2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the much beloved Pokemon franchise. It's been a wild and crazy ride from Gen 1 to the upcoming Gen 7. My first game began with Pokemon Silver for the Game Boy Color, a gift handed down from my older brother. I loved the game and I've grown up with Pokemon ever since Silver. Pokemon: The First Movie came out when I about 4 years old and I saw it and had a really fun time. It's not that hard to impress a 4 year old. Fast forward 17 years and now I'm a smarter, more understanding young adult.
The first time that I saw this movie was back on VHS tapes in the comfort of my own home. This second time treated me to a theater viewing, thanks to Cinemark Theaters in Ypsilanti being gracious hosts to the showcase. I went with a friend and when we got there, the theater was surprisingly packed with audience members. There was the young and the old and families and brothers and sisters all seated together to enjoy the fun and child-like wonder that Pokemon is. It was sort of sobering to be among different people who also enjoyed Pokemon. We grabbed some seats and waited for the movie to start. Before the actual movie began, we saw the Pikachu's Vacation short and almost immediately the waves of nostalgia rolled over me as the memories returned. It was fun to see it again.
The real movie played right after and I have to say, as much fun as I had watching Pokemon: The First Movie; it was quite strange and honestly not as great as I remembered, Like I said, its not hard to impress a 4 year old. This is a kids movie yet the opening lines of the film question the meaning of life and existentialism. These concepts are way above the mental capacity for a child to even have some sort of grasp on these ideas. There is also cut footage and differences between the Japanese and US versions of The First Movie. The US version cuts out a significant portion of Mewtwo's origin story where he grows up with a human clone who then dies setting up his motivations. It changes him from a morally confused villain to one that is straight up evil. Also the hilarious yet completely wrong Pokemon name references. One trainer has a Pidgeot but he refers to it as Pidgeotto, Team Rocket mistakes a Scyther for a Alakazam and Sandslash was mentioned as a Sandshrew.
The one good thing I can say is that the film is composed of really good shots. My favorite shot is in the beginning where the head scientist is speaking to Mewtwo and it has a long shot but we can see their reflections off of test tubes in the distance so that we get a close up of their faces.
Pokemon: The First Movie is a poorly edited yet fun movie to watch with friends so you can point and laugh at it. It is a janky mess but you can't turn away from it.
