So on Pokemon Day, Fans gathered together and celebrated the colossal and heartwarming series that is Pokemon. Along with that, the Official Pokemon Website released the 20th film in the series. Wow. . . I cannot believe there's been that many. and to be honest I haven't even given each film a watch. The thing that struck me as odd though, was the amount of views the film had on the official website. I watched this thing a week after its initial release date and it only had about 50,000 views but I guess people could have viewed it from different sources.
Anyway the story revolves around Ash. Beginning his journey in the same way the Original Anime began. Ash wakes up too late and because of this he has only one choice as his Starter Pokemon, Pikachu. It takes the two a little bit of bonding over almost losing their lives to some crazy Spearow to build their friendship.
This was the main reason I decided to watch this film as it gives me nostalgic feelings of when I was a kid watching this very same guy bond with his first Pokemon 20 years ago.
Now this film takes a sharp turn and does not follow the original Anime to a tee. For Instance, we only see three of Ash's Pokemon throughout the entire film. This being Pikachu, Caterpie and Charizard.
And while out on their Journey they meet Trainers Verity and Sorrel. Instead of Misty and Brock. Sorrel talks about how he is studying The three legendary beasts Raikou, Entei and Suicune (who all make a brief appearance in the film.) I thought the way they developed these characters was great and you almost don't even miss Misty and Brock here. I mean, Why should you? I feel the whole point of this film was to go another direction. You get a look into their past and see who these characters are. And this was one of the most solid points of the film. They were pretty relatable too.
Ash and Pikachu see Ho-oh like in the Anime. Instead Ash is given the Rainbow wing meaning he is the Rainbow Hero Chosen by Ho-oh Itself.
The story goes from here and doesn't have much of a direct plot except that the follow of Ash on his Journey in kanto. We meet Charmander and he's been left behind by a shitty trainer like before. This guy named Cross. In my opinion, this guy is the typical villain trainer who thinks strength is more important than friendship blah blah blah. . . . . Ash takes Charmander under his wing, He evolves and proves the Trainer wrong. I found a lot of the things that were brought from the original anime felt noticeably rushed. Like when Caterpie evolved into Butterfree and then meets his mate and then leaves for mating season. I found it funny at one point when the Primeape were attacking them, Sorrel recommends (metapod clip) Yeah. . . .that wouldn't go well in the video games. . .
Another thing featured in this film was Marshadow following ash through his shadow. He gives Ash a glimpse of how important it was to be a good Trainer and the destruction it can cause if you were like Cross. Team Rocket even makes a few appearances throughout but in my opinion they didn't even need an appearance.
hey don't serve any purpose to the plot and don't even make any funny remarks. Haven't we had enough of Team Rocket throughout the series? Please just be off. Also one thing that sort of ruined it for me, was Prof.Oak's voice. . . . Yeah no... I know he wasn't featured for very long...
but why couldn't ' Stuart Zagnit ' or ' Stan Hart ' return?. .
So The story at times seems very Lazy and they just threw in little parts to give us all Nostalgia. But wasn't that the whole purpose of the film? It was released on the 20th anniversary of Pokemon and the writers probably felt free to throw in whatever they wanted to fit. I enjoyed it for what it was but it was no grand achievement. The little throwbacks here and there are what makes it so enjoyable for me. If you didn't watch Pokemon when you were young, you probably won't get a kick out of it.
My Favorite parts were the battle between Charizard and Incineroar and the moment when Charizard saves Cross and the Explanation was that "charizard hasn't forgotten you were once its Trainer."
The main thing I MUST mention here is the artwork and animation. This was absolutely my favorite thing. Everything looks so beautiful and updated and it's great to see Kanto this way. I Loved the parts with Ho-oH and seeing all the rainbows and bright sunlight.
If you've been a Pokemon Fan since day one, why not give it a watch?
