Gyakushuu won the Feature Film Award in the 3rd Animation Kobe Awards in 1998. The film chronologically takes place after episode 67 of Pokemon.

Edit

Related Anime

Adaptation:	Pokémon: Mewtwo no Gyakushuu
Parent story:	Pokemon
Sequel:	Pokemon: Mewtwo! Ware wa Koko ni Ari
Other:	Pokemon: Pikachu no Natsuyasumi
Alternative version:	Pokemon Movie 22: Mewtwo no Gyakushuu Evolution

More staff

Staff

Yoshikawa, Chouji

Producer

Okuno, Toshiaki

Producer

Mori, Takemoto

Producer

Yuyama, Kunihiko

Director, Storyboard

Edit

Opening Theme

"Mezase Pokemon Master '98" by Rica Matsumoto

Edit

Ending Theme

''Kaze to Issho ni'' by Sachiko Kobayashi

Reviews

Sep 20, 2010

ryuutora

Recommended

This was my favorite movie as a child, and it always made me sad to watch it every time, so watching it again having gone through the self-discovery of adolescence made me realize why it was so impacting.

The reason why Ash is always able to win is because he's friends with his Pokémon. The whole series is an allegory on how you're supposed to treat your fellow man, using the relationship between Pokémon and their trainers as a parallel for the relationship between human beings.

Mewtwo's hatred for mankind stems from their lack of compassion - he was basically used. He was given life, and then ... treated as less-than-life - a tool to be used for human purposes, rather than a living being with a living will and a purpose. He has no purpose of his own, he didn't know he was, so he lashed out against all of humanity, and against the Pokémon he felt were being used by their masters.

Mew is his foil, as Mew is everything that Mewtwo is, minus the hatred. Mew loves mankind because he knows that they're just another form of life on the planet. He eliminates the antipathy between humans and Pokémon by realizing that they're all the same. Pokémon and their trainers can be friends, but can also walk their own paths, just like all humans in real life.

Mewtwo makes his own purpose in life the destruction of life itself, but realizes that isn't the way things are supposed to be. The reality of friendship "slaps him in the face" as he sees all the Pokémon weeping over the petrification of a human being who only wanted to protect his friends.

Pikachu is the Pokémon embodiment of friendship. The relationship between Ash and Pikachu is the entire central theme of Pokémon: friendship prevails over selfishness. Pikachu's will is so similar to that of Ash's that he refuses to fight the other Pikachu (essentially, refuses to fight another living being to prove to the other Pikachu that the fighting is pointless - even Meowth, who's supposed to be one of the "bad guys" knows better than to fight like that), even as it continues to slap him over and over again.

The most saddening part of the movie as a child was when Pikachu just kept taking the hits without retaliating. As an adult, I understand why that was so heartbreaking: Because that's the way many people in the world are, just fighting each other to prove that their purpose means anything, instead of just banding together in friendship.

We've been so deadened as a society that we think that that is "cheesy," and "children's material." No. Fuck that - I've been through the ringer in life, and I can still come back around and see the value in a story like this. It's a parallel to life, and I believe the creators would be very sad to know that audiences are taking it with a grain of salt instead of realizing the true message behind their work (instead of just writing it off as "kiddie stuff").

I know that many adults don't want to hear it, but "kiddie stuff" is codeword for "things that are important in life, but I don't want to think about them anymore." You have to think about them. "This is life," as Nurse Joy herself puts it.

Also, the dub did dumb down some of the deeper parts of the message for American consumption, but that's America's own damned fault for thinking that our children can't handle being exposed to a little bit of truth for an hour and 15 minutes of their lives.
If you're an adult, and you find yourself calling this movie "stupid," you should try looking beyond the medium and look to the message. You could find that you're a bitter Mewtwo, and two stubborn and hurt to see it. The human condition.

Don't be a Mewtwo. Mew :3

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Jan 14, 2016

literaturenerd

Mixed Feelings

Overview:

It is time I take a short reprieve from reviewing actually acclaimed anime and go back to my little niche on this site, reviewing old CRAP!

Background:

The first Pokemon movie brings to the big screen what was easily the most interesting sub-plot of the 1st generation of pokemon games, the creation of Mewtwo. The game and anime adaptation leave many hints and clues that foreshadow events in the movie and built up anticipation. In the original games on Cinnebar Island, there is a building that is filled with documents about attempts to clone Mew and create an all powerful Pokemon for Team Rocket. Throughout the game, ... you run into Team Rocket committing various crimes that only make sense when you consider that their goal was controlling Mewtwo. The reason that Team Rocket invaded Silph Co? They wanted the master ball to capture Mewtwo. The reason they invaded Lavender Town and want a pare of goggles that allow people to see ghosts? They want to capture ghost pokemon, because ghosts are effective against psychic types like Mewtwo. When you finally capture Mewtwo in gen 1, he was the most unfairly OP Pokemon in any game of the franchise! Since Psychic type was already unfairly strong in gen 1, Mewtwo was basically unstoppable with the move Psychic able to 1-shot everything in the game! The anime even shows a preview of Mewtwo by having him beat the living shit out of Gary Motherfucking Oak! This is the guy that won 10 gym badges in Kanto and at age 10 had a team of cheerleaders and a corvette! By having Gary basically job to Mewtwo, this built up his status to insane levels of hype in the eyes of young anime fans, myself included!

