Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning

Digimon is a franchise that has marked the childhood of many and has accompanied us throughout our lives. This film presents us with a story that makes us see that the franchise has matured as have those who grew up with it. It's not as action-oriented and focuses more on drama, with excellent writing and a fairly deep plot. It is as if the franchise has become a reflection of our lives and how we have transcended, leaving aside the sweet childhood we had and entering a much grayer adulthood. The franchise has always had its moments of smiles and tears that left messages about life, love, friendship and death. That was something that, like action, defined the heart and soul of Digimon. This film has that same spirit, making it a nostalgic story that makes us remember our childhood and how we have left that behind as we grew up. Those children we met in Digimon Adventure 02 have already grown up and that makes us see ourselves reflected in them. The film plays a very important role in the franchise by revealing the true genesis that began the history of human children, embarking on a crusade in the company of digital monsters. It had already been seen in one of the official OVAs how this story began, but an explanation was never given as to why these beings began to visit the human world. That is a mystery that this film answers and it is all due to a call for help from a suffering child that is answered by one of these beings without knowing what it would unleash. The franchise made it clear that the digital world is a world that has become conscious and it is not surprising that this has caused its inhabitants to have evolved to the point that one of them could break the barriers of reality and trigger the events seen in the franchise. What it offers is a quite moving story that can be appreciated by the beautiful animation by Toei Animation and not forgetting to mention that it uses fragments of the songs and score from the original series. Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning, more than being a movie, feels like a longer episode that gives a definitive conclusion to the second animated series and is a beautiful experience that makes us remember how much we have loved this franchise for having accompanied us in our good and bad moments during childhood. My final rating for this movie is a 10/10.

The story was just badly put together. While it does take place 2 years after Last Evolution it makes the build up of that movie and the message it was trying to make obsolete and makes holes in the plot of tri (not to mention the the setup tri did). So the 01 cast basically have to suffer as they grow but the 02 don't have to worry about losing their mons? I'm pretty sure this movie was made just to cash in on the nostalgia. But i did enjoy the 2d animated evolution scenes. And they did a great job at making a great new character (the movie ally) very sympathetic. In short if you love digital monsters please spend the hour and a half doing something else.

Ok, this movie was SO disappointing! Why did they have to choose this plot of "Your bonds between your DIGIMON & partner are fake & I'm responsible for it"?? The plot is weak, doesn't/didn't make any sense, also the new character Lui got a lot of screentime! To add, how he lost his eye is pathetic & laughable! Really?? That's how you lost your eye?! The only good thing about this movie was personally we got to see the 02 kids again on their own movie, & the fact we got to see all the evolutions again! I'm a huge fan of DIGIMON, but this ain't it. Come on, Toei. This movie had potential, & they ruined it!

Nothing in this film makes any sense. It's just a set of set-pieces strung together, no logic to any of it. The writers know the effects they want to achieve, but don't put enough effort into getting there. It's a typical sentimental Japanese effort. All presentation, no content.

The story centres on the childhood trauma of some character called Lui. However, the story doesn't have the courage of its convictions and wipes it all out at the end, for reasons that aren't really very clear. Somehow this is supposed to be terribly significant for the world of Digimon, but it doesn't really come across.

4 stars for some atmospheric visuals. I'll stick to Pokemon, at least their films have plots.

If you're watching 02 - the beginning right after Last Evolution Kizuna, you may end up with more questions than satisfaction.

While the timeline placement does follow the events of Kizuna, the 02 kids don't have a whole lot of emotional consequences compared to what Taichi and Yamato and the 01 gang went through (you do get a blink-and-miss cameo.) The Beginning feels like another Tri episode and the majority of the film is focused on Lui and Ukkomon.

The dub did have confused moments where Jogress and DNA digivolve were intertwined plenty of times. Also the fate of the 6 is pretty questionable as they currently have alternative tools for digivolution.

Hope this isn't the end of Adventure and more is in the offering from Toei. Here's hoping Toei will continue this path of Adventure films as canonically, they have like 15 years left before the end game epilogue (unless that plans to be retconned.)