Pokémon: The First Movie
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. |
| Pokémon: The First Movie | |
|---|---|
| File:Pokémon-TheFirstMoviePoster.jpg | |
| Directed by | Michael Haigney Kunihiko Yuyama |
| Written by | Takeshi Shudo |
| Produced by | Yoshikawa Chouji Igarashi Tomonori Mori Takenori |
| Starring | Veronica Taylor Rachael Lillis Eric Stuart Ikue Ootani Phillip Bartlett Addie Blaustein Ted Lewis |
| Distributed by | Toho Co. Ltd., Shogakukan, Oriental Light and Magic (Japan) Warner Bros. (USA) Nintendo Co. Ltd. (USA) 20th Century Fox (Switzerland, under the Fox-Warner label) |
Release dates | Japanese: July 18, 1998 English: November 10, 1999 |
Running time | 75 min(+Mini Movie) |
| Languages | Japanese, English |
Pokémon: The First Movie, known in Japan as Pocket Monsters Mewtwo no Gyakushū (ポケットモンスター ミュウツーの逆襲, Poketto Monsutā Myūtsū no Gyakushū, lit. "Pocket Monsters Mewtwo Strikes Back"), is the first theatrical release based on the Pokémon anime. Like the anime, it is directed by Kunihiko Yuyama.
The title Mewtwo Strikes Back is a direct translation of the movie’s Japanese name, Mewtwo no gyakushū, which can also be interpreted as Mewtwo’s Counterattack.
As Pokémon was extremely popular back when this movie came out, it was a box office hit worldwide. It primarily consists of three segments: “Pikachu’s Vacation”, a 20+ minute feature focusing on the most popular Pokémon character Pikachu; "Origin of Mewtwo", a 10-minute featurette that functions as a prologue to the main feature; and Mewtwo Strikes Back, the main 75-minute movie feature. However, the United States dub omitted "Origin of Mewtwo" from the package before its U.S. theatrical run due to its dark nature, as the target MPAA rating was a G; it was partially restored in the movie's release on VHS and DVD. The featurette was eventually dubbed and restored as a special feature in the U.S. release of the direct-to-video movie sequel Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns.
Plot
| Legendary Pokémon: Mew & Mewtwo |
| Region: Kanto and New Island |
| Villain: Mewtwo |
| New:Donphan |
The premiere criminal organization in the Pokémon world, Team Rocket, led by the devious Giovanni, desires a Pokémon stronger than any other that can be used as a military weapon for world conquest, so Giovanni funds the creation of a genetically enhanced "super-clone" of the extremely rare, powerful Pokémon Mew. The project, codenamed Mewtwo, goes awry as the being awakens and destroys the lab after discovering his clone nature with the belief that the scientists care nothing for him: These humans, they care nothing for me. Giovanni arrives, intent on presenting himself as a different type of human which Mewtwo can trust so that he can control the errant Pokémon, and Giovanni offers to help add value to Mewtwo's life. Mewtwo agrees, believing that he will find his true purpose through Giovanni's aid. Over the next few weeks, Giovanni assigns Mewtwo to a wide array of criminal Team Rocket operations involving the capturing of Wild Pokémon, among other things. Eventually, however, Mewtwo learns the truth from Giovanni about his existence Mewtwo: You said we were partners, we stood as equals. Giovanni: You were created by humans to obey humans. You could never be our equals. Mewtwo: Humans may have created me, but they will never enslave me. This cannot be my destiny. In an attempt to calm the wrath of Mewtwo Giovanni orders him to stop his actions, possibly provoking Mewtwo's rage further and with a reply of: I was not born a pokemon I was created. And my creators have used and betrayed me. So... I stand alone and with that he destroys Giovanni's base. Mewtwo then abandons Giovanni and flies off to the ruins of the lab where he was created. Mewtwo adopts a radical, revolutionary belief that the humans and Pokémon born of this world are morally and spiritually corrupt, so it is therefore his mission to purge the planet of humans and the Pokémon they train and repopulate the planet with cloned versions of all Pokémon. With this goal, Mewtwo rebuilds the lab and enacts an elaborate plot to create a clone army for himself.