Story:

SPOILERS!

I must first mention that there is a huge difference between the Japanese version and the English version brought to you by our friends at 4kids! The Japanese version features a 10 minute origin for Mewtwo that not only establishes his motives much more clearly, but even sets up the seemingly random and bullshit Pokemon crying scene at the movie's end. Not only that, but from an objective and purely artistic viewpoint...it is by FAR the best part of the entire movie! How did 4kids handle the scene? The motherfuckers cut it from the movie! They even dubbed it into English and had it all ready to go, but they left it out because...I guess because it was sad? I honestly have no idea.

A scientist is working for Team Rocket's leader Geovanni and attempting to create a more powerful clone of Mew that will be strong enough to conquer the world. However, the scientist is only interested in using some of the money Team Rocket has given him to try bring his deceased daughter back to life. As an inside reference to Japanese audiences, the scientist is drawn to look exactly like the scientist Tenma from the original Astro Boy, who was also trying to resurrect his child with science. Mewtwo communicates telepathically with the comatose clone girl and she tells him that he can talk unlike other Pokemon and stands equal with humans. She herself doesn't know if she is a human or Pokemon, but dismisses this question as ultimately irrelevant because all life is precious. However, the girl's body is unstable and she begins to dissolve. This is emotionally devastating to Mewtwo, but her last words to Mewtwo are begging him not to cry and instead to cherish life while he has it. She also mentions the power within the tears of Pokemon, since they are special creatures. The girl then tragically dies along with all the other attempts at making clone Pokemon, leaving Mewtwo completely isolated and filled with a deep sadness and loneliness.

Now to begin the story where the English version actually starts. Mewtwo is born in a lab and is disgusted that humans are treating him as a mere lab rat and experiment despite his intelligence being above theirs. Mewtwo kills all of the scientists in a rage, but then meets Geovanni, who initially offers a partnership and insinuates that he will treat Mewtwo as an equal. However, after showing a training montage of Mewtwo's time at Geovanni's Gym, it becomes apparant to Mewtwo that Geovanni isn't any better than the scientists. Mewtwo decides to blow up the gym and return to the island where he was born. Once back on the island, Mewtwo develops a nefarious scheme to capture the world's strongest pokemon and create an army of clones. Then he will wipe out all human life along with any pokemon that don't bow before him as the God of all Pokemon. The movie then cuts to our favorite complete loser Ash, who wins a trainer battle by 1-hitting a Donphan with a grass move and using a thunderbolt to defeat ground types. Yet after almost 20 years he can't even make it to the finals of the League Championship, let alone win! Ash receives an invitation by Mewtwo to go to his island since Mewtwo considered Ash a strong enough trainer to want clones of his pokemon. Wait, I thought Mewtwo was supposed to be intelligent! Without any hesitation and despite an ominous storm brewing, our idiot hero sets out to the island with Team Rocket, whom OF COURSE he somehow fails to recognize! Mewtwo makes clones of all the pokemanz and these clones battle against their natural born counterparts. Ash of course fails to stop Mewtwo, but after getting killed trying to stop Mewtwo from fighting Mew, the pokemon start crying and this brings Ash back to life. Mewtwo then realizes the folly of his ways and buggers off! Of course, Mewtwo decided to erase everyone's memories so that Ash will stay ignorant and never learn anything...EVER! The End

Art:

Although anime movies always look much better than series and especially longrunning series, I have to give the Pokemon Movie some credit. For 1998, this actually looked really good and even today this movie looks awesome compared to many anime airing in 2016. The entire movie looks WAY better than any episode of Dragonball Super!

Music:

Once again, there is a big difference between the Japanese OST and the 4kids version. Honestly, neither are amazing, but not bad either. The music definitely takes a backseat to the animation in this movie.

Overall:

Considering this was a children's movie based on a videogame and a rather mediocre anime, it actually wasn't too bad! The animation is excellent relative to other anime of its time, the battles are the most brutally intense of anything Pokemon has ever done, and the original Japanese version featured heart touching scene was actually sort of....good! The story borrows heavily from Frankenstein and although any level of profundity is blatantly stolen from there, that still isn't too bad considering this is Pokemon we are dealing with! I wish Digimon had the brains to borrow from classic Victorian Gothic literature instead of just being shit! If you are Pokemon fan, but perhaps grew up with Gen 4 and aren't old enough to remember this movie, I would actually recommend checking it out. You could certainly do worse.

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Jan 1, 2017

Fear_the_Reefer

Not Recommended

Funny

Hello there! Welcome to the world of adaptations! My name is Naru! This world is inhabited by creatures called pokemon, who live in harmony with the humans who capture and train them! For some people, pokemon are pets. Others use them for fights. For others, pokemon are used for scientific testing, stored in suspended animation in large glass tubes while individuals far less ethically inclined than myself attempt to use them to perfect the art of cloning. This may not include you, an innocent and unassuming ten year old of indeterminate gender... Seriously, what are you, a boy or a girl? ...

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Pokemon Movie 01: Mewtwo no Gyakushuu

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Pokemon Movie 01: Mewtwo no Gyakushuu

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