In Suede's latest Animenia, Linkara, JewWario, and Suede take a look at the first Pokemon movie!
Part 1:
Part 2:
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Pokemon: The First Movie
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58 comments:
(After watching part 1) HOW DARE YOU GET OUR HOPES UP WITH A POKEMON MMO!!! *Goes and sobs in the corner* I HATE YOU APRIL FOOLS DAY!!! *shakes fist at sky*
Wow. I was expecting an April Fools joke, and instead received this awesomeness. That was epic.
God I still wish their was a Pokemon MMO in the RPG department...oh well it's Pokemon TCG MMO is better then nothing.
But this is a really good review by you guys and would actually like to see you three to review the movies...which Lanipator still needs to finish the DBZ reviews if I remember correctly.
I am still a Pokemon to this very day and even enjoy people's critiques of hating Pokemon if their legit enough(which I reconmend watching Youtube Let's Player DavetheUsher for his current Walkthrough of Pokepark 2 even if you are a fan of Pokemon his hatred for the series is legit and likes to make fun of it which is cool) which is why I liked the Nostalgia Critic's review of The First Film as well.
I do would like to note 4 Kids DID Localize The Origin of Mewtwo I think was released when Mewtwo Returns was out on DVD I'm not entirely sure. Though one moment I wanted to see you guys point out was the inclusion of Donphan in the movie The first Pokemon Ash fought against The Trainer in the opening Credits, seeing a Pokemon from the Second Generation in a Generation 1 Series before Generation 2 came out was and forever will be a WTF moment but sadly you guys didn't Catch it hehe see what I did their?
Anyway great Collab Review Linkara
Poor JewWario.
Aside from that, I have the same mixture of feelings for the first movie. I love it for the nostalgia factor, even if it does have some moments of pandering.
... Of course, after learning how to beat old school Mewtwo with a Parasect, it kind of takes away the epic powers of Mewtwo now when I watch it these days. Oh, well, I enjoyed the review and I look forward to more of these crossover videos!
God the way they restored ash was entirely out of nowhere and comPletely RETARDED! They just didn't care.
Reposted from TGWTG:
That scene at the beginning [i]was[/i] dubbed; I'm surprised it isn't more generally well-known. Wonder what the Critic would've thought had he seen THAT scene...
Meh. Gameplay and Story Segregation. Besides, I've never bought that electricity would simply flat-out never affect something in a real-world setting (certainly not mortal living things, even if they're made of rock); Pikachu shocking a ground-type doesn't really bother me. Hey, at least it always requires a huge effort on its part.
Fridge Logic: ...whatever happened to that Fearow and Dragonite? For that matter, where would he have gotten DRAGONITE DNA?
To be fair with Brock's eyes, not like he doesn't lust over dozens of women who look exactly like her on a daily basis.
"Release your Pokemon from their pokeballs". Yes, they each have no more than two Pokemon. ...we even [i]see[/i] Misty's Staryu earlier in the movie! Hello??
...HAH! Suburban Knights reference! Excellent!
To be fair with the Alakazam-Scyther confusion...it IS Team Rocket. And those two haven't shown up very much by this point in the series anyway.
The climax [i]is[/i] incredibly stupid...but for the brief moment it's still halfway sensible, you DO feel enormously sad for Pikachu, its heartbreak is completely palpable.
...that...was brilliant, Suede. You're absolutely right. That...WOULD have been so much better for the climax. Gosh darnit!
By the Gods, A April 1st post that isn't a joke post
I love this review, its a great crossover and I hope that the others are just as good
I love this crossover, I can't wait for the others!
Great review, I look forward to your other reviews... Unless this is some sort of cruel April Fools joke in which I shall be very heart broken. Either way, keep up the good work.
That opening with the three of you was one of the funniest things I've ever seen (3
Nice to hear a new perspective on a previously-reviewed movie. Are you really going to go through ALL of them?
You know today is April first... Should I really trust these videos???
-M4A
Good job. Can't wait until the movies get truly rediculous what with lucario and all that lot. And dont you just love the fact that so much gets lost when 4kids (damn them) decides to dub something?
Aah, the deliciousness of still being a fan of a child-aimed franchise. I myself am still a digimon nerd.
