Mind numbing! (Pokemon: The Movie (DVD))

Member Name: fluffypup

Product:	Pokemon: The Movie (DVD)
Date:	12/01/01 (284 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Are there any? Oh yes, the character animation is quite well drawn, bright and colourful

Disadvantages: Where do I start? About 1 ¾ hours worth of disadvantages, especially the trailer! Be 15 minutes late if you have to see this film!

Our household are Pokemon daft. We’ve got all the Pokemon trading cards, posters, the first Pokemon movie on video for Christmas, the yellow Pikachu Gameboy game, the kids watch the Pokemon cartoon series everyday on Sky1 and we’ve even got a few of the Pokemon beanies! Therefore it was odds on that the kids would want to see the movie over the Christmas holidays. Unfortunately, this time I was dragged along, as it was one of our “family days”. The quite nice and pleasant idea of the children and my other half enjoying going to the cinema, whilst I was left at home on Dooyoo wasn’t an option! Oh the joy, excitement and anticipation of watching the second instalment of the Pokemon movies lay ahead! NOT!

I was very fortunate and extremely lucky enough to have missed the first Pokemon movie but the second movie, so I’m reliably informed followed a similar format. Before the main movie, was a little mini cartoon trailer entitled “Pikachu’s Rescue”. Was there a plot? Was there a rescue? How did we all survive sitting and watching this mind numbing inane cartoon where the only dialogue was either “Pika Pika”, “Meril Meril”, “Bulba Bulba” – the cries or chants of Pikachu, Meril (new Pokemon) and Bulbasaur, respectively – as if you needed me to tell you that! Normally I don’t give out details of plots but in a very humane cause of trying to eliminate mind numbing and induced brain rot I will! The plot, methinks, centres on Tokapi (egg type Pokemon with little feet and hands) falling down a hole and Pikachu and chums going to rescue him via some underground menagerie of Pokemon dancing around to music. Our kids were equally bored along with us with this trailer. Some stupid looking Pokemon mushroom type things doing ring-a-ring-a-rosés lightened their experiences but not ours.

Was it time to go home? We wished! The 1½-hour main feature still lay ahead
unfortunately. Being tied to the chair didn’t help my cause of escaping! The matchsticks forced into my eye sockets meant I couldn’t sleep throughout this movie. If I started to nod off I was quickly poked in the ribs. I was forced to watched this movie as punishment for wriggling out of the first movie.

Anyone who hasn’t been caught up in the Pokemon genre, it involves around Japanese type characters who catch, train, fight and evolve little ‘cute’ pocket sized monsters or Pokemon. The Movie is based on experiences of Ash, Misty, chums and their own individual Pokemon going on vacation to a remote paradise island. They unfortunately get into trouble when an evil man (un-named) in a giant airship, which defies the laws of gravity BTW, tries to steal the three elemental birds of fire, ice and electricity – Moltres, Articuno & Zapdos. His nasty actions have dire consequences on the world. Each capture of a single bird throws the equilibrium of nature into haywire. Thus the whole world is under threat as this evil man captures the birds one by one. It’s probably a cross between a child’s version of the James Bond genre, the Scottish bloke out of Dad’s Army who continually shouts “Weeee’re all doooMED!” plus the mystery elements of Scooby Doo. I digress, there is a mysterious and fairly unknown Pokemon bird which lives under the ocean that could save the world from destruction – called Luca, so that’s what Vialli’s doing now that he got the chop from Chelsea!

As the evil action of this man trying to capture the three birds; blissfully unaware (except for Pikachu who is an intelligent rodent) Ash, Misty & Pikachu are sampling the delights of a ritualistic ceremony or festival on the island. They soon discover that Ash, and his faithful Pikachu, are the world’s only hope. They join forces together to try and save the world from certain destruction. Although,
world destruction whilst watching this movie is something you can only wish for!

All the world’s Pokemon are in a wild frenzy. We are told that they are very sensitive to the world’s eco system and any unbalancing is very unsettling for them. In other words, it’s an instant cue to see loads and loads of Pokemon rushing around to see what’s happening and do a bit of rubber necking. The world’s only hope plus his ever-faithful yellow guinea pig, Pikachu, have to find and locate the three crystals in each of the three habitats of Fire, Ice and Electricity. These crystals plus the power of Luca can control the three rampaging berserk birds and defeat the evil man – who incidentally only started his evil actions after he collected a rare Mew card! As if?

I don’t like to spoil things but Ash, Pikachu and Luca all save the day. The crystals are all in the bag or should I say temple with a weird looking and talking Slow King (evolution of Slowbro?). Team Rocket, the usual archenemies of Ash and Misty, also help our Pokemon heroes rather than thwarting the efforts of the goodies.

I’m told that the plot in this second Pokemon movie was miles better than the first. There was a storyline of such in this movie, although it is very weak indeed. The cartoon drawings of the characters were well drawn and brightly coloured. It could possibly be described as a mild child version of ‘Manga’. The animation was miles better than the cartoon stills of the television series, not that I watch it of course! The backgrounds were second rate and match that of the TV series. It’s no Disney production!

Like most Pokemon merchandising schemes, the movie is just another effort to entice children out of their pocket money with the launch of probably another series of Pokemon trading cards. It had a moral theme of helping and defeating the unbalancing of the eco system and everyone pulling together
(both good and bad) to fight for a common cause. No Pokemon were killed during the filming, which was unfortunate. Some older viewers may have died of boredom and brain numbing though!

It’s an instantly forgettable film. Any Pokemon enthusiast children who watch the TV series are better off still watching the TV series rather than going to this film, as it goes on for too long – about 1½ hours too long! It has to rate high up on the worse films I’ve ever seen at the cinema. It’s high up with Inspector Gadget and Chain Reaction with Keanu Reeves (although the acting might be better in this film).

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