Pokémon: The First Movie
 |
| Pokémon: The Rise of Mewtwo | |
|---|---|
| File:Pokémon-TheFirstMoviePoster.jpg | |
| Directed by | Michael Haigney Kunihiko Yuyama |
| Written by | Takeshi Shudo |
| Produced by | Choji Yoshikawa Tomoyuki Igarashi Takemoto Mori |
| Starring | Veronica Taylor Rachael Lillis Eric Stuart Ikue Ootani Phillip Bartlett Ryan Drummond Maddie Blaustein Michael McGaharn Ted Lewis |
| Distributed by | Toho (Japan) Warner Bros. (on behalf of Kids' WB) in association with Nintendo Pictures (USA) |
Release dates | Japanese: July 18, 1998 English: November 12, 1999 |
Running time | 85 Minutes (Japanese Version) 75 Minutes (U.S. Version) |
| Country |  Japan |
| Languages | Japanese English (Dubbed) |
Pokémon: The First Movie, known in Japan as Pocket Monsters Mewtwo no Gyakushū (ポケットモンスター ミュウツーの逆襲, Poketto Monsutā Myūtsū no Gyakushū, lit. "Pocket Monsters Mewtwo Strikes Back"), is the first theatrical release based on the Pokémon anime. Like the anime, it is directed by Kunihiko Yuyama.
The title Mewtwo Strikes Back is a direct translation of the movie's Japanese name, Mewtwo no gyakushū, which can also be interpreted as Mewtwo's Counterattack.
As Pokémon was extremely popular when this movie was released, it was a box office hit worldwide. It primarily consists of three segments: Pikachu's Vacation, a 20+ minute feature focusing on the most popular Pokémon character Pikachu; Origin of Mewtwo, a 10-minute featurette that functions as a prologue to the main feature; and Mewtwo Strikes Back, the main 75-minute movie feature. However, the United States dub version by 4Kids Entertainment omitted "Origin of Mewtwo" from the package before its U.S. theatrical run due to its dark nature, as the target MPAA rating was a G; it was partially restored in the movie's release on VHS and DVD. The featurette was eventually dubbed and restored as a special feature in the U.S. release of the direct-to-video follow-up movie sequel Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns.
Pikachu's Vacation
Pikachu's Vacation (ピカチュウのなつやすみ, Pikachū no Natsuyasumi) is a 21-minute short movie that is shown before Mewtwo Strikes Back in both the theatrical and the DVD version of the main movie. It is the first of the “Pikachu shorts” in what would be a traditional process of hosting a 20+ minute mini-movie before the main Pokémon feature that would last up until the 6th movie. Pikachu's Vacation, like the five Pikachu shorts that would follow, focuses primarily on an action-packed affair involving solely the Pokémon seen from the anime as they take part in a scenario that eventually illustrates a moral.
In Pokémon fan communities, Pikachu's Vacation was noted for introducing the never-before-seen Pokémon character Snubbull (albeit spelled Snubble), as well as the first primary anime appearance of the already popular Marill. This became a tradition for all Pikachu shorts, as they were used to introduce new Pokémon from the upcoming “generations” of Pokémon games, cards, and anime material.
When Ash and his friends stumble upon a Pokémon-only vacation resort, they decide to let their Pokémon have a day of fun and relaxation and let all their Pokémon out as the trainers go relaxing on their own. Pikachu and the Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Charizard, Squirtle, Pidgeotto, Geodude, Onix, Vulpix, Zubat, Staryu, Goldeen, Psyduck, and Togepi) go off into the resort and immediately contend with an unhappy Togepi, which they succeed in doing. Soon, a group of border-ruffian Pokémon comprised of a Raichu, Cubone, Snubbull, and Marill come along and immediately cause trouble for Pikachu's group. The ensuing standoff soon becomes a series of competitions such as a swimming race. Their increasingly passionate rivalry soon comes to a standstill when Pikachu's companion Charizard finds its head stuck in a tight storage receptacle. Putting aside their squabble, Pikachu and Raichu's groups join together to release Charizard, and they soon find themselves as friends for the rest of the day. At the end of the day, Pikachu and his fellow Pokémon leave the resort with fond memories and new friends and rejoin their trainers.
