Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light

U.S. Promotional poster
Directed by Hatsuki Tsuji
Produced by Michael Pecerlello
Written by Michael Pecerlello
Based on Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 
by Kazuki Takahashi
Starring Shunsuke Kazama
Kenjiro Tsuda
Kouji Ishii
Hiroki Takahashi
Hidehiro Kikuchi
Maki Saito
Junko Takeuchi
Tadashi Miyazawa
Jiro J. Takasugi
Narrated by Masanori Ikeda[1]
Music by Elik Alvarez
Joel Douek
Freddy Sheinfeld
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Toho Company (Japan)
Release dates
  • 13 August 2004 (United States)
  • 3 November 2004 (Japan)
Running time
 89 minutes[2] (US release)
101 minutes (Japanese release)
Country United States
Japan
Language English
Japanese
Box office $29,170,410[3]

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, later released in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light (遊戯王デュエルモンスターズ 光のピラミッド Yūgiō Dyueru Monsutāzu Hikari no Piramiddo, lit. "Game King Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light") is a 2004 Japanese-American anime adventure fantasy film produced by Nihon Ad Systems based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters TV series.

The film was released in the United States before Japan, as it was commissioned by 4Kids Entertainment, and was released in theaters in 13 August 2004. The characters are the same as the English release of the Duel Monsters television show and their names retain their regional changes (i.e., Téa is Anzu in the Japanese version and Téa in all other versions). Unlike the TV series, the cards retain their appearance to their real world counterparts in the English version. The film was released in Japan in 3 November 2004 and aired on TV Tokyo on 2 January 2005, which utilized the names, original sound effects and original soundtrack from the Japanese anime and featured twelve minutes of additional animation.

Plot

5,000 years ago, a brave Pharaoh killed and imprisoned Anubis after he tried to destroy the world using the forbidden Shadow Games. In the present day, Anubis' tomb is uncovered by archaeologists, complete with his most valuable treasure, the Pyramid of Light. Moving ahead to the present, the Battle City finals have concluded, and Yugi Mutou has achieved international fame by defeating his rival Seto Kaiba and obtaining the three powerful Egyptian God Cards. Determined to defeat Yugi, Kaiba turns to Maximillion Pegasus to gain any new cards designed to defeat the God cards. Kaiba and Pegasus duel with Kaiba winning and taking two cards, although Pegasus claims he only created one.

Meanwhile, Yugi and Téa Gardner go to the local museum where Anubis' corpse and the Pyramid of Light are on display, meeting up with Yugi's Grandpa, who reads a prophecy describing a clairvoyant eye which will prevent the world's destruction if blinded. Anubis' spirit attacks the group with Yugi having a vision of Anubis himself manipulating Kaiba and him in a Shadow Game death match. He awakens to find Anubis and the Pyramid of Light missing. Kaiba's brother Mokuba arrives, and Yugi is taken to Kaiba's duel dome with his friends Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor in pursuit. Kaiba arrogantly and ignorantly forces Yami Yugi into a duel, unaware that Anubis is manipulating him into using one of the two new cards, Pyramid of Light, which covers the field in a huge replica of the actual pyramid and destroys the God Cards. Yugi, Joey and Tristan are sucked into the pyramid while Mokuba flees the crumbling building.

Yugi, Joey, and Tristan awaken within the Millennium Puzzle, finding Anubis' tomb within. Anubis reveals that his monsters will destroy the modern world. Yami Yugi and Kaiba continue their duel, each blow to their in-game Life Points actually draining away their physical energy. To make matters worse, Kaiba manages to eliminate half of Yami Yugi's deck through Deck Destruction Virus, leaving him with barely any cards. Kaiba uses the second new card, the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, to destroy Yami's last monster and dropping his Life Points to 200. Téa, Solomon, and Mokuba escape the collapsing dome in Pegasus' helicopter, Pegasus having figured out what is going on. Téa's soul is sent into the Millennium Puzzle to aid Yugi, Joey and Tristan. Yugi finds the Dagger of Fate within Anubis' tomb, and uses it to destroy the all-seeing eye in the tomb as per the prophecy.

Anubis materializes behind Kaiba as he tries to alter the duel's path, casting him aside and taking command of the duel. Yami, reunited with Yugi, destroys the Pyramid of Light card with the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon and then uses Kaiba's planned strategy to summon the God Cards and end the duel by destroying Anubis. However, Anubis revealed his true form, The End of Anubis. This proves to be his undoing when Yugi and Yami summon the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon to seal Anubis. Kaiba departs promising to defeat Yugi, Yugi thanking Yami and his friends for their help and companionship.

Voice cast

Release

Box office

Yu-Gi-Oh! opened at 2,411 screens across the U.S and made a theater screen average of $3,934. By the end of the weekend, it made $9,485,494 and place #4 on the Box Office Top 10 behind Collateral, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, and AVP: Alien Vs. Predator, which took the #1 position. It is currently the #3 Japanese animated film in the US Box Office, after Pokémon: The First Movie and Pokémon 2000.[4] The film grossed $19,765,868 in the United States and Canada, with only $29,170,410 worldwide,[3] making it a severe disappointment compared to the first three Pokémon films dubbed by the same company, which were highly successful, with a total worldwide gross of $363 million.

Critical reception

The film had gained overwhelmingly negative response in the United States. Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film 68th in the "100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s", with a rating of 5%, based on 65 reviews. The consensus reads "Don't watch the TV show or play the card game? Then this movie is not for you."[5] This film is also currently the lowest rated animated film on Metacritic, with an average of 15 out of 100, based on 18 reviews.[6] On Rotten Tomatoes, it is the second lowest rated animated film of the 2000s behind Happily N'Ever After.

Promotional cards

Attendees of the premiere (U.S. or Japan) got 1 of 4 free Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game cards Pyramid of Light, Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, Sorcerer of Dark Magic, and Watapon were given out as part of a promotional deal when filmgoers purchased tickets for the film.

Soundtrack

The film came out with a soundtrack titled Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Soundtrack featuring various vocal artists (most notably The Black Eyed Peas, who contributed the song "For the People"); however, the score for the film was never released.

References

  1. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie" (in Japanese). TV Tokyo. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  2. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh! - The Movie - Pyramid of Light". bbfc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light at Box Office Mojo
  4. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D's U.S. Theatrical Run Dated for February–March". Anime News Network. 2010-11-22.
  5. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie". rottentomatoes.com. 7 August 2004. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic.

External links