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

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 4Kids Entertainment and NAS based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! series.

The film was released in United States theaters by Warner Bros. on August 13, 2004.^[5] 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 theatrically by Toho in Japan in November 3, 2004 and aired on TV Tokyo on January 2, 2005, which utilized the names, original sound effects and original soundtrack from the Japanese anime and featured twelve minutes of additional animation.

Plot

The film starts telling the five thousand years story of a brave Pharaoh who killed and imprisoned Anubis, the Egyptian lord of the dead, after he tried to destroy the world by persuading the kings to play the mysterious Shadow Games. In the present day, Anubis' tomb is uncovered by archaeologists, amazed with his most valuable treasure, the Pyramid of Light. A devastating spiritual force unleashes from the relic and liberates the Egyptian god. Anubis, now free, is willing to conclude his plan.

Moving ahead to the present, the Battle City Finals have recently concluded, and Yugi Muto has achieved international fame by defeating his arch-rival Seto Kaiba and obtaining the three powerful Egyptian God Cards: Slifer the Sky Dragon, Obelisk the Tormentor, and the Winged Dragon of Ra. Kaiba, determined to defeat Yugi, turns to Pegasus, the now retired creator of Duel Monsters, in order to obtain any new cards designed to defeat the Egyptian Gods. Pegasus says he has the card Kaiba is searching for, but will only give it to Kaiba if defeated in a duel. Then the two duel with Kaiba winning the duel and taking two cards, although Pegasus claims he only created one.

Meanwhile, Yugi and Téa go to the local museum where Anubis' corpse and the Pyramid of Light are on display, meeting up with Yugi's grandpa Solomon, 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. 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 and Tristan 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 Egyptian Gods. 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, 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 predicted by 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 Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon and then uses Kaiba's planned strategy to summon the Egyptian Gods 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 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

Soundtrack

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Yu-Gi-Oh!
Released	August 10, 2004
Recorded	2004
Genre	Rock, pop, hip hop
Length	44:46
Label	Warner Bros. Records, RCA
Producer	John Siegler, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, Eddie Montilla, Jean Rodriguez, Wayne Sharp, Shep Goodman, Kenny Gioia, Herminio Quiroz, Ron Riley, Russell Velázquez, Jen Scaturro, Julian Schwartz, Jake Siegler, Alex Walker
Yu-Gi-Oh! chronology
Yu-Gi-Oh! Music to Duel By (2002) Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Soundtrack (2004)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[6]

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Soundtrack feature various vocal artists (most notably The Black Eyed Peas, who contributed the song "For the People"). It was released on August 10, 2004 on RCA on Audio CD and Compact Cassette.^[7] The score for the film was never released.

Promotion

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.

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.^[8] The film grossed $19,765,868 in the United States and Canada, with only $29,170,410 worldwide,^[4] 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 was met with an overwhelmingly negative response from critics. 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."^[9] The film is also currently the lowest rated animated film on Metacritic, with an average of 15 out of 100, based on 18 reviews.^[10] On Rotten Tomatoes, it is the second lowest rated animated film of the 2000s behind Happily N'Ever After.

References

External links

• Official website (US)
• Official website (Japan)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light at the Internet Movie Database
• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light at Box Office Mojo
• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light at Metacritic