Huh, the japanese intro actually sounds very intriguing. I certainly would have loved to see it as a kid. I remember really wanting to see more of mewtwo when I first watched it. Because of that, the only other movie I ever saw of the franchise was mewtwo returns, which... I didn't like.
Also, I get a bit annoyed at people pointing out game rules the anime is not following. Games are a lot lower on the hardness scale, meaning realism and logic frequently has to be sacrificed for enjoyment. Basically segregation of story and gameplay. However, I do admit the anime liked to insert the rules from the games at inappropriate times as well (with a few episodes mentioning levels).
Hey, reckless endangerment gave me some of my best live experiences! And all it cost me was my sanity and dignity!
Also, what always surprised me was that, while mewtwo was portrayed as powerful, he never really appeared quite as powerful as Sabrina from the anime. Seriously, what the hell was up with that chick? Why was she even using pokemon if she herself had better psychic powers?
Maybe he has the stadium to play soccer matches? Or football? Or whatever they play in new zealand? *wikis it* Aah, rugby!
I remember from the dutch ad campaigns how much focus was actually placed on the messenger dragonite. Seriously, that guy appeared for like half a minute, but half the advertisements are focused on him. Was it the same in your respective countries?
As a final note; In the nostalgia critic's review, I noticed there were no spots on the cloned pokemon (at least, not all of them, and not as clear as in this one) like in this version, and the one I remember from my youth. Were the spots not in the original version and added later, or were the removed for some reason?
Looking forward to a next pokemon review. Never really seen any of Suede's or Jewwario's stuff, but they seemed entertaining enough, and I'm gonna check out both their stuff.
I watched this yesterday on Suede's channel but I had to watch it again. You guys are so adorakable ... makes me feel all nostalgic for the days when I used to come home from school and watch Pokemon.
I never thought I'd learn to hate 4kids more, but congrats, they succeeded. What were they thinking removing the interaction between clones? It would have been friggin' brilliant.
Great work Linkara. I too am a big pokemon fan from my childhood days. It's one of my few surviving not-so-guilty pleasures I enjoy today as well.
I look forward to seeing these reviews. Great work!
Part 1 was the best part. Jewario is the king of cameos and being weird, but funny.
I always wanted a MMPO game of Pokemon. That's every fan's dream! Nice of you guys to key in on that. Really wish Nintendo wasn't so resistant to breaking formula every once and awhile.
Do you still follow Pokemon's anime to this day Linkara? I love rewatching the early seasons, they had great humor and 4Kids was pretty accepting of James' eccentricities. I lost touch with it around the time it became apparent Ash would always have to abandon his Pokemon for the new starters. It felt like the soulless corporate decision making overrode the show's themes of loyalty and friendship.
But mad props to you if you've stuck with it, I don't think I could have made it through the transition to different voice actors.
I really like those sorts of crossovers. I hope that you are really going to review all of the movies, some of them I found to be guilty pleasures (like the first one, me and my little brother dragged our dad into the cinema so we could see it), others are just flat-out terrible.
I hope this doesn't end the way Lanipator's project of reviewing all DBZ-movies just stopped :-(
This is the second time your hat has been colored green by another artist.
Also, Jew wario looks like Shaggy from Scobby-Doo
That was great! I'm usually not a fan of cross-over reviews, but for some reason I really liked this one.
As for the Pokemon movies, I only saw the first three and really liked them. I'm pretty sure 2000 was my favorite, so I'm awaiting the next one.
Loved the crossover. Are you guys really going to review all the pokemon Movies? If so. I am looking forward to it.
I used to love pokemon as a kid. Like Linkara the show was what got me into the game. My first games were Pokemon Blue and Red, I had gotten them both for my birthday, before info on Mew was released. I had often used my sister's gameboy to trade pokemon back and forth. In addition I had a friend who taught me the Mew glitch, so I was able to catch'em all, back when it was actually possible to catch them all. If you noticed, after Gold and silver they stopped putting the phrase on the game cartridges.
I had stop being a fan after I got Ruby, since at that point the series stopped having major innovations.
