Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!

Even as Pokemon movies go, this one is little more than a bare faced affront to ones intelligence. Despite all of the clear positioning of this film as one harking back to the early days of Pokemon as was clearly evident in the artistic style and most obviously the plot. If you were hoping this was because the Pokemon company were trying to appeal to an older audience of fans who have been fans for years (similar to how they did for the X and Y anime) then either you are wrong for thinking that or the Pokemon company is just completely incompetent. Early on,it didn't think my review would be like this - for the first 1/2 of the film it's actually far better than most other Pokemon films. However it quickly becomes evident that this is because it is effectively a mini anime episode and recap of prior stories as filler because the plot isn't close to being long enough for a film. The film is full of pointless filler - with team rocket appearing in the background, talking for a couple minutes then blasting off with no interaction with the characters or plot multiple times - assumedly just to fill time Then we come to the ending. Like most Pokemon movies, this one treats the plot as an afterthought and a device for showing off the relevant legendaries (in this case Marshadow and Ho-Oh). However as it's ostensibly a kids show it's also completely essential that Ash does something Heroic in the ending and everything goes back to being fine. However in this case it just leads to the tightest knit group of Ex Machinas i've ever seen in fiction. Again, I won't reveal too much, but suffice to say Ash vanishes without a trace in a valiant act of sacrifice. Sure would be sad if he magically reappeared out of another dimension or something - that would really make any emotional investment pointless as well as completely devaluing everything Ash gave up and sacrificed up to to that point. Oh wait, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS! That's not the only instance either, earlier in the finally Marshadow suddenly acts completely out of character for no discernible reason with absolutely no motivation whatsoever. And I won't even get started on some of Pikachu's actions towards the end - which essentially boils down to 'Fuck you, internal consistency'. It's really disappointing because early parts are quite good and in some (what I assume are) dream sequences are wonderfully directed - especially with the fantastic use of colour in them. Those fleeting scenes though barely if at all relevant to the 'narrative' are exceptional and deserve a lot of praise. But overall, the film is a dumpster fire because of what it is. Make no mistake - this is not a film created to be a good film, it's a film designed to show off Marshadow as an advert for the Pokemon games. It really shouldn't be seen as anything else.

Okay, so gonna go part by part here... Story I am particularly impressed how the movie not only retells the original kanto journey, but also weaves back in a once-long-abandoned plot point with Ho-Oh. While weaving the new hotness with Marshadow in felt a bit forced in some aspects, the story had nice pacing and even had some tension at the climax that ultimately was resolved not with raw strength, but by the bond between Ash and Pikachu overcoming those odds. Overall, all that occurred worked quite well even if some of the older parts were abridged for the sake of moving the story along. Art First off, Ash'sdesign seems more in line with his Gen V and Gen VI designs which is a nice change from the excessively cartoonish art style I've seen from his SM exploits. And the character designs of the supporting cast are definitely quite something as well. Secondly, I like how they played around with color and shadows, adding atmosphere and life (or lack thereof) to the film. Not breathtaking or anything, but it worked. Sound Not much to note here. Not too intrusive nor breathtaking persay, and yet evocative when it needed to be. Character Besides Ash and Pikachu's obvious OTP-in-the-making, the other supporting cast actually kept my interest. His traveling companions, both from Sinnoh (Gen IV remake, anyone?), each have their own goals independent from Ash. The female one is determined to show her mother (who I am convinced is Cynthia) that she is worth something, and the male companion is a professor wannabe and seems to be quite knowledgeable in a few things as it is. Then you have the brutish 'rival' character who has Alolan pokemon and the conviction that might makes right in direct opposition to Ash's 'friendship is magic' policy. In any case, I would've loved to see more of these characters and learn their past as well as witness their continued growth in the future. Who knows if that'll happen though. As for the pokemon, again, Pikachu is the center as a support to Ash. We finally learn why it doesn't like to be in its pokeball (which Ash had carried with him all through the film), and they take things a few steps further than they had ever done in the series with their relationship up to this point. As for the other pokemon, the butterfree plot thread becomes a side-story that kind of resolves itself with less investment than the original, whereas the Charmander sideplot comes full-circle in the best way possible. Then there's Marshadow, which again I feel they did kinda push in for...reasons. Maybe would've been better in its own movie, but I guess they saw an opportunity of sorts. Enjoyment It was definitely worth watching. Most pokemon films are just a supplement to the anime, but this effort of retelling and revamping made the Kanto region seem a lot more vast and alive than the prior time around. Hopefully should we travel to it in USUM, it will live up to the hype...and the Pokemon Company can follow this up with something just as nice. Overall, I give this series a 91%.

