LogFAQs > #900117027

36. Pokemon: The First Movie (1998)
Raka (3/5)


Pokemon: The First Movie was the massively popular franchise's first foray into film, with a US title so assured of their product, they went out of their way to state that this is only the first one of however many to come, plastered right on the poster. It tells the story of Ash, who wants to be the very best like no one ever was, and his quest to respond to an invitation to be the very best like no one ever was from an anonymous source. In order to do this, he has to prove he the very best like no one ever was by sailing across a massive storm with some "vikings". Of course, it was a trap laid by the best legendary Pokemon, Mewtwo.

This is a movie written for kids, literally by 4Kids. I've never seen t he Japanese version, but I can't imagine it's entirely different. That being said, it's an all-time classic nostalgia trip, not really meant to be viewed under a critical lense, because, come on, it was done for money, not for art. But even so, I love pretty much every part of the film. It's an easy, inoffensive watch, despite being plagued by tons of cliches and general bad writing. It was one of the first films I saw that really tried to humanize the villains. Mewtwo is portrayed as a tragic villain, who had to kill in order to avoid what was essentially torture. Most animated villains were always inexplicably chaotic, so it's kinda cool looking back on this, even though the tragic villain has always been pretty common.

When you're seven years old and see your homeboy, Ash, literally die, it hits pretty hard. It's played off so well with Pikachu trying and failing to shock him back to life, How can you witness that and not cry like a bitch? None of the Pokemon could hold back their tears! Yeah, the resolution is dumb, but it's a great scene all around.
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