THN’s PokéMovie Marathon Day 2: Pokémon The Movie 2000 – The Power Of One

“Though the water’s Great Guardian shall arise to quell the fighting alone its song will fail. Thus the Earth shall turn to ash.”

In 6 days the world will go mad in unison for the latest Pokémon games, Pokémon X & Y.The English language dub of the latest film is also set to premiere one week after that. Over the next 2 weeks join THN as we take a look back over the entire series of Pokémon films.

Director: Kunihiko Yuyama

Cast: Veronica Taylor, Rachael Lillis, Eric Stuart, Madeleine Blaustein, Ikue Ootani, Ted Lewis, Megan Hollingshead, Eric Rath, Nathan Price, Tara Sands, Stuart Zagnit, Neil Stewart

Plot:  A collector of rare Pokémon has his sights set on the legendary birds Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno. If he manages to capture them all and upset the balance of nature, the guardian of the ocean Lugia will arise, but even he may be too late to save the world.

Squeezing in POKEMON: THE MOVIE 2000 – THE POWER OF ONE for a 22^nd December release date in the UK meant although we had to wait longer for POKEMON: THE FIRST MOVIE – MEWTWO STRIKES BACK, we also had a year when we were treated to two Pokémon films. How wonderful for us. After all, England hadn’t even made it through the group stages in Euro 2000, so we all needed a good cheering up. With POKEMON: THE MOVIE 2000 – THE POWER OF ONE, it became clear that the Pokémon films would forever revolve around legendary Pokémon, and who can blame them? Their powers are so unique and awe-inspiring that the only place for them is up on the big screen.

The film sees the one note villain Lawrence III attempting to collect the legendary bird Pokémon. He’s actually rather dull as an antagonist, as he wants to collect Pokémon so badly he is willing to destroy the planet. That doesn’t exactly make sense to a grounded individual such as myself. Maybe if he had been absolutely bonkers then I could understand, but he seems fairly normal. Well, as normal as a guy flying around in a beautifully constructed fortress can be. The only real information we get about him is that he once received a Mew trading card and he has been obsessed with collecting Pokémon ever since. I love Pokémon too but not to the point where I would be willing to let the world end.

Our hero Ash and his cohorts arrive on an island where a new ritual is going down. The ritual is meant as a celebration of some ancient Pokémon mumbo jumbo. To head up this little festival is feisty Melody. She doesn’t respect the culture much and sees it as a bit embarrassing. In a surprising twist, this doesn’t turn into the Pokémon equivalent of THE WICKER MAN. How awesome would that have been? There’s still time I guess. Melody is actually a great addition to the group of friends. She obviously has a little crush on Ash, but realises the spark between him and Misty. Even though she likes to push Misty’s buttons, she isn’t going to get in the way of the Ron and Hermione of the Pokémon world.

The big issue I need to get out of the way before I go any further is that by now Brock has been replaced by personality vacuum Tracey. Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh, but this was the first change we had in the main group and we didn’t take it well. Sure Brock could be a bit of a randy bugger, but he also had charisma. Tracey just likes to sketch Pokémon, that’s no use when travelling the world. His surname is even Sketchit. What next? A player trying to catch ’em all called…or a breeder that loves rock type Pokémon, having the word ‘rock’ in his… Just shut up already, I don’t like Tracey. Who’s doing all the cooking now anyway? Fortunately, Tracey is left in the background while Ash and Misty sort out some of the sexual tension between them. Tracey is even played out as a joke; after hearing Misty and island local Melody talking about Ash and whether he’s single, Tracey buts in thinking they are talking about him. Queue uncomfortable silence.

Actually, a lot of the film is played out as a comedy with some more mature themes. It certainly has a huge number of genuinely laugh out loud moments. As one scene begins we are thrust into the age old entering on the punch line of a joke. “…and she said “No! But I do have Crabbies.””. There’s also a scene in which James and Ash break the fourth wall, and some banter containing hints towards Jesse and James’ sexuality is also present. After Jesse tells Ash that getting involved with the opposite sex only leads to trouble, James says “Yes. And that’s the kind of trouble I stay out of.”

The biggest difference between this and the previous film is that this is much more a film about humans and nature. The human element is strongly represented by the relationship between Ash and Misty. It starts with the usual denial between them, but it soon becomes apparent that there is simply no room for a love-triangle and newcomer Melody graciously steps aside. Team Rocket also has a bit of an arc to speak of, as they join the good guys in an attempt to save the world. I mean, who are they going to steal from when we’re all dead?

The film is much better in terms of plot and character, but it doesn’t really capture anything that was absent from the series. Lugia and Slowking, both able to speak our language, just don’t do that much and simply fill the roles of protector and expositor. Meanwhile the legendary trio of birds are simply destructive. It would have been much better to see, or at least hear more from the power struggle between them. Luckily the action scenes are rather epic even if the devastation is confined to an isolated and unpopulated area.

The film does paint Ash as a chosen one in some respects, which puts him past the simple Pokémon trainer role, but the script is cleverly written enough that the word ‘ash’ in the prophecy may just be a coincidence. Let’s face it, if Ash is the true chosen one then that flies in the whole choosing your own destiny from the last movie. Our clear message here is that there is a delicate balance between man, nature, and Pokémon; unfortunately the latter doesn’t really apply to us. As Fire, Ice, and Lightning strive for dominance the entire ecosystem is knocked out of whack. Although it is nature causing the destruction, it is man that upset nature in the first place. We must all be careful in how we treat nature, because otherwise a huge bird-type thingy is going to erupt from the ocean, and I don’t know a single person that wants to see that. The film ends with the classic Flying Without Wings from everyone’s favourite popular combo Westlife. What’s not to love?

Best Performance By A Pokémon:  As previously stated, this is more about the people than the actual Pokémon, but we still get some great moments. This time though I just have to give the award to Meowth. He just worked as a translator in the last film, and though he has to do that again, he also joins his Team Rocket buddies in doing the right thing and helping Ash. Meowth, Jesse and James are also willing to sacrifice themselves to save us all. Kind of like Jesus? No?

Best Battle: There’s only one battle in this film between Pokémon and Pokémon but luckily it’s an awesome one. A three way, all bets are off, loud, aerial display of bright lights explosions and dangerous manoeuvres between Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno. It’s great that the human threat is pushed aside to allow for these elemental titans to take over the screen. Once Lugia sticks his beak in it’s hard to tell if the other three are working together and whether or not Ash will complete his mission.

PokéRating:

Come back tomorrow for our next PokéMovie Marathon article. Gotta read ‘em all here.

Pokémon X & Y are released for the Nintendo 3DS on 12th October 2013. POKEMON: THE MOVIE: GENESECT AND THE LEGEND AWAKENED will premiere on CITV’s Movie Club at 9:25 am on 19th October in the UK, and on Cartoon Network in the US.