My favorite Game:Silver
Favorite Pokemon: Scyther
My most frightening moment:
It was in Lavender Town.(Of Course.) I went to the Tower and saw Gary, So I saved and put the game down. When I came back later I talked to him and he had asked that question about Pokemon dying. when the battle started I needed to switch pokemon. when I went to the screen, My starter Pokemon wasn't there. So I thought he had died.
Later, it turned out that my sister had relased my starter and then saved where I originally was.
that's great, i can't wait to see all the other reviews
I remember seeing this movie in the theatres, I was so psyched... though like when I saw Power Rangers the movie got stuck in a theatre with lots of kids who cried when Ash died. Speaking of... Zordon's resuscitation was equally stupid.
Of course the worst part was also having to watch Pikachu's vacation.
And geez, not all Vikings live in Minnesota, Ash, we have a huge Norwegian settlement here in Alberta... with towns like Viking and New Norway. Anyone up for some Lutefisk, eh?
Anyway pretty fun review, I didn't care much for the gag where you guys rag on Jew Wario for using the female avatar, but liked the rest of it.
Part 1- Oh wow i forgot this movie was dark if i remember when i was a kid in england i cryed and Linkara And JewWario thanks for telling about the Japanese version changes and i did not know that Giovanni was ok all those years i stop seeing the show about 11 meybe 10 years ago dew being dull and boring did i miss anything good the last 11 years ok now i get some of the holes about just kill people and wait this a kid show ok moving on.
Part 2- LOL now thats the first case of youngbloods sickness in my childhood before the joke was made, don't mess with Pikachu Zeus unless you have Kratos with you or your dead. Oh Dear God 5:00 did not see that coming movie. Mew is hitter ok did not see that one coming.
OOOOOOH!!!
Does this mean another retrospective? HOPR 2? Maybe we'll get the next one as a late christmas present! =D
(no hate intended!)
Why does Suede look like Roxas from Kingdom Hearts on the title card.
All movies?
I told ya Linkara you wanted to do History of Pokemon
Pikachu uses THUNDERSHOCK on Ash
It's not very effective
i love this review 3 good reviwers together
Ah, yes, the first Pokemon movie. It didn't seem that bad when I first watched it. Great review. This was actually a lot better than the Nostalgia Critic's take.
Say, is Suede going to do other Pokemon movies soon?
you do realize there is no MMO, right?
Oh, Pokemon one of my guilty pleasures and one of my nostalgic memories. I,personally liked this review of the first Pokemon movie than the Nostalgia critic's one.Oh,Linkara before anyone else points this out. The closed eyes look isn't youngblood's disease exactly it's one of Anime's character designs. A lot of anime characters have them. I enjoyed the animated bits it reminded me of a few reviewers at The Desu Des Brigade website.
Hey wait a minute, I like Pokemon the movie 2000...
That was excellent as always, Linkara. So when is the next Pokemon Movie review planned? Not nagging (take as long as you need) just wondering what the release date will be because I enjoyed this one so much.
okay there is no way that thing could ever be on the ds. 3ds likely, dsi because of the camera and dlc use possibly. but there is no way in hell a ds lite or original ds has the power do run an mmo, yet clearly you see Suede using a DS lite.
I really don't mind that but considering Linkara was brought in a the plot hole filler this does seem odd he wouldn't just tell Suede to cut the part of the video where he showed his DS so we could assume it was at least a dsi.
Does "All the movies" include "Mewtwo Returns" or no?
To Linkara, JewWario and Suede,
I'm sorry to say this, but I was disappointed by the review for several reasons.
Considering that the Nostalgia Critic reviewed the first Pokémon movie from the perspective of an outsider to the franchise (which I thought he did well), another review from someone more knowledgeable about the franchise is certainly justified, and that seems to be your intention. The narrative/justification for the voice crossover (virtual world of a Pokémon MMO) is done as a practical necessity and there's no problem with suspension of disbelief on that part, even if it dragged a little too long for my taste.
Then comes the moment at the 3:30 mark where Suede and Linkara are visibly creeped out and disgusted by JewWario's avatar (a woman). I think people already told Suede how the reaction came off as transphobic. I want to reiterate that as a general rule of thumb, you should not target anyone based on sexual orientation or gender identification, and to think very clearly of how "jokes" might be misinterpreted by such groups and their supporters. Targeting those two groups in particular is becoming less acceptable in the media in comparison to even 10 years ago and you should always have them in mind for groups to not offend (along with race and religion). Even if someone else wrote the script, you can still speak up if something doesn't feel quite right, so there's no excuse for that.
