Pokemon the First Movie - Mewtwo vs. Mew

Rating:
Summary: My least favorite movie -- OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!! SUCKS!!!!!
Review: I can't believe that WB Kids can make this horrible film! Probably, I will be complaining on this review today, because this is the worst film I had ever seen in my whole entire life! Usually I don't find Pokemon a really cool show! I find it lame and dumb and boring!

First of all, I hate the characters in the film. When you are a superhero, you have to be a superhero not repeat your name over and over again until it gets boring! I even hate Pikachu!!!! I think Ash is gay!!!!!!!! All Pokemon characters are tied as on of my least favorite characters!

Second of all, the animation looks trashed! The animators of Pokemon are the most horrible animators of all. The drawings on Pokemon makes no sense!!!!! Pokemon is like the worst cartoon of all time!!!!!!!!! I would place it on top of Barney. Teletubbies remains my least favorite t.v. show!!!!!!!

Third of all, I never understand the cards! How can you fight with cards? It looks stupid! Cards are cool! But not Pokemon are Yugi-oh (it sucks too). Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Pinball, Pokemon Trading Card, Pokemon video games, Pokemon Stadium, every Pokemon games are like the worst games of my entire life!

It's stupid. If you watch it and you hate it, cross you fingers throughout this whole entire film. If someone made you seen it, (like what it happened to me) blame it all on that friend who made you seen it. Don't see this film! IT'S HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, if you want something with good animation, go see The Simpsons, Toy Story 1 & 2, Winnie the Pooh, Finding Nemo (Nemo is my favorite film), Monsters Inc., A Bug's Life, Hey Arnold!, Ice Age, Shrek, Spirit or The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1 & 2.

Good: Nothing was good about this film!

Bad: Everything was bad about this film! Even the plot, the fighting, the character, the animation and everything.

Ugly: Pokemon the First Movie - Mewtwo vs. Mew is my least favorite movie of all time. I will never see this film in my whole life. Any Pokemon film, I will never see in my whole life.

What should I do next time?: If I watch this film next time, (which would mean never) but if I do, then I will kill all those stupid Pokemon.

Rating:
Summary: This Movie Inspired me!
Review: I loved this Movie! It really Inspired me to try Hard, be Nice, work together, have confidence and not fight. I'm 15 years old and am still the BIGGEST pokemon fan. I Highly recommend this to any pokemon fans. I am SOOOOOOOOO happy Pokemon hasn't lost its popularity, because I think it deserves all the love and happiness it shares with everyone else. Get this Movie I Know you'll love it.

Rating:
Summary: Eh.........yeah.....
Review: So I admit I actually saw this in theaters back in the day, but even then I was a bit disappointed.

I would probably give this one star if I knew firsthand about the atrocious English script the other reviewers speak of. I trust them, but for now I have to look at this the face value I saw it back in that lonely theater.

So what does this film have that makes it bad? Well, a lot of build up to a climax, then every one pretty much just gives up and leaves. They overdo the whole "lets just get along" thing way too much, and unless you're a hippie this will probably end up being a waste of your time.

As a Pokemon movie even, I get disappointed. Its just an hour and a half long episode, like most TV show movies. There isn't any groundbreaking character development scene like in "Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture" nor is there any background to a character or storyline, its just an hour and a half of the same. Team Rocket's puns were amusing in the series, but they get tiring after they've run their thirty minute course.

The one joy I got from this was watching Pikachu get slapped around by an evil Pikachu. Heh heh heh...

Rating:
Summary: POKEMON
Review: I loved this movie because it has meaning.It teaches
kids that evrybody is different. And that is how
everyone is special. I gave it 4 stars because it
a little bit too long.

Rating:
Summary: The mainstreaming of Japanese anime at its worst.
Review: Pokemon is first and foremost an anime. But it's different from the typical anime licensed in America. It is mainstreamed, so that little kids will enjoy it and not get turned off by the Japaneseness that older people like.

Most of the time, an anime is released on video or DVD, and so the translators and writers keep in everything from mature themes to the original stories and characters. Then, if it is decided that the anime will be shown on TV, they will censor it and air it.

Pokemon is different, they don't dub the original thing, they dub a censored and dumbed down version and air that. What you see on TV and in the theater is the American Producers spin to the original thing.

You're not watching Pokemon, you're watching an Americanized version of Pokemon. What's more, the Americanized version is the version that all English-Language countries see, which upsets the poeple not living in America. (i.e. the Minnesota Vikings joke).

