Anime fights - Best Pokemon Movie

Aug 19, 2015 9:41 PM

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Apr 2014

6073

What is the best Pokémon movie? Feel free to post your arguments for either one, and I'll pick a winner next Thursday with the last arguments accepted at Wednesday midnight CEST. Anyone is free to join in, but not after Sunday midnight.

So, my ladies and gentlemen:

What is the best Pokémon movie?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSSKDIcpdSE

Aug 21, 2015 6:06 PM

Bluwuloo

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Apr 2014

717

Gosh, the Pokemon movies really bring me back to the days where innocence and not wanting to go outside mixed so well with the youth of days. Ahh... the memories. I am attempting to re-watch some and will be able to chose, hopefully, by tomorrow.

Aug 23, 2015 8:55 AM

Bluwuloo

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Apr 2014

717

Okay, so I have spent the last few days watching back over the most notable movies to grasp the concepts again. It was rather a grueling process but I believe the movie that deserves the title of the best Pokemon movie has to be Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back.

The movie from the stand point of a child made for the likeness of flashing lights, well rounded shading for the time, and team rocket having an actual function instead of just complicating Ash and the gang's plans during the regular series. Watching from that point of view was almost impossible this time around due to my eyes picking up the bigger themes and details that I had missed over the years.

Viewing the movie as an adult, I had noticed that the color pallet was rather awkward at points, using full black for shading, for example. Due to the dark nature of the movie, this was perfectly acceptable and gave off the depressing aura that was well placed and needed in order to understand the world from Mewtwo's perspective. Dark and terrifying.

The first scene used this which is something completely different than what the next four films have done. They gave a rather detailed view of Mewtwo and how he came to be. If they had not done this, most of Mewtwo would have been rather misunderstood as sinister, it still is but it's true motive could be understood due to it's upbringing. Being a clone used as a basis to become a weapon, shall I say, more powerful than Mew is. Realizing that he can use this power to rule everything because nothing could stop him. The words drilled into his head since his creation, a clone of a being that might still be stronger than him. It's almost akin to being compared to your older sibling, depressing, filling with hate. So, he would naturally want to prove himself as the stronger between the two or strongest of all.

This movie followed a rather stark perspective than the others do. The haunting feeling that something so powerful could be created, the feeling of sadness for the people who were brought to the island, the Pokemon who just want to prove to the clones that the point of being alive is not to fighting to the death.

This perspective of a rather serious perspective versus a relaxed perspective is what this movie succeeds upon as it could have had Mewtwo play the fool that would just be trumped in the process. But for most of the movie, it left the space for the viewer to guess how it will all blow over. This lack of having the ability to guess or feel immersed in the true underlying theme of the movies are what I feel lacked form the others. The Immersion Factor, to speak.

In the second movie, the viewer had the predestined thought that Lugia would eventually show up to lend a helping hand to the chosen one, Ash. In the end, he brought Ash to the shrine in order to place the orbs that would lead to cease the fighting in between the other three legendary birds. The third movie, Spell of the Unknown, did a little better in showing the seriousness of the story but also kept the sense of a power beyond the realm of physics. "The unknown says it shall be, so shall it be." The sense of easy magic that pulls the plot of the movie away from the tangible real world into a little girl's imagination. I will give it it's props, it does keep the fun that the original series shows but that is also it's downfall. When I watch a movie, I expect it to ponder to the real not the faked "true" world. Entei was made from the unknown due to Molly's missing father and the likeness of her father and the Legendary Dog. Entei lives to fulfill Molly's wishes and be her "father" of sorts. This eventually led to Molly wanting all of the Unknown's doings to be undone, this includes Entei. Entei ends up attacking the Unknown to stop them, that is the part that confuses me. Couldn't they have stopped the beast that they have created? Or did they want to be changed back into hieroglyphs due to molly's wish? To be honest, I may have missed something that may have explained this but from what I remember, they left it as, "it happened due to plot reasons."

Mewtwo Strikes Back did not go without it's faults of course. One example is that about 3/4ths through the movie, the big fight in between the clones and their real counterparts, Ash decides that he needs to stop it by running right in the middle of the fighting, fighting that has happened in every episode of the show with no stopping the Pokemon or combatants but is now a problem. The fighting that includes fire, high pressured water, electricity, and nameless others. A little too much heroics, eh Ash? The scene following may have been not have been prevented even if he hadn't but hey, it was such a great scene why question it?

In the end, Mewtwo leaves with all the clones and gives a much needed quote after learning his much needed lesson. “The circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.” As I believe, the emotions felt from this film has left many with the feeling of nostalgia when remembering these moments and a few thoughts on how cloning can effect the world and the clones themselves thoughts towards the originals. But that may just be my curiosity.

Aug 27, 2015 11:45 AM

Mikochondria

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Apr 2014

6073

Time prolonged. Will announce further deadlines in the future.