Second major mistake comes at the 11:00 mark. One of the biggest criticisms of the movie that you make is that the American version, dubbed by 4Kids, censored out Mewtwo's dark past. This is in fact not true. The original Japanese theatrical release did not have the extra sequence with Mewtwo's backstory, so the Japanese were just as confused as Americans were in the theaters. When the Japanese version came out on home video, they added the extra sequence. However, the American home version (like most international versions) was based off the theatrical version and had no access to this Japanese-only feature until the sequel, Mewtwo Strikes Back. While 4Kids has done some really bad things with censorship, this is not one of them and you come off looking worse for not doing your research. Even worse because you keep harping on this for so long, when it's simply not true and could have been avoided with the most basic of Wikipedia searches. There are no lack of solid research resources for Pokémon at all (it's one of the most documented franchises ever), so if you must make comparisons to the Japanese versions, please, please DO YOUR RESEARCH! And to top it off, it still doesn't play much of a role in the rest of the movie since the scientist ends up erasing his memories. Sound familiar?
Next up is the reason why Mewtwo ends up allying himself with Giovanni for a short period of time. Suede pretty much nailed it on the head when he said that Mewtwo thought he was Giovanni's ally and equal (almost like an ideal Trainer), but Linkara argued it away because of Mewtwo's physic powers. In Pokémon (especially the first generation), Psychic Pokémon were limited to telekinesis, transvection, hypnotic suggestion, teleportation, astral projection (via ghost Pokemon) and energy projection. Other psychic powers such as precognition (Xatu), mind reading (Gardevoir), and aural reading (Lucario) were specialties of future generations of psychics. It is entirely logical that Mewtwo did not have the ability to read minds, or that he would not have seen the futility of his future actions. Put in comic book terms, Xavier from the X-men may be a great telepath, but he's not the psychic you want for pyrokinesis or precognition.
In addition, Giovanni's betrayal is the reason that he doesn't believe in the bond between humans and trainers, and why he doesn't intend to spare the Pokémon trained by humans. So no, he is not a hypocrite. He thought that Pokémon and humans could work as equals, and that is not what he experienced at all from his interactions with humans until that point; learning from your mistakes is not hypocrisy.
Who designed the cloning machines? Either Mewtwo did not destroy all the underground parts of the cloning facility, or he co-opted the designs from the scientists who cloned him in the first place.
The big fighting scene: the big lesson, which I think most reviewers don't get, is not that fighting in general is wrong, but that it is wrong to force Pokémon to fight brutally, to the death. Nurse Joy says it best: "Pokemon are not meant to fight, not like this". In the anime universe, while Pokémon can sustain injuries, needless brutality in general is frowned upon. Nurse Joy is the one most familiar with the types of injuries a Pokémon can have, and she doesn't condone this specific type of fighting; she doesn't say anything about general trainer battles, which are not supposed to be this brutal and needless. The humans didn't learn anything they didn't already know, so they are not forgetting the main lesson of the movie when Mewtwo erases their memory. Also, in the part that Ash turns to stone, rock does not have a resistance to Electric types, the only reason first generation rock-types were immune to ground was because all of them they were also part ground type.
In general, Mewtwo is an interesting villain in that he is not an inherently evil Pokémon. 4Kids did make him a slightly more stereotypical evil villain (THIS was actually altered from the original), but even in the dubbed version it's clear that he is constantly learning from his interaction with humans, and wants to lead Pokémon to a happier lives. Sometimes his actions are misguided, but at the end of the day, he sees the error of his ways. The mind-wipe was to protect the existence of his clones and to leave no clues for Team Rocket to follow, who only want him for his power.
In conclusion, I expected more from this review. It was littered with research mistakes or conclusions that were just not thought out logically at many points. I don't think the movie is good, but I think it deserves more accuracy in general. Please do your research for Pokémon 2000 and all the Pokémon movies you review. Think about how the events in the movie tie in to the general anime universe, which has substantially different mechanics than the video games. Also, see the commentary for the 4th movie, as it has a lot of really important information for the American dub in general and the one major change between Japanese and American versions (which is most definitely an improvement). And most importantly, enjoy all the movies as best as you can.