Ash Ketchum, his friends Misty and Brock, and his main Pokémon Pikachu have been traveling on their Pokémon Journey as depicted in the anime cartoon for a large while. They soon receive an invitation to travel to the mysterious offshore locale called "New Island" to encounter and wage a traditional Pokémon battle against someone advertised as the "World’s Greatest Pokémon Master". Mewtwo creates a storm to disable the ferry service to the island, this is a test to see if the trainers are strong enough, but Ash finds the resolve to make it to the island by the abilities of his Pokémon, making him part of a small group of highly skilled trainers awaiting the appearance of the Master (the other trainers were Corey, Fergus and Neesha). Suddenly, the Master appears, and it is none other than Mewtwo, who tells the trainers that humans are weak and cruel, and the world will fall into ruin because it is controlled by them. He also says that Pokémon are no better off, since they choose to associate with humans. Mewtwo wastes no time in explaining his agenda about proving to the world that he is in fact a living being with value, and after a series of confrontational standoffs between Mewtwo and the trainers, Mewtwo has all the trainers' Pokémon captured and cloned (except Misty's Togepi,which was hiding in Misty's bag), forming his own clone army. Ash goes in after his Pikachu,and manages to free him and the other Pokemon,but ends up causing severe damage to the cloning machine,after sabotaging it.Ash then prepares to confront Mewtwo outright by rounding up all the original Pokémon and preparing to pit them as a force against Mewtwo's clone army in a battle for the meaning of their lives.
When Mew itself appears completely by coincidence, Mewtwo seizes the opportunity and wages a psychic aerial battle with Mew as the natural Pokémon and clone Pokémon wage a small war below, as an attempt to fight for the meaning of their lives. Mew at first refuses to fight and simply avoided all attack until one of Mewtwo's energy balls hit him apparently rendering him senseless into the clouds. As the moments pass all is silent, until one of his own energy balls hits Mewtwo sending him crashing into the stadium. Mewtwo says So... you do have some fight in you, and with this the battle commences. Meowth talks with his clone about philosophy and how tasteful it is to be talking about the moon at a time like this. The clashes herein are brutal and tire all the Pokémon out, revealing to Ash and his friends that Mewtwo and all the clones are living beings with value yet can't accept the facts. Eventually, as Mewtwo and Mew's conflict climaxes, both summon all of their power for one final confrontation, and Ash throws himself in the crossfire and is killed by the combined attacks; his body is turned into stone. Pikachu rushes to Ash's side and attempts to thundershock his friend back to life; when this proves unsuccessful, Pikachu is overcome with grief and bursts into tears. Mewtwo is taken aback by this selfless display, and all the other Pokémon grieve for the unnecessary loss of life. Their tears then forge an unexplainable miracle where Ash is revived. Mewtwo stands down, having realized that it does not matter who is more powerful and that both the clones and the originals have value. Mewtwo thus erases the minds of all involved in the event and returns them to the mainland, unaware of the drama that has just transpired. Mewtwo then destroys his lab complex and travels west with his band of clones in search of a place where they can live in peace. However, though Mewtwo erased everyone's memories of him at New Island, he is still being targeted by Giovanni, who has been making another plan to capture and bend Mewtwo to his will. This chapter of the story plays out in the sequel Mewtwo Returns.
Pikachu’s Vacation
Pikachu’s Vacation (ピカチュウのなつやすみ, Pikachū no Natsuyasumi) is a 21-minute short movie that is shown before Mewtwo Strikes Back in both the theatrical and the DVD version of the main movie. It is the first of the “Pikachu shorts” in what would be a traditional process of hosting a 20+ minute mini-movie before the main Pokémon feature that would last up until the 6th movie. Pikachu’s Vacation, like the five Pikachu shorts that would follow, focuses primarily on an action-packed affair involving solely the Pokémon seen from the anime as they take part in a scenario that eventually illustrates a moral.
