Part One – Introduction
As you’re probably aware by now, I’m a big fan of the Pokémon franchise and have been for a large majority of my life. I have fond memories of my childhood playing the games, watching the anime, and as a special treat, once a year going to the cinema to see the newest Pokémon film!
So, now a 25 year old adult, when the 20th Pokémon film was revealed to be having special screenings in my local cinema, I knew what had to be done. I made contact with my usual cinema-going friends and other fans of the franchise to find out if they wished to join me in seeing it but due to work and other boring commitments, all but one was unable to go.
Cut ahead to the 6th November 2017 and the day had arrived. My friend, Gavin, and I headed to Newcastle for the 4:30pm screening of Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You. Gavin’s motivation for going to see the film was similar to mine, but unlike me he had fallen out of favour with the series during the beginnings of the 3rd generation (Ruby & Sapphire) and had not ventured very deeply into the franchise in over 10 years, so the nostalgia was a big part of his wanting to see it.
We took our seats in the surprisingly full screening and (as a sidenote, I overheard a tid-bit of a conversation going on in the row behind us about rumours of an Alolan Oddish debuting in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon – Watch this space) were soon greeted by trailers for Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon. Seeing those on the big screen was enough to get me even more hyped for the film than I already was and then, quite suddenly, we were faced with a Pidgeot soaring through a valley and the adventure began.
I’ll try and keep this review spoiler free, sorry in advance if anything slips under the radar, though.
Part Two – Animation & Music
From the very first shot of the Pidgeot soaring through the valley and opening up onto the coliseum I knew we were in for a treat with the quality of the animation. The Pokémon films always seem to be that little bit extra effort into making the films the best animation quality they can get at the time and this one really showed that off. The movements of the characters and the lighting effects were perfect throughout the entire film and the background, scenery and… “Vibe” of the Pokémon world were perfectly realised.
The stellar animation was only complimented by the music, which I feel was one of the stronger parts of the film. The soundtrack alone stirred feelings of happiness and sadness at the perfect times and stirred into the happenings on screen so perfectly you were barely aware of it some of the times but you felt its effects all the same.
There’s a small melody throughout the film that I really liked, it had the chimes tingling through it and it played in the calmer moments of the film. If anything, that’s the tiny but of music that’ll stick with me the most but it’s hard to describe from memory. I’m looking through YouTube for it as I write this but having no such luck. May have been and English dub addition. I’m sure I’ll find out in time.
Of course, I have to acknowledge the re-mastering of the original Pokémon theme song from the anime. It was perfect, seeing Ash going through his early travels with Pikachu with the instant classic blasting throughout really drove home the nostalgic feelings in both myself and Gavin. Is it better than the original? Nostalgia says “Of course not” but a more level headed opinion may give it some serious consideration. Which am I? I’m on the fence. I’d have to listen to it again to be sure but I’ve never been the most nostalgic person… For the most part.
Part Three – Story & Pacing
The story, while entertaining, was not perfect. In recent years the Pokémon film stories have been very lack-luster, slightly forced or just plain boring (ie. Hoopa & the Clash of Ages, Zoroark: Master of Illusions & Kyurem & the Swords of Justice) so to have a pretty decent story in a Pokémon film was actually much more of a breath of fresh air than I anticipated.
The thing I enjoyed the most of the story of this film was that it was simple. There were no doomsday plots, or magic floating castles that ran on ancient gear-based Pokémon, or some madman trying to capture God for the badly conceived lols. It was just Ash, Pikachu, Verity & Sorrel out looking for Ho-Oh after Ash was gifted the Rainbow Wing at the beginning of his journey. Catching glimpses of Entei, Suicune & Raikou through their travels as the legendary beasts seem to be keeping an eye on Ash and the others to report their progress back to Ho-Oh. Of course, there are other elements to the film than a simple search quest. Cross, a trainer who believes the best way to train Pokémon is to be a drill sergeant and not a friend is out to find Ho-Oh, battle it, and prove he is the strongest trainer of all.
However, a legend says that should the Rainbow Wing be touched by the “Heart of Evil” it shall lose its colour and fail to summon Ho-Oh, enter Marshadow – the Generation 7 Ghost/Fighting Mythical Pokémon debuting in this film.
I praised the story for its simplicity, but it is also its weakness. The motivations of the characters were a tad weak, I thought. There’s nothing driving them forward other than the off chance they might possible have a slight chance of battling Ho-Oh at the end of it all.