The Americanization of Pokemon is at an all time high in this movie, the story and dialogue is way off from the original. They even composed an entirely different score. (The new score isn't necissarily bad, but it's the thought that they are taking someone else's work and determining themselves how and that they must change it so that the narrow-minded American children will be able to enjoy it).

And so, the movie is terrible.

My biggest gripe is the inclusion of evil pop music. Pop music is evil, and no one really seems to know that. If the American version had alternative rock in it, I'd be happier, but that's just my personal opinion.

As I mentioned before, the dialogue is dumbed down seriously so that the movie is easier to understand. Exposition in this movie is multiplied by five from the original Japanese version. Another odd thing about the dialogue is that in the original Japanese version, the guy dressed as a pirate that Ash battles in the opening credits speaks English. But the American version dubbed over him anyway. Why? Why do they waste their time? Because they still changed the dialogue. Even in the movie theaters, they still feel that Pokemon must be censored. While in the Japanese version, the character said "Oh my God!" in the American version, he says "Oh no!"

The worst translation change is this: in one scene, Mewtwo says "What's happened here," in the Japanese version. In the English version, he says, "Behold. With pokemon and humans eliminated, the clones shall inherit the world." Why?

Back to the music, while the original score in the dub version is no better than the Japanese version, it's not very bad either. But they decided to add in some vocal tracks to increase their money with deals with record companies. But come on! There is a horrible horrible song called "Brother, My Brother" played during a FIGHT SCENE! Sure, the pokemon were fighting clones of each other, but the Japanese version had real symphonic music playing. Battle music. Duel of the Fates sort of thing. But 4Kids decided that they had to endear the parents with some sort of allegorical song so that they'd think their kids would learn something from it.

You know, that's all well and sweet and everything, but that sort of thing is for soliloquys at the end of the film, not fight scenes. Movies need to have a kind of artistic value, even ones for young kids. The addition of that song took away the emotion and power of the original scene and replaced it with an advertisement for the singer and a disclaimer to parents.

And don't get me started on the pointless M2M song "Don't Say You Love Me." No little kid would understand or like that song, and no self-respecting anime watcher would enjoy any pop song at all. It's a song for pubescent girls. Why?

That's it really. My only real problem is that the movie is too different from the better Japanese version. They are just too determined to mainstream it. While that's all I can really say about the movie, the bottom line is that it's just plain boring. I'm sure that little kids will love the battles and such, but for older people, it's like sitting there doing nothing.

They changed the Pikachu's Vacation movie too. How? You ask. There isn't any dialogue to change. Well, they changed the narrator from a sweet-sounding woman to the Pokedex, and they messed the music up like in the main film.

Rating:
Summary: Pokemon: "Happy Meal" propaganda in a movie
Review: For some reason I saw this some years ago at the movie theatre. I don't watch or care to watch a lot of movies, but I feel inclined to comment on this one. _Pokemon_ is about a threesome of kids going around catching "Pocket Monsters" in magic orbs after they are defeated in battle. It is? (I think it's "was) a popular children's series and this is the movie. The first segment is a totally irrational and pointless short called "Pikachu's Adventure." It had absoloutely no recognizable plot or meaning, just bright images accompanied by "pika-pika" every five seconds.

Pokemon (in my own subjective analysis) represents the depths to which rootless consumer society is sinking. The world of Pokemon is totally fantasy, devoid of rational meaning. The only apparent goal of the characters is to catch more Pokemon. The slogan is "gotta catch 'em all," just like the McDonald's Happy Meal commercials which encourage kids, regarding small plastic toys, to "collect them all." I question the whole concept of "Pocket Monsters." There are enough "Monsters," figurative and literal, in the world today without putting any in our pockets. My point being: if you are a kid that's bored to no end and need to kill a few brain cells and some time, then watch this movie.

Rating:
Summary: It's ok at best
Review: Pokemon the first movie is an example how a tv to movie should not be done. Pokemon the first movie is is basically an extension of the series with little effort otherwise.

Pokemon the first movie is about Assh, Misty, Brock and a few other trainers lured to a mysteriouse Island to battle a mystery trainer. The trainer turns out to be Mewtwo hell bent on on destroying the world. With each pokemon defeated he clones them to increase his army. The trainers fight back with the help of Mew to defeate Mewtwo.

This basically tries to create a compelling movie but instead makes an extension of the series. The plot is really lacking and instead focus more on action. So little kids will love it but parents will get bored.