In Pokémon fan communities, Pikachu’s Vacation was noted for introducing the never-before-seen Pokémon character Snubbull (albeit spelled Snubble), as well as the first primary anime appearance of the already popular Marill. This became a tradition for all Pikachu shorts, as they were used to introduce new Pokémon from the upcoming “generations” of Pokémon games, cards, and anime material.
When Ash and his friends stumble upon a Pokémon-only vacation resort, they decide to let their Pokémon have a day of fun and relaxation and let all their Pokémon out as the trainers go off relaxing on their own. Pikachu and the Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Charizard, Squirtle, Pidgeotto, Geodude, Onix, Vulpix, Zubat, Staryu, Goldeen, Psyduck, and Togepi) go off into the resort and immediately contend with an unhappy Togepi, which they succeed in doing. Soon, a group of border-ruffian Pokémon comprised of a Raichu, Cubone, Snubbull, and Marill come along and immediately cause trouble for Pikachu’s group. The ensuing standoff soon becomes a series of competitions such as a swimming race. Their increasingly passionate rivalry soon comes to a standstill when Pikachu’s companion Charizard finds its head stuck in a tight storage receptacle. Putting aside their squabble, Pikachu and Raichu’s groups join together to release Charizard, and they soon find themselves as friends for the rest of the day. At the end of the day, Pikachu and his fellow Pokémon leave the resort with fond memories and new friends and rejoin their trainers.
Cast
Box Office
The film was a box office hit, the film had gross up to $85,744,662 and $163,644,662 worldwide.
Official Movie Soundtrack
Music from and inspired by the motion picture.
| Singer Name | Song Name (English) |
|---|---|
| Billy Crawford | Pokémon Theme |
| M2M (band) | Don't Say You Love Me |
| Ashley Ballard with So Plush | It Was You |
| Christina Aguilera | We're A Miracle |
| Britney Spears | Soda Pop |
| *NSYNC | Somewhere Someday |
| B*Witched | Get Happy |
| Emma Bunton p/k/a Baby Spice | (Hey You) Free Up Your Mind |
| 98 Degrees | Fly With Me |
| Mandah | Lullaby |
| Vitamin C (artist) | Vacation |
| Billie | Makin' My Way (Any Way That I Can) |
| Angela Via | Catch Me If You Can |
| Aaron Carter | (Have Some) Fun With The Funk |
| Midnight Sons | If Only Tears Could Bring You Back |
| Blessid Union of Souls | Brother My Brother |
Goofs
(From imbd.com)
- Continuity: Misty is shown with one set of Pokémon in one shot and with some entirely different ones in another.
- Continuity: At one point in the film, one of the trainers at Mewtwo's castle has a Pidgeot. He falsely refers to it as a Pidgeotto.
- Factual errors: Early in the film, Ash defeats a Golem using one of Pikachu's electrical attacks. Electrical attacks can never harm a Golem, no matter how much stronger the electrical Pokemon is. This error has also appeared in the first anime series where Ash managed to defeat Brock's Geodude with Pikachu.
- Continuity: When one trainer sets off to the castle, he is riding Pidgeot. In a later shot he is now riding a Fearow.
- Continuity: In the boat with Team Rocket, Brock's shirt sleeve changes from orange to green when Misty puts Togepi inside her knapsack.
- Continuity: When Fergus goes to Gyarados after Mewtwo reflects its Hyper Beam, you can see the back of a Nidoking, but Fergus has a Nidoqueen.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Fergus states that all his Pokemon are water types, however he has a Nidoqueen, which is actually Ground and Poison.
- Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Ash receives the letter from Dragonite, we hear Togepi say "Togepi?" but its mouth doesn't move.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Team Rocket sees the Pokemon on the screen that Mewtwo stole, they say 'Alakazam!' but it was actually a Scyther. Also, Meowth says 'Sandshrew' but it was a Sandslash.
