| Pokémon: The Movie 2000 | |
|---|---|
North American VHS Cover |
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| Directed by | Kunihiko Yuyama |
| Produced by | Chōji Yoshikawa Yukaku Matsusako Takemoto Mori |
| Written by | Takeshi Shudō |
| Narrated by | Japanese: Unshō Ishizuka English: Ken Gates |
| Starring | Japanese: Rica Matsumoto Ikue Ōtani Mayumi Iizuka Tomokazu Seki Satomi Kōrogi Megumi Hayashibara Shin-ichiro Miki Inuko Inuyama Kōichi Yamadera Takeshi Kaga Masatoshi Hamada English: Veronica Taylor Ikue Ōtani Rachael Lillis Ed Paul Satomi Kōrogi Eric Stuart Maddie Blaustein Eric Rath Neil Stewart Nathan Price |
| Music by | Japan: Shinji Miyazaki International: Ralph Schuckett |
| Cinematography | Hisao Shirai |
| Editing by | Toshio Henmi Yutaka Itō |
| Studio | OLM, Inc. |
| Distributed by | Japan: Toho (Japan) International: Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | July 16, 1999 |
| Running time | 80 minutes 20 minutes (Pikachu's Rescue Adventure) |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget |
¥3 billion (US $30 million) |
| Box office | $133,949,270 |
Pokémon: The Movie 2000, originally released in Japan as Pocket Monsters the Movie: Revelation Lugia (劇場版ポケットモンスター 幻のポケモン ルギア爆誕 Gekijōban Poketto Monsutā Maboroshi no Pokemon Rugia Bakutan, lit. "Mirage Pokémon: Lugia's Explosive Birth"), is a 1999 Japanese animated film directed by Kunihiko Yuyama as the second Pokémon feature-length film, complementing the Orange Islands saga of the series and featuring several new Pokémon, including Lugia and Slowking. Brock, who temporarily left during the season on which the film is based makes a cameo appearance trying to protect the Pokémon in Professor Ivy's lab.
Pokémon: The Movie 2000 has two parts: the feature presentation and a 20-minute short. The film is set during the Orange Islands saga, where Ash, Misty and Tracy enter Shamouti Island. While there, they discover the three legendary Pokémon, Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno. When a collector named Lawrence III attempts to steal the three Pokémon and Lugia attempts to stop him, the fate between Ash, Lawrence III and Lugia is at stake.
The film was released in Japanese theaters on July 17, 1999. The English version, produced by 4Kids Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. in association with Nintendo, was later released in the United States on July 21, 2000. Pokémon: The Movie 2000 earned less at the box office than its predecessor, Pokémon: The First Movie, despite increased promotion and better critical reception.
Contents |
As with before, the faces of the main human characters are unseen. When Togepi falls down a dark hole, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Marill, Venonat, and Psyduck give chase and find themselves in a giant tree that once was Pikachu’s old home. With help from Pikachu’s old friend, Elekid, the Pokémon find Togepi but she has been mistaken for an Exeggcute egg. The Pokémon head off into the depths of the tree to find the missing egg, meeting a trio of dancing Bellossom along the way. A severe storm hits the area and Pikachu and his friends try to protect the Exeggcute eggs from being blown away. The grass Pokémon lend a hand and Snorlax[1] saves everyone with his great strength.The storm fades when a Dragonair appears and calms the storm and a Chansey appears, revealing she had the missing egg all along. The eggs are reunited. Exeggcute suddenly evolves into Exeggutor with the assistance of a Leaf Stone. Pikachu and his friends say farewell to Elekid and the others and head back to their trainers. Meanwhile, Meowth tries to find his way to a campsite but ends up getting caught on Pikachu’s mishaps and gives up.
| “ | Disturb not the harmony of Fire, Ice, or Lightning, Lest these Titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the water's Great Guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, Alone its song will fail. Thus the Earth shall turn to ash. O, Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three. Their treasures combined, tame the Beast of the Sea. From the trio of islands, ancient spheres shall you take, For between life and death, all the difference you'll make. O, Chosen One, climb to the shrine to right what is wrong, And the world will be healed by the Guardian's song. |
” |
Lawrence III, a Pokémon collector, strives to make the aforementioned legend occur. His plan to capture the legendary birds Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno will ultimately lead to the capture of the "Beast of the Sea" Lugia. Lawrence sets out in his hovercraft to the heart of the Orange Islands to capture the three legendary birds, referred to as the Titans of Fire, Ice and Lightning. He successfully captures Moltres, but the balance of powers the birds have over the world's climate begins to collapse, causing all sorts of weather phenoenma across the world, alerting countless Pokémon to the change. Ash Ketchum and his companions Misty and Tracey Sketchit get caught in a freak storm, and are washed ashore Shamouti, set in the centre of the Orange Islands. Learning the island festival celebrating the legend is about to begin, Ash is selected as the festival's chosen one by a girl named Melody, the festival maiden.
