GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA: MYUTSU NO GYAKUSHU (POKEMON THE 1ST MOVIE: MEWTWO STRIKES BACK) has some deep ideas, but the structure is so uneven that they're not properly explored. It opens with a scientist who lost his daughter and wants to clone her as well as Pokémon (monsters that can be trained to battle each for sport). He's the embodiment of grief. After 10 minutes, MYUTSU/MEWTWO (one of the clones) meets the scientist. The latter acts happy that the experiment worked, but nothing about his dialogue or expressions match the person we saw before. It's as if his daugther never existed. MYUTSU kills him and everyone else in the lab, so all of this felt pointless. Not to mention that MYUTSU's dialogue during these first 20 minutes is annoyingly repetitive. That's when the title card pops up. The heroes from the TV show (SATOSHI/ASH, KASUMI/MISTY and TAKESHI/BROCK) appear and the credits start rolling. Honestly, why didn't the movie just start here? The way MYUTSU is hidden from the audience until he meets the heroes would've been more suspenseful. Also, there's a point later on where TEAM ROCKET (the villains from the TV show) see a security recording giving all the clues about what happened with MYUTSU in the lab. That scene only works if the information is new to the viewer. Anyway, MYUTSU's entrance in front of the Pokémon trainers is one of many moments unnecessarily interrupted by shots of MYU (the Pokémon that MYUTSU is cloned from) doing nothing but being cute.
There's an exciting sequence where MYUTSU tries to capture other people's Pokémon with his own PokeBalls. He succeeds and they're cloned. I'm confused. Why is MYUTSU an entirely new Pokémon while every other clone is just a copy? And why do some of those copies have things in their bodies that allow us to tell them apart from the originals (such as spots) while others don't? SATOSHI rescues the originals and they all walk to the battle field. It's supposed to feel epic, but there was not enough time to build it up. It happens only a few minutes after being captured. During the final fight, SATOSHI is turned into stone, but he comes back to life thanks to magical tears. This is something incredibly cheesy, but I've tolerated it in some animes depending on the context. Here, the tears come from Pokémon who don't even know him while his human friends barely react, there's no real emotion in the scene. Also, while this fictional world is far removed from real life, there is still an inner logic that this magical ability goes against.
5/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA: MABOROSHI NO POKEMON RUGIA BAKUTAN (POKEMON THE MOVIE 2000) was the 1st time in the franchise that the entire planet was in danger due to a specific threat. It was also the 1st time that every single Pokémon was present in the same place (at least the Generation 1 ones, which is a continuity issue in retrospective). Unfortunately, the scenes aren't framed/animated with the scope they deserve. Even Shinji Miyazaki's music score doesn't feel big enough. It has a more coherent plot structure than the 1st installment, but the antagonist is very boring, and I'm not just saying that because MYUTSU set the bar high. Speaking of the previous movie, the English dub altered the dialogue to include a hypocritical message about how fighting is wrong. This time, there's no excuse for the hypocrisy, because it's also present in the original version. You see, the heroes tell the villain that it's wrong to collect Pokémon and keep them in cages. How is that worse than making them fight with your own Pokémon in order to catch them? Sure, being inside a PokeBall allows the Pokémon to rest and heal, but these cages don't seem to hurt the Pokémon. Their expressions are negative, but I think it's just the despair of being caught against their will. The fact that they're deities and that being trapped affects the planet isn't emphasized enough. Something that the show dropped the (Poke)Ball on was TEAM ROCKET. At some point, the script writers decided it would be funny to make them suffer even if they didn't deserve it.
In this movie, they're actually willing to help the heroes. How are they re-paid? LUGIA (a legendary Pokémon) lets SATOSHI fly on his back while TEAM ROCKET hold on to its leg. SATOSHI was clearly willing to let them behind. They let go to make sure LUGIA can fly better and they really think the fall will kill them. That's one of the most heroic things ever done in this franchise... yet SATOSHI doesn't even think of telling LUGIA to try to save them! Hell, right after they fall, SATOSHI has forgotten about them! After the day has been saved, LUGIA lets SATOSHI hop on and they fly together. For some reason, the scene plays out as if this was the 1st time this has happened. While it is physically possible for Pokémon to say something other than their own name, it's so uncommon that the humans should be surprised everytime they meet one that can speak properly. Here, RUGIA/LUGIA and YADOKING/SLOWKING (the guardian of a sacred shrine) do so and nobody has any reaction.
According to this movie, Pokémon communicate with themselves through electric attacks. I'm pretty sure this is the only time in the entire franchise where it happens. What was the point?!