- Nurse Joy asks Brock, Misty and Ash to remove all their Pokemon from their Pokéballs, but they do not do so. Brock does not release his Zubat, Onix or Geodude and Misty does not release her Starmie, Staryu, Horsea or Goldeen nor Ash his Charizard (which he releases in response to a challenge later in the film). Of these Pokemon only Charizard is taken by Mewtwo, Brock and Misty's other Pokemon are totally ignored for the rest of the movie even though they all appear in the Pikachu's Vacation short and Misty uses Staryu to carry her and Brock to New Island earlier in the film.
- Video glitch: When the movie was released on video, the opening battle show's Machamp coming out of the ball twice, yet the credits do change, to keep the timing, they cut Ash throwing his pokéball with Squirtle in it.
- At the beginning of the Pikachu's Vacation short when all the Pokemon rush past Pikachu it shows Psyduck walk over him. However in the next shot Psyduck is one of the Pokemon surrounding Togepi.
- When Ash gets free from the cloning machine and falls, there is no "hitting the ground sound effect".
Trivia
| This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- The movie was re-released on DVD in Japan and contained the Japanese and US audio tracks along with the complete 'Origin of Mewtwo' short.
- The VHS release of the film had a trailer of Pokémon 2000 and came with a free trading card. The DVD release came with a Mewtwo promotional card.
- For 2 weeks until Toy Story 2, it was the largest opening for an animated feature.
- In the laboratory destruction scene, the scientists (except for Dr. Fuji) scream when Mewtwo uses his powers to destroy the lab. The last scientist emits a lower-pitched-than-usual Wilhelm scream.
- The Pikachu segment is the first appearance of Snubbull and Marill, and the feature film is the first appearance of Donphan.
- In episodes 60-62 of the Pokémon TV series, scenes of Mewtwo breaking out the lab and battling at Giovanni's gym can be seen. Furthermore, the film used footage of Gary Oak battling Mewtwo. The director's commentary jokes that they had to get a 'stand-in' for Gary because his agent was asking for too much.
- The other three trainers in the movie have the evolved forms of a lot of Ash's, Misty's, & Brock's pokemon. These are Venusaur, Blastoise, Ninetails, Golduck, and Pidgeot.
- When Team Rocket is taking Ash and friends to New Island, Brock says, "I thought Vikings didn't exist anymore," to which Ash replies, "They mostly live in Minnesota," suggesting that the Pokémon World is the same as the real world. However, no other reference like this was brought up again.
Differences between the Japanese and English versions
- According to the director's commentary, the American edit of the film contains CGI effects that weren't included in the original Japanese cut. These include realistic-looking clouds. Those CGI effects can now also be seen on the Japanese DVD
- In the American version of the film, Team Rocket are disguised as vikings, and Ash says they come from Minnesota, a reference to the Minnesota Vikings football team.
- At one point in the American version of the film, Team Rocket incorrectly identify Scyther as Alakazam and Sandslash as Sandshrew as the Pokémon are being cloned. According to the DVD commentary, this was picked up after the voice recording by the producers' children, but it was deliberately kept in to see if the fans spotted the errors. Pidgeot is also incorrectly referred to as Pidgeotto.
- The "fighting is wrong" moral exists only in the American version. In the original Japanese version, Mewtwo was portrayed as a confused, troubled soul resenting the fact that he was created by humans, and thinks his life has no meaning, but tries to get revenge on those who made him and tried to enslave him, and more importantly, to prove his worth as a living being. It eventually accepts it could be a proper Pokémon in spite of having been brought to life by humans, because Ash (Satoshi in the original Japanese) is still a proper human in spite of just having been brought (back) to life by the other Pokémon.
- At the end of the Japanese version, Team Rocket didn't have their memories erased, because Mewtwo didn't know they were there. They also weren't floating in the air like the others and they were the only ones left on the island.
- The English version movie's soundtrack featured songs by 'N Sync, Emma Bunton, Britney Spears, 98 Degrees, M2M, Aaron Carter, Vitamin C and Christina Aguilera.