If we're going to be honest here, Pokémon needs no introduction, especially when it comes to the anime; a boy named Ash Ketchum gets a Pikachu - a yellow mouse - as a partner, leaves his hometown of Pallet Town, and travels the world while catching new Pokémon along the way, all while he remains ten years old. Well, what if we went all the way back to the beginning and started all over? Perhaps I'm the worst person to talk about Pokémon; I was 10 myself when I ended up being pulled along in the Pokémon craze, and by not looking back, I have made some Pokémon-related memories that I will never regret, whether it's from the game, trading cards, or anime. When I found out about this franchise's twentieth movie, however, I was skeptical, thinking that Pokémon had just caught the "recap movie disease"; however, with each new trailer came a promise of a new experience born from something old instead, and I got more hyped (even though Misty and Brock were still missing). At last, I watched the movie in the theatres with all intent on tackling (heh, get it?) it in a review; I tried to watch it from a critic's point of view instead of a fangirl's....but man, was it hard!
Ladies and gentlemen, Pokémon Trainers all over, here is my review of "Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You!"
Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You starts the same way the Pokémon anime series did; Ash Ketchum wakes up late, all of the starter Pokémon are taken, he ends up getting a Pikachu, they don't get along well at first, they accidentally tick off a group of Spearow, Ash tries to protect Pikachu, Pikachu knocks all of the Spearow out with a Thunderbolt, Ash and Pikachu finally become friends, and they see a legendary bird Pokémon fly through the sky. Your childhood memories know the drill here....but here's where the story starts to diverge. As this legendary bird Pokémon - Ho-oh - flies away, it leaves Ash and Pikachu a rainbow-colored wing; the two then make a promise to each other to one day meet this Pokémon. After that, Ash travels through the Kanto region, collects Gym badges, and follows his dream to be a Pokémon Master, like he originally had been doing; however, an encounter with another legendary Pokémon, Entei, reminds him of his promise. Together with new traveling companions, Verity and Sorrel, Ash and Pikachu embark on a quest to reach Rainbow Mountain and encounter Ho-oh.
Okay, time to try to not fangirl.
May I first say that the story was masterfully executed? I personally would have liked to see some of Ash's Gym battles, as part of one was actually shown and it was differently executed from the series; however, with a limited amount of screen time and a different story to tell, I fully understand this decision. In regards to this "different story", it shared some key story elements with the series, but even with those integrated, the film stays on its own two legs through and through. Although it does start back when Ash is at square one in regards to being a Pokémon Trainer, the different direction the story took didn't affect his character development. In fact, I dare to say that this film dug deeper into his and Pikachu's characters than the series did and gave both of them great amounts of character development as a result.
Some of the other characters were likable, too, but they come with the one flaw I'd say this film has; they don't get fleshed out enough. Perhaps the biggest offenders of this are Ash's new traveling companions, Verity and Sorrel; while they are interesting characters with their own respective backstories, these backstories aren't fleshed out enough for the audience to really get to know them, and they are sadly left as mostly supporting characters. The infamous Team Rocket trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth return, but they are also reduced to supporting characters and don't get as much screen time as they did in the series; however, the scenes of them that we DID get were amusing and retained each of their personalities. Another new character, Cross, is the exact opposite of the ones I have mentioned; he does get enough screen time for his character to be fleshed out, but that doesn't mean he came off as likable. As a rival, he is definitely a powerful adversary who actually affected Ash emotionally, but at the same time, the various problems he ends up causing and the things he says just made me want to throw my bucket of popcorn at the screen.
What this Pokémon movie lacks in fleshing out most of its characters, however, is redeemed in its art. Instead of conforming to the new style of the Pokémon Sun and Moon series, the art style stays close to what the series was before then, which was a wise decision cinematically; with what kind of story it was trying to tell, using that rather goofy style would have made it look pretty ridiculous. However, even with that in mind, this is definitely the best-looking Pokémon movie I have ever seen; the animation was smooth and solid, the backgrounds were drawn in a beautiful fashion, and some shots were masterfully executed. Now, I don't care what other people say about Sarah Natochenny voicing Ash; all of the voice actors did a stellar job at their roles, and there was pure emotion in their performances, too. While I'm not always one to pay attention to background music, I definitely have to give this film's background music credit; the music always blended in perfectly with what was going on. Finally, the opening theme was an excellent remix of the first Pokémon theme song, and the ending theme.... OH, THE ENDING SONG. I wanted to stay at the theatre just to finish listening to it; it was that good!
Overall, Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You is definitely an excellent movie and a challenging one for a longtime Pokémon fan like myself to critique. I wouldn't recommend it to those who can't handle different stories and the fact that Misty and Brock are missing (although I do admit, it was slightly disheartening not to see them), but other than that, I'd recommend it to any Pokémon fan out there, even the ones who haven't watched the anime in forever. With this movie being watched and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon being eagerly awaited, I can tell that it'll be harder to critique anything Pokémon-related from here on out, but with that being the case, maybe I should just let my inner fangirl out!
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