Mewtwo Strikes Back
Dr. Fuji, a research scientist of Team Rocket, briefly describes in a prologue how his researchers uncovered a fossil of the remnants of Mew, one of the rarest Pokémon in existence, believed to be extinct (although this is not the case). Using the DNA of Mew and a research laboratory, they created Mewtwo. Mewtwo, a Psychic Pokémon, instantly distrusts humans upon learning they intend on experimenting him, and using his amazing powers, he levels the base, killing Dr. Fuji. Head of Team Rocket, Giovanni, approaches Mewtwo and offers him an alliance, Giovanni promising to help Mewtwo control his powers. Mewtwo is "trained" over a course of several months, battling challangers (including Ash's rival Gary) in Giovanni's gym and restrainng Pokémon for the Rockets to capture, but he soon is told by Giovanni that Mewtwo is merely his tool. Enraged, Mewtwo destroys Giovanni's headquarters and flies back to the remains of the laboratory island. He decides to find his own purpose and destroy all those who oppose him. He deems the relationship of humans and Pokémon living together horrific and declares that his reign will soon begin.
Elsewhere, Ash Ketchum and his companions Misty, Brock, and their Pokémon are resting. After Ash defeats a Pokémon Trainer who has a Donphan (a new Pokémon around the time the film was released), a Dragonite delivers a holographic message to the trio. A woman addresses them, inviting them to attend a party hosted by the world's best Pokémon Master at his palace on New Island. Excited, Ash wastes no time in heading a seaport where he and his friends can get a boat to New Island. Coincidentally, a deadly storm has formed and the boat to the island has been canceled. Officer Jenny and another woman at the addresses the other trainers who seem to have all been invited to the island. The other woman warns everyone that she fears its a storm just like one long ago that took many lives. She tells a tale about the remaining Pokémon weeping in sorrow for all those lost in the storm. The water of their tears revived the people lost in the storm. Several brave trainers head out to the island, while Ash and his friends are left on the dock. A pair of vikings appear and offer the trio a lift in their small boat. However, a wave hits the boat, revealing the vikings to be Team Rocket in disguise. Another wave destroys the boat, the trio using their aquatic Pokémon to reach the island. Team Rocket also survive the storm. The woman from the invitation leads the trio up to a large room where others trainers wait - Corey, Fergus and Neesha. A beam of light appears from a spiral staircase and the ultimate Pokémon Master appears: Mewtwo. Mewtwo quickly berates the relationships between humans and Pokémon, tortures several of the trainers and their Pokémon, and reveals his maid is Nurse Joy, who went missing previously. Ash challenges Mewtwo to a battle, which Mewtwo accepts. Team Rocket come across a secret lab and find a video of Dr. Fuji who explains how he created Mewtwo. In a large machine which can clone Pokémon, are clones of Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur, who are summoned by Mewtwo upstairs. Jessie accidently activates the cloning machine and Meowth is also cloned.