"Then comes the moment at the 3:30 mark where Suede and Linkara are visibly creeped out and disgusted by JewWario's avatar (a woman). I think people already told Suede how the reaction came off as transphobic. I want to reiterate that as a general rule of thumb, you should not target anyone based on sexual orientation or gender identification, and to think very clearly of how "jokes" might be misinterpreted by such groups and their supporters. Targeting those two groups in particular is becoming less acceptable in the media in comparison to even 10 years ago and you should always have them in mind for groups to not offend (along with race and religion). Even if someone else wrote the script, you can still speak up if something doesn't feel quite right, so there's no excuse for that."
I'm hoping that you're the same individual who posted their unhappiness about this on the TGWTG Secrets Tumblr, since I haven't had a chance to respond as of yet to that (though I'll probably do so there, as well). A few things: I would like to remind people that I AM an advocate of transgender rights and I do what I can to fight transphobia and I did have reservations about the scene in the script, to the point where Suede did actually change my line from being outright disgusted to being confused, which I was okay with. Unfortunately, the animation did not end up reflecting that.
I do agree that the joke didn't work in the video and came across as more transphobic than it should have, probably to the point that it should not have been made at all, especially since it doesn't make much sense to begin with. JewWario is not a transsexual and as far as I know, does not feel that he's female. For me, anyway, I've never understood the desire for someone to create a character in an RPG that is the opposite gender (assuming the character they're playing in is a blank slate). I've always felt that in a game like Pokemon, you're projecting YOURSELF into the universe, as if you are the one who is actually there doing these things. JewWario in this case wasn't playing a female character in the game, but rather a female version of himself, which is just confusing because of the aforementioned lack of desire to be female.
As for why I didn't speak up about it, as I said, I felt bad about the original version of it and felt the revised version was better. As a rule, though, I tend to not alter the scripts of people I do crossovers with if they are the ones who are writing. After all, it is THEIR video and they are the ones writing and editing it and it's not for me to force them to adhere to everything I say and believe. This is why in at least two previous crossovers I've acted less-feminist than I actually am, a point I tend to bring up in those cases since, again, their video and their joke.
However, I do understand why the joke is problematic at best and transphobic at worst. Suede has evidently declared that he meant no such offense by it and neither did Justin or I, so I offer my sincere apologies about it.
P.S. The scene with the tears reminds me of two Power Rangers (from SPAAAAAAAAACCCCCCEEEE) who had magical tears to revive/heal people. Could Pokémon take place in KO-35?
Personally, I found nothing transphobic about the scene when I watched it, I found it more as JewWario acting like a pervert, I.E. the reason he chose a female character was not that he sees himself as female, but because he likes boobs.
"Second major mistake comes at the 11:00 mark. One of the biggest criticisms of the movie that you make is that the American version, dubbed by 4Kids, censored out Mewtwo's dark past. This is in fact not true. The original Japanese theatrical release did not have the extra sequence with Mewtwo's backstory, so the Japanese were just as confused as Americans were in the theaters. When the Japanese version came out on home video, they added the extra sequence. However, the American home version (like most international versions) was based off the theatrical version and had no access to this Japanese-only feature until the sequel, Mewtwo Strikes Back. While 4Kids has done some really bad things with censorship, this is not one of them and you come off looking worse for not doing your research. Even worse because you keep harping on this for so long, when it's simply not true and could have been avoided with the most basic of Wikipedia searches. There are no lack of solid research resources for Pokémon at all (it's one of the most documented franchises ever), so if you must make comparisons to the Japanese versions, please, please DO YOUR RESEARCH! And to top it off, it still doesn't play much of a role in the rest of the movie since the scientist ends up erasing his memories. Sound familiar?"
Um, no. That's wrong. The American version was, in fact, based off a Japanese DVD rerelease that had cleaned up animation and several added CGI effects.
I love how you criticize Linkara, Suede, and JewWario for not doing research... while failing to do research yourself.