At the festival's banquet, Melody explains to Ash he must retrieve three glass balls from each of the legendary birds' islands and take them to Shamouti's shrine, guarded by a talking Slowking, where Melody will end his task by playing the festival's song, actually the song of Lugia. Ash immediately sets out, led by the troubled Pikachu. Taken to Fire Island by sea captain Maren, Ash and Pikachu find Moltres' treasure, but are interrupted by Team Rocket. Misty, Tracey and Melody arrive via Melody's multi-purpose boat, followed by Zapdos who attempts to conquer the island. Lawrence appears overhead, absorbing Zapdos' electrical energy and captures it along with Ash and co. accidentally. Meanwhile, Professor Oak, Professor Ivy, and Ash's mother Delia Ketchum fly to the islands but their helicopter crashes on Shamouti. Lawrence frees Ash and the others, but as he goes to catch Articuno, they free Moltres and Zapdos who escape and bring down Lawrence's hovercraft.
Meanwhile Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres have engaged in all out war, they unleash all of their powers trying to destroy each other. Ash and co. manage to escape, gaining Zapdos' treasure, and are transported back to Shamouti by a mysterious water spout revealed to be Lugia. Lugia at first tries to stop the battle himself, but is outmatched by the birds powers combined against him. Telepathically he then explains the birds and the weather can be stopped by the legend's Chosen One, actually Ash in reality. Ash agrees to go to Articuno's island to get the final treasure, but his progress is halted by the legendary birds. Team Rocket arrive on a speedboat made from a dingy and the helicopter's discarded propeller, wishing to save the world in order to continue their villainy. The group race up to Articuno's shrine and retrieve the treasure. The birds appear, Articuno destroying the speedboat but is knocked out by Moltres and Zapdos. Lugia rescues Ash and Pikachu, but Team Rocket heroically fall into the sea upon realising they are slowing Lugia down. Lawrence tries to catch Lugia, but Lugia uses its Aeroblast attack to take out Moltres and Zapdos before collapsing into the sea.
Misty and Tracey rescue Ash and Pikachu, who venture to Shamouti's shrine and place the final treasure with the others. Melody plays Lugia's song, ending the storms and bringing peace to the legendary birds. Lugia rises from the sea, bringing the true Beast of the Sea with him, an underwater current that has been altering the climate. Later, after the birds returned to their islands, Lugia departs after thanking Ash. Delia and the professors arrive, Delia having witnesses her son's actions but asks him to be more careful which he complies with. Lawrence laments on his decisions, deciding to start his collection again. Team Rocket reach the island a day later, and are told by Slowking that the audience saw their heroics, the trio contemplating changing their ways.
Donna Summer sings the ending song of the movie, also titled “The Power of One”. "Weird Al" Yankovic also provided an original song, “Polkamon”, which played during the ending credits. The last song played during the credits was “Flying Without Wings” by Westlife. Italian singer Laura Pausini sings the ballad The Extra Mile, written, among others, by Australian singer Tina Arena. The B-52's also recorded the song "The Chosen One" just for the movie.[2]
Herman Cain, a former Republican candidate for President of the United States, quoted lines from the Donna Summer song multiple times throughout his campaign. He first used them in his official campaign announcement, misattributing them to the closing song of the 2000 Olympics. He made the same mistake at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans on June 17, 2011. During an August debate, Cain again quoted the lyrics, this time attributing them to a poet.[3] In a December interview with GQ, Cain acknowledged that the song came from a Pokémon movie, but reiterated that he heard it during the close of the 2000 Olympics and stated that he had not previously known that it had originated in this film.[4] However, "The Power of One" was not played during the Olympics' closing ceremony.[5] During Cain's annoucement that he would be suspending his presidential campaign, he again quoted these lyrics, acknowledging that they came from a Pokémon movie.[6]
When Pokémon: The Movie 2000 was released, select movie theaters dispensed exclusive cards. The first week, a replica of the Ancient Mew card featured in the movie was given out. The following weeks gave out various cards for legendary birds. (In Japan, one of the promotional cards was a special edition of Slowking/Yadoking as drawn by the voice actor who portrayed him, famed comedian—and infamously bad artist—Masatoshi Hamada.)
