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; Overall: 8

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 1st, 2001 at 7:18 pm and is filed under Pokémon The First Movie, Anime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.