This is an automated archive.
The original was posted on /r/movies by /u/Any-Satisfaction-770 on 2023-07-17 16:51:45+00:00.
I was raised as a kid deep into the Pokémon craze. Before I got obsessed with pro wrestling at the age of 10, Pokémon was my world back then. I had some spare time recently and decided to watch the original television show. I zeroed in on episodes that made the franchise the success it was and there is genuinely great writing there. The first movie however is a mixed bag.
For nostalgia reasons, this is one of those movies that's always going to be difficult to watch without nostalgia goggles. But as an adult I can still put on my film critic hat. Let's start with what works.
The film is short and packs a lot of tension in the scenes. The battles and the chase scene with the pokeballs trying to catch Pikachu are done very well. I admire the writers attempt to try a more mature story arc of Mewtwo being a created Pokémon and having an existential crisis over identity and purpose. It's just funny that this was the franchise to try that experiment which gets into the main problem with the film.
The plot is stuck in this bizarre contradiction. An entire franchise marketed primarily on Pokémon battling each other has a movie where fighting is bad? So I guess it depends on the kind of fighting now? The climax also is very tacked on. Pikachu tears to revive Ash turned to stone. Spoilers. It does feel like the writers just threw something together to end the film.
On the bright side Mewtwo's quote at the end is still wise "I see now that the circumstances of ones birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are."
I think I'll always be overly generous to this film. To grow up at that time as a kid was unique and watching this movie still brought back a lot of memories personally. However the dated soundtrack and the obvious cash grab reminds me that the film is still a product of its time.
There are parents now that were kids during that time. Maybe they have kids. I wonder what those kids think of a movie like this removed from the nostalgia? Would it be like me watching some kids movie from the 70s or 80s? Probably.