During the Japanese release, the first run of Ancient Mew had ‘Nintendo’ spelled as ‘Nintedo’. This was corrected for future runs (and the US release) of the card.
The film was panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 16% "Rotten" approval rating, slightly higher than the first movie, based on the reviews of 64 film critics, with the consensus being, "Despite being somewhat more exciting than the previous film, this kiddy flick still lacks any real adventure or excitement. What it does contain is choppy animation and poor voice acting. Doesn't match up to virtually anything out there."[7] The film reviews from the audience also received a 51% "Rotten" approval rating, the worst for the pokémon film series. Plugged In said that "the plot is as tiresome as it was in the first movie. But the violence is tamed somewhat, so the positive messages shine a bit more brightly".
The film was financially successful. It earned $9,250,000 on opening day, which was only less than $1 million behind the opening day of its predecessor. It however only reached #3 for its opening weekend, grossing $19.5 million. On its second weekend it declined to 68.9% to $6.8 million and descending to sixth place. It made $43,758,684 at the domestic box office, barely over half of what the first film did. The film made $133,949,270 at the end of its box office run.
| Pokémon: The Movie 2000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | ||||
| Released | July 18, 2000 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Label | Atlantic Records | |||
| Producer | Various | |||
| Various artists chronology | ||||
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| Pokémon: The Movie 2000 Original Motion Picture Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Ralph Schuckett | ||||
| Released | 2001 | |||
| Genre | Orchestral | |||
| Ralph Schuckett chronology | ||||
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The North American soundtrack was released alongside the film in 2000 by Atlantic Records and includes many songs by popular artists, such as "Weird Al" Yankovic and The B-52's. The orchestral score composed and conducted by Ralph Schuckett was also released on a separate CD, Pokémon The Movie 2000 Original Motion Picture Score, but this CD still features "The Legend Comes to Life", which was the final song played by Melody.
The title track to the movie was remixed by Jonathan Peters and Tommy Musto. Pokémon The Movie 2000 Original Motion Picture Score is the orchestral soundtrack to the movie. The CD was originally released in some countries in Europe (the United Kingdom not included) in 2000. It was not until 2004 that American fans got their chance to own the music, when it became available for download on iTunes.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performed by | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Power of One" | Donna Summer | 3:49 | |
| 2. | "Dreams" | Alysha | 4:04 | |
| 3. | "They Don't Understand" | Dream Street | 2:58 | |
| 4. | "Wonderland" | Angela Vía | 3:52 | |
| 5. | "With All Your Heart" | Plus One | 3:40 | |
| 6. | "The Extra Mile" | Laura Pausini | 4:05 | |
| 7. | "Flying Without Wings" | Westlife | 3:35 | |
| 8. | "Pokémon World" | Youngstown featuring Nobody's Angel | 3:48 | |
| 9. | "Blah, Blah, Blah" | Devotion 2 Music | 2:34 | |
| 10. | "Polkamon" | "Weird Al" Yankovic | 2:03 | |
| 11. | "The Chosen One" | The B-52's | 3:24 | |
| 12. | "One Heart" | O-Town | 3:59 | |
| 13. | "One" | Denisse Lara | 4:13 | |
| 14. | "Comin' to the Rescue" | O-Town | 1:45 | |
| 15. | "Dance of the Bellossom (score from Pikachu's Rescue Adventure)" | 1:04 | ||
| 16. | "The Legend Comes to Life (score from The Power of One)" | 4:15 |
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200[8] | 85 |
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Harmony Disturbed" | |
| 2. | "The Beast of the Sea Stirs" | |
| 3. | "To the Rescue" | |
| 4. | "Breakout Mayhem" | |
| 5. | "If Only They Could Help" | |
| 6. | "The World Turns to Ash" | |
| 7. | "To the Third Treasure" | |
| 8. | "Return to the Shrine" | |
| 9. | "The Guardian's Song" | |
| 10. | "Goodbye Lugia" | |
| 11. | "The Adventure Begins" | |
| 12. | "Windy" | |
| 13. | "Teamwork" | |
| 14. | "Pokémon World" |