"Um, no. That's wrong. The American version was, in fact, based off a Japanese DVD rerelease that had cleaned up animation and several added CGI effects.
I love how you criticize Linkara, Suede, and JewWario for not doing research... while failing to do research yourself."
To Jarkes:
What do you mean exactly? I am not talking about the DVDs, which weren't released until a few years ago, I'm talking about the VHS and theatrical releases from the late 90's.
If you are referring to the original VHS and theatrical releases, the American theatrical feature had extra CGI that wasn't in the first Japanese theatrical release. After the effects were added to the American theatrical version, those same changes were incorporated into the Japanese VHS release. Either way, those CGI effects have nothing to do with Mewtwo's backstory; the CGI/cleaning and Mewtwo's backstory were added in 2 different edits. The Nostalgia Critic wasn't kidding when he said there's a million versions of this movie.
Here's a short snippet of the interview with the man who made the manga version of the movie, for those interested:
ANIMERICA: You did a manga adaptation of POKéMON: THE FIRST MOVIE. Were you working on this before the movie came out?
Ono: That movie came out in July of '98, and I received the scripts and continuity in April. I wrote the manga at the end of May.
ANIMERICA: How does your manga version compare to the finished film?
Ono: At first I was told to draw Mewtwo's birth, which wasn't included in the movie, so I made a manga out of the first half of the movie (until the part where Ash heads to Mewtwo's island). But after that the anime staff wrote an original "Birth of Mewtwo" episode that was produced, so there's not much connection between the manga and the movie.
http://web.archive.org/web/20000510020712/http://www.vizkids.com/pokemon/news_interview.shtml
"What do you mean exactly? I am not talking about the DVDs, which weren't released until a few years ago, I'm talking about the VHS and theatrical releases from the late 90's."
No, there were definitely DVD releases around the time the movie originally came out. And I think the "Birth of Mewtwo" WAS later incorporated into the film (possibly the same DVD rerelease that added the CGI effects), but only part of it was used in the American version, and even then, not until the VHS and DVD releases of the American version. However, the full thing was later dubbed and released as a special feature on the Mewtwo Returns DVD. Look it up on Bulbapedia. It does a better job explaining it than me.
Also, I heard a rumor when the Wii U was announced that a Pokemon MMO would be made for it, but that's not very likely.
"No, there were definitely DVD releases around the time the movie originally came out. And I think the "Birth of Mewtwo" WAS later incorporated into the film (possibly the same DVD rerelease that added the CGI effects), but only part of it was used in the American version, and even then, not until the VHS and DVD releases of the American version. However, the full thing was later dubbed and released as a special feature on the Mewtwo Returns DVD. Look it up on Bulbapedia. It does a better job explaining it than me."
I saw the entry on Bulbapedia and Wikipedia, but for some reason there are no primary sources to track down for those statements. I tried tracking down sources that support your statement, but nothing from the makers/dubbers has come up yet. If there are primary sources for that, I will gladly eat crow and apologize for that (though I did have issues with other parts of the review as noted). However, I would like to apologize to Linkara now though, for taking up so much space for this issue and also for the completely unnecessary caps in my original comments. I'm sure that he doesn't like to mislead his viewers and he sure as heck wouldn't do it on purpose. I'm not backing down from my statement until conclusively proven otherwise, heck I'm up for another essay with full-on citations if necessary (unless Linkara says otherwise), but I will leave that for another night because I don't have time to continue this argument tonight (Friday night plans, woo!). Regardless of how this turns out, I will continue watching Linkara's stuff and see him polish his craft even more than it already is.
Also, apparently the film was supposed to be the finale for the entire series, because the Japanese producers didn't expect the series to be renewed... Hence why there were scenes from the movie in certain episodes of the show. Ah, hindsight.
I have a question: Where did you get the subtitled clip from the Japanese version? I've been trying to seek it out, but I can never find it anywhere.
I am not a Pokemon fan in any way, shape or form and as such I enjoyed NC's review of it because, like him, I just found the universe very confusing and hard to get into. Also, Team Rocket annoyed the hell out of me. Even in junior high, I knew it was stupid for a villain to refer to themselves as "evil" since, as a rule of thumb, they believed what they are doing is good although there are exceptions.