Ash, Corey, and Neesha battle Mewtwo's clones with their own Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur, but all three are defeated. Mewtwo claims his prize, all of the trainers' Pokémon so he can create a clone army which will replace humanity and real Pokémon when they are destroyed by Mewtwo's storm. Mewtwo conjures hundreds of his strange Poké Balls and sends them at the trainers. Mewtwo watches with a smirk as the trainers try frantically to get their Pokémon away, but with no success. Surprisingly, the other trainers' high level Pokémon are captured with ease, while Ash's low-level Pokémon manage to avoid capture longer. Ash tries returning Bulbasaur and Squirtle (who have been fighting the balls bravely), but two of Mewtwo's Pokeballs fly over and capture Bulbasaur and Squirtle's Poké Balls. Brock, Misty (after tucking Togepi safely in her bag), and Nurse Joy try running away with Psyduck right behind them but it is captured, infuriating Misty. Another Poké Ball then captures Vulpix right out of Brock's arms, to his horror. The balls manage to capture all the trainers' Pokémon except Pikachu (and Togepi). This leads to a chase with Pikachu finally being caught, with Pikachu using Thunderbolt and/or thundershock to repel the Poké Balls. Ash pursues the Poké Balls down into the cloning room. Ash manages to save his Pikachu but this causes the cloning machine to explode and release both the clones and real Pokémon. Ash leads the real ones upstairs to the battle arena to stop Mewtwo and his clones. Ash is blasted away by Mewtwo's powers, but Mew suddenly appears and saves him. Mew and Mewtwo take command of their armies and fight in a brutal battle that leaves all the Pokémon wounded to the point of death, real Pokémon fighting the clones. Team Rocket, horrified by the mindless violence, vow never to fight again. Ash's Pikachu refuses to fight and receives a severe series of slaps from his crying clone. Horrified, Ash yells for it all to stop and leaps in the middle of an attack fired by Mewtwo and Mew and seems to die, transforming into stone where he stood. Pikachu tries to revive the fallen Ash with multiple electric shocks, acting as a defibrillator, but fails. He is overcome with grief and weeps over his fallen master. Seeing this, along with Pikachu's grief all the other Pokémon begin to cry. The water of their tears begin to glow and gather in Ash, resembling the words of the woman that was with Nurse Joy. More and more tears gather and Ash begins to glow, with the last two tears being Pikachu's, Ash is revived. Upon seeing Ash's selfless death, Mewtwo has a change of heart and realizes that it does not matter how he was born, it is what he does that defines who he is. Using his powers, he flies and leaves the island with Mew and the clones, but he erases the memories of Ash and all those present on the island, so they do not remember the event, knowing it to be for the best.
Ash and his friends find themselves back on the dock with no idea how they got there. Nurse Joy, who had been Mewtwo's captive, now returns to her duties with her offer to look at the trainers Pokémon. Ash and his friends go outside as the storm clears up. Looking up into the sky, Ash spots Mew in the clouds and reveals to Misty and Brock how he saw a rare Pokémon on the first day of his journey. Team Rocket end the film by "blasting off again", left on New Island, with no memory whatsoever of the vow they took.
However, though Mewtwo erased everyone's memories of him at New Island, he is still being targeted by Giovanni, who has been making another plan to capture and bend Mewtwo to his will. This chapter of the story plays out in the sequel Mewtwo Returns.
Cast
| Character name | Voice actor (Japanese) | Voice actor (English) |
|---|---|---|
| Satoshi ("Ash Ketchum") | Rica Matsumoto (松本 梨香) | Veronica Taylor |
| Pikachu | Ikue Ōtani (大谷 育江) | Ikue Ōtani |
| Kasumi ("Misty") | Mayumi Iizuka (飯塚 雅弓) | Rachael Lillis |
| Takeshi ("Brock") | Yūji Ueda (上田 祐司) | Eric Stuart |
| Togepi | Satomi Kōrogi (こおろぎ さとみ) | Satomi Kōrogi |
| Musashi ("Jessie") | Megumi Hayashibara (林原 めぐみ) | Rachael Lillis |
| Kojirō ("James") | Shinichirō Miki (三木 眞一郎) | Eric Stuart |
| Nyarth ("Meowth") | Inuko Inuyama (犬山 犬子) | Adam Blaustein |
| Sakaki ("Giovanni") | Hirotaka Suzuoki (鈴置 洋孝) | Ted Lewis |
| Junsā ("Officer Jenny") | Chinami Nishimura (西村 ちなみ) | Megan Hollingshead |
