Pokémon: The First Movie

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Pokémon: The First Movie
Directed by	Michael Haigney Kunihiko Yuyama
Produced by	Yoshikawa Chouji Igarashi Tomonori Mori Takenori
Written by	Takeshi Shudo
Starring	Veronica Taylor Rachael Lillis Eric Stuart Ikue Ootani Phillip Bartlett Addie Blaustein Ted Lewis
Distributed by	Kids' WB!, Nintendo, Toho Co. Ltd., Shogakukan, Oriental Light and Magic
Release date(s)	Japanese: July 18, 1998 English: November 12, 1999
Running time	77 min
Language	English
Followed by	Pokémon: The Movie 2000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Pokémon: The First Movie, also known as Pocket Monsters: Mewtwo Strikes Back! (劇場版ポケットモンスター ミュウツーの逆襲, Gekijōban Poketto Monsutā Myūtsū no Gyakushū^?), 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. The former title can be seen as a reference to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, while the latter can be seen as a reference to Mobile Suit Gundam: Char'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 76-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.

[edit] Plot

The world of Pokémon’s premier criminal organization, 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 laboratory project for creating the Pokémon, codenamed Mewtwo, ends up an experiment gone awry as the being awakens and destroys the lab after realizing that his purpose is apparently to be nothing more than a laboratory specimen. Giovanni arrives, intent on presenting himself as a different type of human which Mewtwo can trust so that he can still take control of the Pokémon, and Giovanni offers to sharpen Mewtwo’s psychic powers in their mutual quest for world control. Mewtwo agrees, believing that he will find his true purpose as a human-made clone through this.

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—that he was created as an unquestioning war weapon for Team Rocket—and therefore embitters Mewtwo’s heart against humanity and causes Mewtwo to exact destructive retribution against Giovanni’s base before abandoning Giovanni and flying 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 set in mind, Mewtwo rebuilds the lab and enacts an elaborate plot to gain a clone army for himself.

New Island, Mewtwo's base of operations and the setting for Pokemon: The First Movie.

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.” A storm appears to disable the ferry service to the island, 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. Suddenly, the Master appears, and it is none other than Mewtwo, who reveals to the trainers that their being there was all a scam designed by him to gather the most capably-trained Pokémon in one place for him to pilfer and then clone for himself. Mewtwo wastes no time in explaining his agenda for the purging of the world of its humans and the Pokémon who serve them, and after a series of confrontational standoffs between Mewtwo and the trainers, Mewtwo has all the trainers’ Pokémon captured and cloned, forming his own clone army. Ash prepares to confront Mewtwo outright by rounding up all the original Pokémon and preparing to pit them as a force against Mewtwo’s force.

Mewtwo departs with his band of clones to a new land in search of a place to live in solitude.

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 prove righteously that clones are superior to originals. The clashes herein are brutal and tire all the Pokémon out, revealing to Ash and his friends that fighting to prove a point about who’s better is wrong. Eventually, as Mewtwo and Mew’s conflict climaxes, 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 humans do indeed have the capacity for virtue and that his objective was severely misguided, and he thus erases the minds of all involved in the event and returns them to the mainland, where they are unaware of the drama that has just transpired. Mewtwo then erases his lab complex and travels west with his band of clones in search of a locale where they may live an unfettered existence away from the prying eyes of humans.

However, though Mewtwo erased everyone’s memories of him at New Island, he is still being targeted by one individual who was not present at the event: 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.

[edit] Pikachu’s Vacation

Pikachu’s Vacation 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, 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. (See here for more information about generations in the Pokémon context.)

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 on their own. Pikachu and the Pokémon 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 rejoin their trainers.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Trivia/Goofs

• The movie's plot bears resemblance to to the plot of the book Frankenstein.
• The movie's soundtrack featured songs by *NSYNC, Emma Bunton, Britney Spears, 98 Degrees, M2M, and Aaron Carter
• At the peak of its popularity, radio station phone systems often crashed whenever they offered free tickets.
• According to the directors commentary, the American edit of the film contains CGI effects that weren't included in the Japanese cut. These include realistic-looking clouds.
• 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.
• In the American version of the film, Brock states when riding with Team Rocket disguised as vikings, that he didn't think vikings were around anymore, and Ash said that he thinks they live in Minnesota, a reference to the state's football team.
• According to the DVD commentary, 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. This was picked up after the voice recording by the producers' children, but they kept it in deliberately to see if the fans got the errors. Pidgeot is also incorrecty referred as Pidgeotto.
• The VHS release of the film had a trailer to 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.
• The "fighting is wrong" moral ending exists only in the American version. In the original Japanese version, the ending was that Mewtwo, who was portrayed as a troubled philosopher looking for its true purpose in life, accepted 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.
• In the laboratory destruction scene, the scientists (except for Dr. Fuji) scream when Mewtwo uses his powers to destroy the lab. Listen closely, because the last scientist emits a lower-pitched-than-usual Wilhelm scream.
• On the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), the American version of the movie is said to be the fifth worst animated movie of all time. However the Japanese version is given a 5 out of 5.
• The Pikachu segment is the first appearance of Snubbull and Marill, and the feature film is the first appearance of Donphan.
• In episodes 60, 61, and 62 of the Pokèmon 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. In the director's commentary, they joked that they had to get a 'stand-in' for Gary because his agent was asking for too much.
• At the end of the Japanese version, Team Rocket didn't have their minds erased, because Mewtwo didn't know they were there. Note how they weren't floating in the air like the others and they were the only ones left on the island.

[edit] External links

• Pokémon: The First Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Roger Ebert's review of Pokemon: The First Movie