Rating:
Summary: Could lead to Interesting Classroom Discussions...
Review: In the first theatrical release of the Pokemon series, we are given secondary stories to follow - stories that might lead to interesting classroom discussions. This is not only a movie children will enjoy, but a movie that adults will find has story elements worth following up on.

If you're unfamiliar with the basics, Pokemon (short for "POcKEt MONsters") are creatures a little like those from this world, but with strange and unusual powers and abilities that they use for their masters - masters that can be either good or evil. Ash and his friends train their Pokemon to fight battles with their enemies. They travel all over the planet to collect new and unusual types of Pokemon. They trap Pokemon in "Poke Balls" - a small device that hangs from a belt. When Ash's enemies release their Pokemon to do their work, Ash and his friends release their Pokemon, and they have a big battle.

In the main story, Giovanni, the leader of the evil "Team Rocket", uses cells from a prehistoric Pokemon named Mew to create a whole new creature. But MewTwo is not a true clone - he is manufactured to be better than his 'parent'. Giovanni wants to control MewTwo for himself, but MewTwo revolts against this, breaks free from his creator and begins a campaign of revenge. It's up to Ash and his friends to stop MewTwo before he kills everyone on Earth with his scientifically enhanced psychic powers. MewTwo begins his reign of terror by cloning other Pokemon to be better than their predecessors.

It is MewTwo's revolt and its results that can start interesting classroom discussions. Questions for discussion include: "Is Cloning Wrong?" "If we do clone, do we want to try to alter the original?" And, the most interesting dilemmas of all - "Is this all I am?" "Why am I here?" "Where do I go from here?" These are dilemmas everyone must deal with.

I won't spoil the ending - it has to be seen. Even the original Mew shows up to add to the fun. The ending caused hours of talk between my daughter and myself. I gained a whole new respect for Pokemon thru this movie, and I'm sure you will too. The story's twin messages - one about cloning and its effects and one about "Is This All I Am?" are not preachy and the art is Japanamation at close to its best.

There's also a short Pikachu cartoon that younger Pokemon fans will enjoy. Fans of the TV show will love this extra.

The story makes this movie well worth adding to your home video library.

Rating:
Summary: Not a great way to introduce Pokemon to the big screen...
Review: Out of all the Pokemon movies released in America, this is the one that bugs me a little. 4Kids Entertainment have watered down Mewtwo's personality, and the irony of it all is that out of ALL the Pokemon anime characters, Mewtwo is the most human, even though he's a Pokemon. That is, in the Japanese version. The first [thing] that 4Kids did to Mewtwo Strikes Back was changing the beautiful and haunting orchestral score that was in the Japanese version. Instead, they added in their own little MIDI track, which isn't SO bad compared to their later work on future projects, but that's not saying much.
The next thing they did wrong was altering Mewtwo's personality somewhat. Instead of the soul-searching, philosophical Mewtwo that pondered it's existence in the Japanese version, we now get a "I am the most powerful Pokemon ever! Fear me and my great power!" Mewtwo in the English version. Plus, the English voice actor that does Mewtwo's voice doesn't sound quite as threatening or frightening as he did in the japanese version, but at least he did OKAY.
The only thing 4Kids did right was paying the japanese Pokemon animation studio, Shogakukan, to re-animate a few scenes to make them look better.
Anyway, on this DVD we get a bit of extras, including the never before seen 'World of Pokemon' segment which introduces people to, what else? Pokemon.
We also get to see the short film, Pikachu's Vacation, which is VERY silly and Loony Tunes-esque(Heck, 4Kids redid the music to make it sound JUST like a Bugs Bunny cartoon!). 4Kids made some changes, but they weren't as major as the ones they did to the main film.
There's also a 'Origin of Mewtwo' segment which is quite lacking, considering that we only get to see LESS THAN A HALF of the whole thing! (Luckily they released the 'uncut' version on the Mewtwo Returns DVD)
There's some other stuff on this DVD too, like a directors commentary that isn't very informative, a music video of M2M(which, along with the song that's in the movie, has nothing REMOTELY close in common with this movie), and a trailer for the 2nd Pokemon movie.
But one question left is: Why didn't they put the japanese version on here? Hmm...
If you aren't a Pokemon fan, this movie probably won't change your mind about the franchise, but then again... IF they would put the original version on here for once, maybe it would.

Rating:
Summary: The best movie
Review: This movie would have to be the greatest in the Pokemon series, it has awseome battles, emotional scenes and an awesome villian.

The special features are pretty cool with the audio commentary, and how they redone the movie for its american release. The soundtrack is also the best one i have ever heard in a movie.
I recommend this movie to any Pokemon fan.