As for the pacing, it is a tad rushed at the start, but I understand why. It wants to get Ash up, out of bed and Pikachu on the clothes line getting dragged out of Pallet Town ASAP but there’s not a lot of breathing space for the first 5 minutes of so of the film. That changes once Pikachu electrocutes the Spearow and he and Ash start to become friends. The time lapse with the aforementioned re-mastered original theme song playing over it shows their friendship growing as time passes and then the pacing evens out considerably as it moves on from recreating the first episode of the anime into telling its own story.
Toward the end of the story there is an obvious call back to Mewtwo Strikes Back involving Ash & Pikachu. It wasn’t really necessary and it didn’t really make as much sense as it did in the original film but it was a heartfelt moment nonetheless, though I totally and fully understand those people who disliked that particular moment of the film because it was admittedly a tad tacked on. Anyone who has seen this film will know what I’m talking about, especially if they’ve also seen Mewtwo Strikes Back.
The pacing keeps a steady track of itself throughout the remainder of the film and no moment feels like it’s trying to fill in a runtime quota. Even the calmer moments where Ash, Pikachu, Verity and Sorrel are travelling throughout Kanto manage to have relevance to the plot as they take those moments to develop the characters and enrich this new take on the Pokémon world. Enrichment that really, really paid off.
Part Four – The Human Characters
Ash was, well, Ash. Not much more to say. Hot headed and eager to go on an amazing adventure, but with a good enough of a heart to make him likeable. His arc in this story was one I did not see coming whatsoever and one I wish the anime had included a bit more of. It’s no spoiler to say Ash wanted a Squirtle for a starter, failing that a Bulbasaur or a Charmander and Pikachu was a Pokémon he never even considered. In the later half of the film when Ash is under the influence of the Heart of Evil he makes reference to this and almost destroys the friendship he and Pikachu had built up throughout the entire film, but their bond wins through and Pikachu saves him from the darkness of the real world. That isn’t a metaphor.
Verity and Sorrel’s stories were pretty simple but they did the job well enough. Sorrel wanted to study legendary Pokémon and joined Ash & Verity to get a good look at Ho-Oh. Raikou, Entei & Suicune were just icing on the cake. Verity’s story was a tad more interesting as she had escaped from her home in Twin-Leaf Town, Sinnoh, to get away from a negligent mother. In the end her seeing the bond of friendship and love between Ash & Pikachu inspires her to return home and work on her and her mother’s relationship. Simple, but effective.
As for Team Rocket, well, they didn’t get built up to be much of a threat at all BUT I’m fine with that as they added some great comic relief which never felt forced or out of place. Jessie, James & Meowth got up to their usual antics but instead of going for Pikachu their focus was on Entei until they caught wind of Ash & co seeking out Ho-Oh & as a result shift their kidnapping schemes to the legendary phoenix. To disastrous, but amusing, effect.
Part Five – The Pokémon & Acknowledging Death
One of the things I knew was going to happen when I ordered the tickets to see this film was that I’d be seeing a recreation of the scene Ash has to say goodbye to Butterfree. I knew it was coming, but that did not stop the tears. Gavin had been crying through a majority of the film at that point but it was the “Bye Bye, Butterfree!” scene that pushed me over the edge. The Pokémon were handled really well in this film. Ash was reduced to having only Pikachu, the Charmander line & the Caterpie line throughout the film as to not make it overcrowded, as much as I’d have loved to see the Squirtle Squad, I understand why they weren’t included.
Pikachu was undoubtedly at its cutest in this film, Caterpie was as eager as its anime counterpart to fly in the skies and when it finally did so, the goodbye scene was emotional and fantastically made all round and Charmander’s story got some improvements which effectively made it feel more genuine.
On the topic of Ash’s Charmeleon & Charizard obeying him as I know that’ll get fans riled up and throw hissy fits because it didn’t follow the anime to the letter. My opinion is this – So what? It’s a retelling, not a remake. Ash’s Charmander evolved in the anime he was at a point of skill where the resulting Charmeleon didn’t respect him and later Charizard only grew to do so after Ash proved he was capable of greater things. It always niggled me in the anime that the cute little Charmasnder Ash saved from certain death would grow to resent him for so long, so to have their bond actually grow with the evolution made more sense to me. Also, from a storytelling point of view should Charizard have shown no respect for Ash throughout the film it would have made the narrative very jarring and made the entire Charmander sub-plot pointless.