Pokemon: I Choose You The Movie, is part reboot and part retelling of Ash and Pikachu's first meeting and journey. Some things are kept, but tweaked slightly (or a lot), and others are scrapped entirely in favor of entirely new ones. Notably Ash and Pikachu travel alone for fair bit before being joined by companions who are not Brock and Misty, nor is his rival/antagonist Gary Oak. The Team Rocket trio make sporadic and pointless appearances throughout the film, but never actually interact with Ash or anyone else. They do blast off a lot. Art: An over reliance on bad CG effects and underwhelming animation leftthis feeling nothing like a big budget Pokemon movie. Some things were decent, sometimes it wasn't half bad at all. But there was no consistency and some scenes/things were simply dreadful to look at. Sound: Now while I've heard good things about the soundtrack for the original, the Dub has not been well recieved, and for very good reason. I hope to eventually experience the Japanese version, but for now, the Dub is all there is, and it is underwhelming at its best, and absoloutely terrible at its worst! Ash isn't great but the person playing him does a somwhat decent job that kinda grows on you I guess. His new travelling companions (whose names I cannot remember because they were only mentioned like twice and weren't very memorable for me) are decent and horrible respectively. The girl is okay, and sometimes even pretty good, the boy on the other hand was sooo terrible I cringed every time he opened his mouth. Terrible choice of voice actor, the voice didn't fit, the guy playing him sounded bored, and bad directing made sure that the character was chore to listen to, and that's a shame, since the character himslef wasn't actually that bad. Most of the pokemon were voiced TERRIBLY too, especially charmander, who went from being cute to annoying in terms of sound. Also Meowth (shiver) and James, bleh. ONE OF THE WORST DUBS I've heard in recent years. Characters: New: If the boy companion had gotten a better VA he'd have been okay. Both had an interresting backstory and fairly likable personalities, though with so little development, the boy was mostly bland. The girl was actually decent and had a ton of potential, but since they were given so little development, it was hard to grow attached to them. The girl would have made a great protagonist on her own actually, but as it was, she was pushed aside in favor of Ash, and I doubt we'll ever get to see her confront her past, so didn't really get to contribute much. Neither of them did. The rival, while less obnoxious than the character he was based on, was underdeveloped, let off too easy for his crimes, and overall pretty bland. He also had no backstory whatsoever. Old: Ash was frustrating. Sometimes he was the embodiment of his best self, others he was a huge jerk. Like he did and said some things that series Ash never would have, and I wanted to SMACK him! Somtimes he was a competent trainer, and other times he was just as bad as counterpart/analog could be, but more of a jerk about it. His relationship with his mom was terrible! Just what? Delia Ketchum was never my fav character, but her portrayal in this film was just awful! Professor Oak mangaged to have no real prescense what so ever. He was completely forgettable and also seemed to lack any sort of relationship with Ash, barely knowing who the kid was. Team Rocket were terribly (well I guess Jessie was passable) voiced, and absoloutely pointless to the story. No interactions with anyone, no "genius" plans, just tiny cameos before pointless blastoffs. Story: Maybe they could have pulled it off in a series of OVAs but in a movie, and a short one to boot, it was just too rushed. It wanted to be too many things at once and ended up shooting itself in the foot. Underwelming. It had its moments, kinda, but everything was just too rushed and too many scenes badly handled. So much potential, and they ruined it. Can't say I enjoyed it. My recomendation is to skip the dub entirely, but if the japanese version becomes available, maybe check it out for posterity, I guess, but really I wish I'd just read a recap.

What started as overhyped expectation for a tribute to the classic 90’s anime, a feature length film that promised to shine some light on one of the show’s most discussed fan-theories, ended with affirmation that it’s time for Ash’s journey to come to an end. As to be expected from a Pokemon movie, the visuals were stunning. Like seriously, wow. This film looked incredible, from the lush forests and sprawling mountain ranges to the interior design of the pokemon centers and other buildings, I was never not impressed with the backgrounds and environments. Also stunning was the array of colors. The bright sky blues, the robustred Flamethrowers, and foreboding shadowy purples were a treat to behold. Everything in this show was masterfully animated, and the attention to detail impressed me, especially since they could have easily got away with doing much less. Way to go the extra mile! Unfortunately, this is where the praise ends. The narrative was all over the place. Any time the plot started to pick up, all of a sudden, a new subplot is introduced and then dropped just as rapidly, thereafter abruptly switching gears again with nothing in the way of a transition except for a scene cut. These include, but are not limited to, Ash’s adventures from the show (Butterfree, etc) and anything regarding Marshadow. The action (pokemon battles) were also an area of issue for me. The fights were far too numerous and excessively forced on the viewer (seriously, they can’t go 10 minutes without having some sort of battle). Also, the amount of bullshit taking place in Ash’s battles is insane. In this ~90 minute film, Ash evolves his pokemon mid battle at least 3 or 4 times, and some of his combat strategies are so frustratingly idiotic that despite his plot armor, I’m genuinely surprised they worked. There is NO WAY Pikachu should be able to Iron Tail a Snorlax and launch it 100 feet in the air after being pinned moments ago by a Body Slam. Snorlax is like, 1,000 pounds. How do they get away with this?!?! Even kids have to realize how absurd this is at some point, right? I suppose I ought to at least mention the other technical aspects of the film. Here you go: Sound: SFX were great. Soundtrack was whatever, the remixed medleys from the original series were a nice homage, but still unimpressive. Voice Acting (dub): Some of the side characters were well voiced, but Ash and the usual suspects are as mediocre as ever. Characters: Ash still sucks, but at least his companions were enjoyable. Despite being every single stereotype in the book, Cross managed to be one of Ash’s better rivals, not like that’s saying much though… Visuals aside, I was let down with this film, though I can’t say that I’m completely disappointed because at least I got some (canonical?) insight into the Ho-oh fan-theory. Am I perhaps being too harsh on Pokemon 20XX? After all, it is a “kids” movie. ...I really don’t think so. It is possible to make a good kids movie. Dreamworks and Pixar do it all the time, and the legendary Hayao Miyazaki never fails to amaze. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask of Pokemon company to put some effort into their writing and create a story that can be enjoyed by fans of all ages. I’ve said it for a long time, but the biggest issue holding back the Pokemon anime is the company’s attachment to its protagonist. He’s dried up, and stopped being interesting 10 years ago. There are pokemon fans of all ages, a sizable demographic being in their 20s and 30s. It wouldn’t kill them to make a series, or even a one-off movie, starring a mature protagonist, or at least a teenager more mature than Ash. That being said, it was fun watching Pokemon again after all these years, but after seeing this film, my hiatus will likely continue. I was actually planning on watching some of the other Pokemon movies as well, but until they kick Ash to the curb, it just isn’t worth my time.