| Nurse Joy | Ayako Shiraishi (白石 文子) | Megan Hollingshead |
| Mewtwo | Masachika Ichimura (市村 正親) Shōtarō Morikubo (Radio drama) (森久保祥太郎) Fujiko Takimoto (Radio drama, young) (瀧本 富士子) |
Phillip Bartlett |
| Mew | Kōichi Yamadera (山寺宏一) | Kōichi Yamadera |
| Professor Fuji | Yōsuke Akimoto (秋元 羊介) | Alexander Davis |
| Narrator | Unshou Ishizuka | Ken Gates |
| Lizardon ("Charizard") | Junichi Kanemaru (鈴置 洋孝) | Ryan Drummond |
| Kamex ("Blastoise (Shell Shocker") | Nobutoshi Canna (白石 文子) | Michael McGaharn |
Release
For the movie's theatrical release, select theaters would give away exclusive Pokémon trading cards, to capitalize on the success of the trading card game. The cards featured likenesses of Electabuzz, Pikachu, Mewtwo, and Dragonite, and were dispensed in random order for each week it was in that particular theater. The subsequent releases of Pokémon: The Movie 2000 and Pokémon 3: The Movie featured a similar marketing campaign. For the 2000 VHS/DVD release of The First Movie, a limited edition Mewtwo card (different from that used for the theatrical release) was packaged with the video.
Box Office
The film was a box office hit, making $10,096,848 on its Wednesday opening day and $31,036,678 over the Friday-to-Sunday span in at the time, an ultrawide 3,043 theaters, averaging to about $10,199 per venue and ranking as the number one film at the box office for that weekend. It closed on Thursday February 27, 2000 making $85,744,662 in North America, and internationally it made $77,900,000. All together, the film made $163,644,662. Making it the highest grossing anime film in the US and the third highest grossing animated film based on a television show in the world. It was also the most-grossing film based on a video game at the time, until getting beaten by Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001.
When the film was released in North America, it briefly held the record for the largest opening weekend for an animated film. The record was broken two weeks later with the release of Toy Story 2.
Response
Though the movie was praised by viewers and fans of the show at the time of its release, critics gave the film worse reviews, on Rotten Tomatoes the headline for the movie is, "Audiences other than children will find very little to entertain them." The film attained a "Rotten" score of 15%.
Official Film Score
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
Tracks 11 to 13 are from Pikachu's Vacation. Some versions of the CD come with a 14th bonus track, listed as the theme to the first Pokémon series, when on the CD, it is the theme to the second series.
Official Film Soundtrack
Another soundtrack released alongside the score, Pokémon: The First Movie soundtrack, features a selection of songs by popular artists.
Purchase of the soundtrack also came with a special edition Jigglypuff Pokémon card.
Movie Mistakes
- When images of the Pokémon to be cloned were appearing on the screen in Mewtwo's lab, and Team Rocket was naming them, they said, "Alakazam," when the appearing Pokemon was actually Scyther. Also, Meowth calls a cloned Sandslash "Sandshrew."
- At one point a Pidgeot is referred to as a Pidgeotto.
Differences between the Japanese and English versions
- According to the director's commentary, the American edit of the film contains CGI effects that weren't included in the original Japanese cut. These include realistic-looking clouds, and smoother animations of the doors on New Island. (The original doors can be seen briefly in the North American DVD animation.) Those CGI effects can also be seen on the Japanese DVD.
- In the American version of the film, in the scene where Team Rocket are disguised as vikings, Ash says they come from Minnesota, a reference to the Minnesota Vikings American football team.
- In the original Japanese, Mewtwo is angry because he was created by scientists and not God, and attempts to fight back against the world to prove he should be alive. In the American dub, the references to God were removed and he is taking over the world for the benefit of his cloned Pokémon.
- The original Japanese soundtrack was removed, and an entirely new soundtrack was composed for the American dub. This was due to the soundtrack being too dark for American audiences, since the rating was G. The soundtrack featured many melodramatic chorus music scores that gave the atmosphere a more serious sound than what the U.S. version had.