In spite of all that, I really enjoyed this review and I like that even diehard fans can offer constructive criticism to what they like.
In regard to the transphobia issue raised, yeah, I do like to think that we are kinda past making jokes about that. I can understand why it came off as wince-inducing to some. I think a big part of the problem is that humor has become more and more free as the years progressed so less stuff is censored. This is both a good and a bad thing. Good because censorship = bad. Bad because it can lead to crossing lines just for the sake of it. I didn't see "Spooning With Spoony" because I don't think guy-on-guy (or for that matter, RAPE) is inherently funny. Sexual experimentation is never anything to be ashamed of. But I know you already know that and I am glad you stated that it wan't you or Suede's intent to offend. :)
You Pokemaniacs! You riffed it up! Damn you! Damn you all to Hell!
(Yeah, I know, I'm going to a special kind of Hell for that joke.)
Seriously though, this made me nostalgic for the first several movies (only seen the first four plus Mewtwo Returns). Looks like I need to add more to my import list, since they're out of print here.
Also, I'd be interested to find out what your fave beginners out of all them were (except yours, Lewis, as I do remember it being Bulbasaur. And perhaps Cyndaquil if we kept it to the second gen beginners).
Hey Linkara, What do you think of Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock or Doctor Who: Worlds of Time?
Awesome review, guys! I hope that you do more of these in the future (especially “Mewtwo Returns,” since that’s the only Pokémon movie besides “Mewtwo Strikes Back” that I’ve seen).
The difference between the scientists and Giovanni in Mewtwo’s mind, I think, is not only does Giovanni tell Mewtwo that they’ll be partners and allies, but Giovanni promises to help Mewtwo learn how to control his powers. That’s why he gave Mewtwo that armor; it was supposed to help him focus his powers. Maybe Mewtwo thought that by helping Giovanni, he’d be exchanging a favor for a favor: he’d help Giovanni beat opponents and capture Pokémon (although the latter seems hypocritical for him to condone) and in return, Mewtwo would learn to control his powers more effectively and thus be more in control of himself and, consequently, his identity and destiny. Whereas the scientists only wanted to study him as an experiment, although Mewtwo’s fury seemed to be directed more at his lack of self-knowledge than them.
I agree with Suede’s suggested ending: not only would it have made more sense (even though it also would’ve been overly sentimental), but it would’ve given Mewtwo a more active role in the story. Here, he doesn’t cry at the end with the other Pokémon (although I’m sure many people would laugh or roll their eyes if he did) and he isn’t horrified or remorseful (“Oh, my God, what have I done?”), he’s just an observer. That seems to be a strange place for him to be at the end, considering that the movie really is *his* story.
As for the reasons why he wiped everyone’s memories at the end…okay, it makes sense from Mewtwo’s perspective for why he would do that. But from a *story* perspective, it’s just too cheap and convenient. What was the point of Ash/Satoshi and Co. going on this adventure if they were just going to forget that it happened? Ash/Satoshi had this big moment where he stood his ground, led Pokémon against the most powerful one of all (in the time frame of this movie, that is), and was even gutsy enough (or stupid enough, depending on your view) to try to *punch* him…and yet he’s not allowed to remember that moment because Mewtwo wants to keep his privacy? I’m glad that they actually brought that point up in “Mewtwo Returns.”
Anyway, keep up the great work, guys!
I'm not going to lie, I cried when Ash died the first time I watched it. I could argue that Pokemon is a show about magic animals, so the Ash revival scene isn't entirely unfounded. I could argue it, but it'd be kind of stupid. Magic is magic, but even that has to be constrained by rules of some kind, and "crying so hard that he came back to life" isn't quite how it works.
Regardless, I enjoyed the scene just like the rest of the movie, and you guys make some good points.
Kudos to the great review.
Actually they missed another misreading of the Pokemon.
Meowth is saying the Pokemon that had just been cloned.
He goes:
Sandshrew
Nidoqueen
Vaporeon
The first one is wrong as it's Sandslash not Sandshrew.
I thought this was going to be a april fools joke but yeah. TCG is good but we are working on one right now
Why did Justin kill him self? RIP Justin better known as JEWWARIO
Always remember this: getting offended is a complete choice on your part.
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