Pokémon The First Movie: Mewtwo Vs. Mew

Genre: Adventure / Comedy
General Audience
1999 Satoshi Tajiri, Tajiri Satoru, Ishihara Tsunekazu , Directed by Kunihiko Yuyama
1999 TV Tokyo

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Cover Description:
The adventure explodes into action with the debut of Mewtwo, a bio-engineered Pokemon created from the DNA of Mew, the rarest of all Pokemon. Determined to prove its superiority, Mewtwo lures Ash, Pikachu and the others into a Pokemon match like none before. Mewtwo vs. Mew. Super-clones vs. Pokemon. It's the ultimate showdown...with the very future of the world at stake!

Critics need to remember their childhood days... >>> by skysenshi (09.01.2001)

Before I went out to watch this movie, I had read a number of wannabe critics in international magazines who totally lambasted this title by saying it was shallow and did not teach anything of value to children. I will not virtually bonk them in the head and claim they are raving lunatics (because my Mama taught me better than that!), but methinks these people have forgotten what it was like to be a child and enjoy a "cartoon" for its simplicity and the wonders of their moving drawings. I hardly think it is appropriate for a five-year-old to be watching something as deep as Aeon Flux or Ghost in the Shell, what with its intricate philosophic complexities. What would you rather have them see? Disney's animated movies that twist original storylines and make a historical racist like John Smith the love interest of a woman whose kin he had treated so harshly? Talk about distortion of your beautiful American history! What about Road Runner and Coyote or Popeye the Sailor Man who did more than encourage eating spinach, but also promoted an exaggerated form of violence?

If you look closely at Pokémon: The First Movie, you would actually be able to find lessons in nature and philosophy. The only difference is that these important -- but almost taken for granted -- values did not come from a complicated package that children will be hard-pressed to understand. The story in itself is like simplified Frankenstein, where some people deemed it their right to play God and bring to life something that can be considered an abomination to the natural way of things. The essence of this concept already revolves around the anti-hero, Mewtwo and his confrontation with Mew, from whence Mewtwo's DNA came. There is the depth that every critic wannabe should have seen: the philosophic nature of existence.

Did they also comment on the mini-movie that was shown before the grand picture? You bet they did! And the reason for their outrage was because the pocket monsters were having a nice healthy competition and were communicating like they usually do -- that is by saying their name (Pika Pika! Chuu!). Again, I implore that these people remember what it was like to be a child and enjoy things in their simplicity. Stop trying to find adult-oriented themes and plot lines in a show made for toddlers! They would've had fewer wrinkles that way.

Individual Rating: Art: 7; Story & Plot: 9; Characters: 9; Sounds: 8

A movie for anyone who watches anime for more than the graphics. >>> by Kenryoku Maxis (01.03.2002)
Well, I played the game and watched a few episodes of the show, but don't think I'm any pokemon fanatic. But when it comes to the movie, I AM a pokemon fan in all ways possible. I agree totally with Skysenshi about the reviewers who rated this movie because this movie has one large plot and tells many different lessons to children and adults alike.

Now, if the reviewers Skysenshi was talking about watched the American dub of this movie I cant rag on them too much, but even with horrible voices, it would take some major screw up's to change the plot. Centering the movie around the pokemon Mewtwo was great enough, but then to throw in a deep Darth Vader like voice actor and give the character a kind of confused and overpowered role impressed me, as should it any person who enjoys those kind of wonderful uses of characters. Now yes the movie was made from a series based on appealing to children, but as Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura and many of Miyazaki's movies have shown us, they can have powerful and adult themes in them also. You don't need sex, people over the age of 17 or even a war to make a movie appeal to older people. Steven Spielberg made a movie called E.T. and I hardly know anyone under the age of 18 who likes that movie (that happened to star children). No, this story tells the classical themes such as why are people made the way they are, shows that many people feel alone at times (portrayed by Mewtwo) and even shows the basic principles of human nature transformed into a simple, easy to understand movie that children can like and learn from. One of the major problems with reviews always is that people get impressions before they even see the film and come out, even if they liked it, not wanting to give it the full review it deserved. Adults in America have grown up with Disney, but most of the time cannot accept that there are other forms of animation that are as good or even better than anything the Disney company has made (-ahem-...Miyazaki anyone...). Believe me, I live with one of these people who will not watch anything coming from the Asian cinema, but yet owns every Disney film ever made. All I am trying to say is a lot of adults (and people not even there yet) are closed minded. Just be happy you're one of the ones who will accept something different.

And my last thing I have to say about this movie, Don't watch the dub! You won't get even 1/10 of the powerful feeling or wonderful voices coming from this great movie.

Individual Rating: Art: 10; Story & Plot: 9; Characters: 9; Sounds: 9