4/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA: KESSHO-TO NO TEIO (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 3: SPELL OF THE UNOWN) is the best installment, mostly because there's no real villain. The conflict occurs due to a girl (ME/MOLLY) being too young to understand certain things. It's more complex than the traditional "good vs evil" narrative, and it makes things less predictable. However, the plot would've had more impact if her father (PROF. SNOWDON/HALE) had died at the beginning (like everyone thought he did), instead of being temporarily missing. Another nice touch is how KASUMI and TAKESHI have battle sequences without SATOSHI being present. That never happens in another movie. Hell, in most movies, whoever is travelling with SATOSHI is usually relegated to doing the bare minimum of what the plot needs.Throughout the show, SATOSHI has given away pretty much every Pokémon he has owned. The excuse is usually that he lives them in a special place where they'll become stronger, but he never goes back to get them. This movie marks the 1st time one of them (LIZARDON/CHARIZARD) comes back... and he does it on his own! What's worse: SATOSHI's trainer mentality or the reserve's security? And how convenient is it that LIZARDON passed by a window when someone was watching the news, saw SATOSHI and realized that there was danger? I know many anime movies show the epilogue during the end credits while the only thing that's audible is the music but, even then, the things showed here were too important to be presented like they were afterthoughts.
6/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA: SEREBYI, TOKI O KOETA DEAI (POKEMON 4EVER: CELEBI, VOICE OF THE FOREST) has a generic and slow plot, as well as arguably the franchise's most cartoonish villain to date. SEREBYI/CELEBI (the new cutesy Pokémon) has an emotional bond with a boy named YUKINARI/SAM. However, because he's the protagonist, SATOSHI is given a lot of "meaningful moments" to share with SEREBYI (including the climax). He feels like an intruder in the story!
3/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA: MIZU NO MIYAKO NO MAMORI GAMI RATIASU TO RATIOSU (POKEMON HEROES: LATIOS & LATIAS)
1/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA ADOBANSU JENERESHON: NANAYO NO NEGAIBOSHI JIRACHI (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 6: JIRACHI, WISH MAKER)
1/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA ADOBANSU JENERESHON: REKKU NO HOMONSHA DEOKISHI (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 7: DESTINY DEOXYS)
1/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA ADOBANSU JENERESHON: MYUU TO HADOU NO YUUSHA RUKARIO (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 8: LUCARIO AND THE MYSTERY OF MEW)
1/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA ADOBANSU JENERESHON: POKEMON RENJA TO UMI NO OJI MANAFI (POKEMON RANGER AND THE TEMPLE OF THE SEA)
1/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA DAIAMONDO PARU: DIARUGA VS PARUKIA VS DAKURAI (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 10: THE RISE OF DARKRAI)
1/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA DAIAMONDO PARU: GIRATINA TO SORA NO HANATABA SHEIMI (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 11: GIRATINA AND THE SKY WARRIOR)1/10GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA DAIAMONDO PARU: ARUSEUSU CHOKOKU NO JIKU E (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 12: ARCEUS AND THE JEWEL OF LIFE)
1/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA DAIAMONDO PARU: GEN'EI NO HASHA ZOROAKU (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 13: ZOROARK, MASTER OF ILLUSIONS)
1/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA BESUTO UISSHU: BIKUTINI TO KUROKI EIYUU ZEKUROMU + BIKUTINI TO SHIROKU EIYUU RESHIRAMU (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 14: BLACK - VICTINI & RESHIRAM + WHITE - VICTINI & ZEKROM)
3/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA BESUTO UISSHU: KYUREM VS SEIKENSHI KEDEO (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 15: KYUREM VS THE SWORD OF JUSTICE)
0/10
GEKIJOU-BAN POKETTO MONSUTA BESUTO UISSHU: SHINSOKU NO GENOSEKUTO MYUTSU KAKUSEI (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 16: GENESECT AND THE LEGEND AWAKENED)
0/10
POKEMON ZA MUBI EKKUSU WAI: HAKAI NO MAYU TO DIANSHI (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 17: DIANCIE AND THE COCOON OF DESTRUCTION)
0/10
POKEMON ZA MUBI EKKUSU WAI: RINGU NO CHOUMAJIN FUPA (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 18: HOOPA AND THE CLASH OF AGES)
0/10
POKEMON ZA MUBI EKKUSU, WAI ANDO ZETTO: VOLCANION TO KARAKURI NO MAGEARNA (POKEMON THE MOVIE PART 19: VOLCANION AND THE MECHANICAL MARVEL)
1/10
POKEMON: DETECTIVE PIKACHU
4/10
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