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You don't have prove you got it when you know it's yours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSSKDIcpdSE

Sep 11, 2015 11:50 AM

removed-user

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Jul 2018

564074

Now first off I don’t think there is a perfect pokemon film. Many have good concepts or good designs and music, but the stories told and the simplistic themes are never truly fleshed out. There is no denying however that many Pokemon films are competent and try their hardest to expand on the source material. For such a purpose, I am choosing Pokemon the Movie 3: The Spell of the Unknown as the best Pokemon film.

Getting down to brass tacks, this movie has complex themes and dark ideas not really seen previously in a Pokemon film or even in future ones. You witness the loss and the escape of a five year old child who finds out she lost everyone she holds dear in this world and the Unknown give her the power to escape from reality. It handles the loss of a loved one and the understanding that things will be better in the long run.

Entei is like the Groot of the movie, both the emotional center and the repetitious dialogue. The thing is all the same it has the same effectiveness as Groot in its emotional connection. Entei held the girl, Molly’s, world together and wanted only what’s best for their child which was all based on the fact that was what Molly believed a parent should do based on her father’s interactions. Everything in this movie is a dream world where the battling ultimately doesn’t matter except for teaching Molly the enjoyment of being with other people. Not for the sake of having random pokemon battles…much like the first film.

The strangest thing I found during the film was the numerous fourth wall breaking jokes made by Team Rocket which surprisingly made me chuckle even now. They were just sprinkled in and made for an awkward but welcomed addition to the tale. I still hold to the fact that it’s hard to make a Pokemon movie good as each is pulled down by the childlike nature of the show, but the third movie and its experimental nature surprised me. Its world, its themes and even its character interactions for a Pokemon movie were the best I’ve seen.

Now I would say that the first movie in and of itself is full of holes in logic, where the third movie has the McGuffin of “it’s a dream world so anything can happen”. That is not to say that the third movie is better because of that McGuffin, on the contrary it narratively, character, and theme wise is stronger than the first. The first has the grace of being called the first shot at a pokemon movie so if mistakes were made its done as an experimental phase, unfortunately that means it is riddled with awkward moments.

First let me praise it a bit, I would argue that the first Pokemon movie isn’t a horrible try at the cinematic formula. The problem is its ideas much like all other Pokemon movies are not as fleshed out. Even the Third film falls prey to not as fleshed out ideas which could’ve been presented in a better way. The problem with the first film is that ultimately the most interesting part ends ten minutes into the movie which is the birth and revenge of Mewtwo. Pacing issues aside, this could’ve been a film all on its own but was squished into this small less than an hour and a half film. Therefore as much as its concept was interesting and the murdering of researchers was not bad it wasn’t executed well but instead filled with numerous exposition dumps.

The theme of the movie and the acclaimed best scene don’t mesh well at all together. Fighting is bad and I get that I really do, but a game based on fighting doesn’t work on halfassed morals like this. So this type of fighting is bad, but fighting until exhaustion is alright? I mean conceptually it would work if it wasn’t pokemon, but because of its basic formula this is purely illogical. The third movie even subtly states the exact same moral as this and explains it better in the realm of Pokemon that it is about friendship, all this movie does is says that this is wrong, pokemon shouldn’t fight like this. THEN TELL ME HOW SHOULD THEY FIGHT! The lack of subtly drowns out this message and the conflicting value sets that both the movie and the game show are just another nail in the coffin. The scene of Ash turned to stone defy any such reason, but that is not to say it didn’t looked/sounded nice. That is the problem though, Ash does a lot of dumb stuff. Runs in front of two demi-god pokemon expecting to survive? Then saved by the power of tears which for a child’s movie I guess it works, even though it is quite cheesy.

The problem I have is that because this movie makes so many illogical choices and doesn’t have the basis that the third movie had makes it harder to stand the test of time, especially when other movies after it handle its theme better without bluntly shoving it down your throat or explaining why. I guess show don’t tell could be said, but the sad thing is it does tell us but never fully explains the reason why but merely showing over and over again reaction shots of people saying fighting is bad. Why do some clones have differences, but others don’t? Are they left out of the explanation that every pokemon is equal? Why do Team Rocket only come in for one Viking scene and multiple exposition dumps?! They underused Team rocket! Not only that, this story only had one character that had anything to do with complexity, but the execution just makes Mewtwo a missed opportunity.

I can only drive more points in of illogical holes in the conception, but it just comes down to which is the better Pokemon film. The first film was a stepping stone, but not the best Pokemon movie. The third had better developed themes/morals and a stronger narrative that helped push forward such themes with interesting characters interactions. The third film was stronger and even is the highest rated Pokemon film on Rottentomatos. The third film wins in my eyes and it’s clear after witnessing the craziness of how illogical the first film was.

Sep 12, 2015 1:59 PM

Mikochondria

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Apr 2014

6073

Ending next Sunday 24pm CEST

No validation, no applause
You don't have prove you got it when you know it's yours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSSKDIcpdSE

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Anime fights - Best Pokemon Movie

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