Plot: Myuutwo (Mewtwo) was a clone created from the legendary Pokemon Myuu (Mew). Uncertain of his purpose in life, he rebels against the scientists who created him and Sakaki (Giovanni) who betrayed him. He wants revenge, he wants a purpose, he wants his life to have meaning…And no one will get in his way.
Breakdown: I am actually excited to be reviewing this. My views on the first movie in terms of the dubbed version have been tarnished. My nostalgia goggles weren’t removed for that review, they were stomped on and eaten by goggle-eating sharks, which breaks my heart.
As much as I like to poke fun at the TV series, I can still enjoy many episodes because it has that charm and relative harmlessness to it. It’s not teaching bad lessons (usually?), it’s not mean-spirited (Usually), it’s just….stupid sometimes.
However, the movie (dubbed) was a train wreck. Despite it trying to give a good message, it was being way too overly preachy about it and didn’t seem to realize that the message it was trying to give was completely hypocritical given the show they were using. There were too many errors that couldn’t be forgiven, the side characters they introduced were throwaways and they supposedly changed the entirety of the script and story, including Myuutwo’s motivations and overall goal.
The original version is supposedly entirely different, but was it better?
Before we start, I want you to look at that Japanese poster……It sucks. In addition to no effort it also has messed up focus. First of all, what is Satoshi (Ash) doing with his other hand? Is that a ballet move?
Second of all, Pikachu’s in it twice. Once on Satoshi’s shoulder, another down below. Despite this movie being called Myuutwo Strikes Back, look at how small Myuutwo and Myuu are in this poster. I didn’t even realize where they were when I first glanced at it.
Third, wow, that’s really the best shot you could use of Kasumi (Misty) and Takeshi (Brock)? Come watch Myuutwo Strikes Back to see Kasumi and Takeshi eating lunch!
Next, why are Gallop (Rapidash) and Dodorio (Dodrio) in silhouette at the bottom? One of the other Trainers has a Gallop, but it does quite literally nothing over the course of the entire movie but stand in the corner. And there’s no Dodorio whatsoever so I have no clue where that even came from.
Finally, why does it look like Zenigame (Squirtle) and Fushigidane (Bulbasaur) are flying? I know their clones fly off at the end of the movie, but these are the regular ones.
Compare that to the dub’s poster which, while being simplistic, is much better. It showcases a good chunk of Pokemon in back because they’re trying to promote the fact that Mewtwo and Mew are the 150th and 151st Pokemon, respectively.
Mewtwo and Mew are huge on it and looking towards each other as if to signify a challenge (Ash and the others aren’t even on it) and the only reason that Pikachu’s on it is to promote the short that came with the movie. I don’t usually pay much mind to movie posters, but damn Japan, you dropped the ball. You dropped all sorts of balls. And they ended up on Myuutwo’s fingers.
—————————————————
We start off…..wondering if I put on the right movie….Why are we in the jungle? Oh hey, explorers. Oh hey Myuu, so it must be kinda related. Wait, the running time is longer too. What’s going on?
In the original American theatrical release and my version (the VHS), this entire ten minute segment is removed. You may recognize it, though. It was released quite a few years later as a short called The Uncut Story of Mewtwo’s Origin that was paired alongside Mewtwo Returns. Two minutes of the short apparently stayed for the first American VHS release, according to the Wiki, but I call BS on that since my copy of the movie starts immediately after the short ends. *shrug*
The point is, American/English speaking audiences didn’t get to see this segment of the movie for years due to reasons never explicitly stated. I guess I might review the dubbed short later on in its own review too, but I would like to know why this was removed to begin with.
Sure, keeping this segment in means it’s a whopping 20 minutes until the title screen shows up as opposed to the already long ten minutes, meaning we also don’t see Satoshi and the others until 20 minutes in either.
This isn’t even counting the time for the Pikachu’s Vacation short, which means it’s technically over 40 minutes until we get to our title. Yikes. That’s like Kingdom Hearts 2 levels of waiting for the title screen.
Maybe 4Kids thought this was too boring or maybe they wanted to save time, maybe they could only get so much time allotted for the theater to run it…..or maybe, and this is just my theory, maybe 4Kids erased this part because it really showcases that Myuutwo has a kind heart, was actually a child at a point and is just really confused about various aspects of life.
They wanted to make Mewtwo an evil world-taker-over so they couldn’t make him too likable. Plus, they could always release the segment later as a stand-alone short and make bank off it. It may sound farfetched (hah, Pokemon pun) but would you really put it past them?