Verity’s Piplup & Lapras were great additions to the film also. It was great seeing newer generations of Pokémon taking up larger roles in a film set when there were only 150 known Pokémon so Piplup, and Sorrel’s Lucario, were very welcomed – Gen IV remake hints anyone?
In regards to Sorrel’s Pokémon though, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge that we, as an audience, had definitive confirmation that a Pokémon can die of hypothermia. Sorrel’s Luxray succumbed to the cold after keeping him warm in a blizzard all night and we actually got to see the corpse. For a kids film that’s pretty ballsy and I applaud them for not cutting it out of the dub.
It’s always great to see Raikou, Entei & Suicune in the films too. They tend to get overlooked in recent generations so it was nice for them to make appearances, especially in a film focused on Ho-Oh – even if Raikou’s inclusion was very little more than a glorified cameo. #JusticeForRaikou
Part Six – Fan Nostalgia
As a long time fan of the franchise having gotten into it during “PokéMania” in the late 90s/early 2000s I noticed a lot of very small references throughout the film. Like how in the coliseum at the beginning the trainers battling were the trainers that made it to Mewtwo’s Island in Pokémon The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back.
Or, indeed, that the film seemed to be trying to have an appearance, however brief, of all of the original 149 Pokémon throughout the film. From the inclusion of a Paras watching Ash & Pikachu train in the woods to a Voltorb impersonating a PokéBall in the end credits. That was a fun little thing to look out for throughout scenes with crowds in them. The only ones I didn’t spot were the Dragonite line but I could have missed those before I realised what was happening.
I mentioned before, the recreation of the original theme song played a big part in the nostalgia of the film and was what set Gavin off on the nostalgic bender that we both embraced for the entire film.
One thing that I did pick up and thought “Hold on, that’s not right” in the film was near the beginning when Ash was battling Erika, the Celadon City grass type gym leader. Once she was defeated (A feat anime Ash failed to accomplish) he commented that this would be his 3rd badge. Hold on, wait a minute, 3rd badge? Third? Not sure if this was a dubbing error but a Google search will tell you Erika is the 4th gym leader in the Kanto region. Nit-pick, but a valid one.
As I said previously, I’m not the most nostalgic person for the Pokémon franchise because I never got out of it long enough for it to become nostalgic but there were a lot of moments which cranked it up to 11 in the nostalgia department, even for me. Ash saying goodbye to Butterfree, finding and saving Charmander, even Ash & Pikachu meeting for the first time. The stories I grew up with and cherished as a child
Part Seven – Future Hopes
Another thing I praise in this film is the lack of sequel bait. With so many modern films (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) foreshadowing to events of future films is jarringly forced into the narrative, disregarding any kind of pacing and themes they had going in the film so far at that point. So it was refreshing to see an open and closed story.
That being said, though, I’d love for the creators to follow this reimagining in future films. I want to see how this Ash & Pikachu continue to grow in their travels. Imagine seeing a alternate take on the Team Rocket/Mewtwo story? Or the strange new things that could evolve from the knowledge of 7+ generations worth of myths, legends & Pokémon. It could really be a recipe for a unique take on the universe.
Part Eight – Conclusion & Rating
As you can probably tell, I like this film. I like it a lot. It made me laugh, it made me smile with sheer giddy joy at some points and at others it made me cry, seeing things that made me cry as a child 20 years ago. It was a powerfully nostalgic experience and it had just the right amount of mix between new things and old things which really made it that much more special to me, as a seasoned fan of the franchise.
The franchise has a very dear place in my heart, I’ve come to meet new people because of it, made friendships that endear even to this day through our mutual love of those pocket monsters. I’ve had arguments about it, I continue to get as excited as I did 20 years ago when new information about new games is announced and I always go out of my way to see the newest Pokémon film in some way or another, even if I know it’s going to be a bad film… *Sigh* Hoopa… Why?
With this now behind me, my excitement for Pokémon Ultra Sun & Pokémon Ultra Moon has gone into the overdrive and in 9 days time, I’m going to journey back to Alola and take on Rainbow Rocket like it’s no one’s business. Who knows? I may take a certain cap-wearing Pikachu along for the ride.
Perfect for a long or short term Pokémon fan wanting to relive the glory days but not without its problems.
Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You! gets my final rating of 9.5/10. Nothing’s perfect, but this was damn close.
This is a very nostalgic Spectacled Observer signing out.
The Spectacled Observer 