Anyway, a bunch of researchers/explorers are walking through a jungle as Myuu watches over them. They discuss the various legends surrounding Myuu; how it can supposedly cause huge floods, produce crops on barren lands and is supposedly immortal. However, since there have been no confirmed Myuu sightings in recent years, it’s believed to be extinct (The extinct immortal Pokemon!)
They arrive at the ruins of….some place that used to exist and we see a familiar stone tablet with the carving of Myuu.
One of the researchers shows that they have discovered a fossil (which is supposedly an eyelash) from Myuu and plan to make the strongest Pokemon in existence with it. Cue the science!
Once the science is done, we cut to awwwww, wittle baby Myuutwo.
He’s wondering the same questions as the dubbed version; where am I, who am I? Etc. Outside of the test tube, the researchers are wondering why he won’t wake up. Myuutwo opens his eyes in whatever world is in his head and wonders what the noise is. A small girl replies that he’s hearing human voices.
Myuutwo doesn’t know what humans are and asks if he’s one too. The girl replies that, since he can talk, he might be human or she might be a Pokemon. Myuutwo doesn’t know what Pokemon are either and damn he is too adorable. I’m serious. He has a perfect voice and he’s adorable as hell. If my theory on why 4Kids didn’t keep this segment is correct, I can really see why they’d think that way.
The girl says it doesn’t matter which one either of them are since both of them are about the same. She also says that there are many others like them in this world and we’re introduced to some more semi-familiar faces; clone-Fushigidane, clone-Hitokage (Charmander) and clone-Zenigame. They’re not the same clones as the ones seen later in the movie, however, as we’ll soon see.
The researchers outside are monitoring Myuutwo’s brain activity. They say that it’s fluctuating and seems to be reacting with the clones or communicating telepathically. A mysterious cluster of light in a test tube is apparently the girl Myuutwo is seeing – Aitwo, a clone of a girl named Ai.
Back in…wherever this is. Clone purgatory? Aitwo introduces herself and says that the one thing they all have in common is they’re all ‘twos,’ so I suppose the clones are technically called Fushigidanetwo, Hitokagetwo and Zenigametwo…..That’s a mouthful. Myuutwo wonders if he’s a ‘two’ too and they all start having fun spinning around with each other.
Cut back to the lab where we learn that the only distinguishable researcher there (the one with the funky hair and made the tape that Team Rocket listens to) is actually Ai’s father. We flashback to a small town where we see a woman and the researcher. He states that he’s made a beautiful hologram with which he can recreate their dead daughter (how she died, I don’t know.) His wife says nothing they can do will bring her back, but he won’t listen to her.
Cut to a note left by his wife telling him that she can’t live being controlled by old memories and is leaving him. On the note is her key and wedding ring and behind the note is a picture of them and Ai, leaving the researcher with only the glimmer of hope to recreate his daughter.
…..Already this movie is a million times better than the dub. It’s given me a whole new view on both the scientist and Myuutwo and introduced me to a very interesting part of the story. Now that I’m thinking about it, maybe they cut this because it involves a dead girl, but as we’ll see in later movies, they’re not as scared of death in the movies for some reason. Also, Satoshi technically ‘dies’ in this movie, so *shrug*
Soon after, he gets contracted into doing some work in a Pokemon cloning facility where they have recently gotten the Myuu fossil and here we are now.
I can’t really reflect the mood of this next part, but back in clone purgatory, Aitwo is showing Myuutwo visions of her old home town. She shows him the sun, wind, moon and stars. But something’s wrong.
Hitokagetwo starts to vanish, and cutting back to the real world shows that it’s dying. Fushigidanetwo and Zenigametwo also start vanishing and dying in the real world.
Aitwo also starts to vanish.
We see the other clones tubes are now empty, and Aitwo’s light is dimming. The clone world starts blackening as Aitwo says goodbye to Myuutwo. He starts to cry, and he wonders what’s coming out of his eyes. Aitwo explains that they’re tears. Living beings shed tears when their bodies are in pain, humans shed tears when they are sad. She thanks him for his tears, and tells him to stay alive and have fun in the world before finally vanishing completely.
Myuutwo starts getting out of control with sadness and starts to activate his psychic powers. The scientists, to keep him under control, inject him with a tranquilizer in order to put him into a deep sleep. Shoulda done that when he went bonkers later on, eh?
We then see Myuutwo back in the darkness as we watch him grow up in the tubes and eventually forget Ai before we cut to where the dubbed movie started.
Wow, that was a great backstory. In ten minutes it made me feel more emotionally invested than many shows can’t do in several episodes. Though I will admit, I wish they had more time to spend together to get more bonding in.
Screw you 4Kids for not including this to begin with. I feel so robbed. Granted, I still feel a little robbed considering that Myuutwo completely forgets about her and this is never brought up again over the course of the rest of the movie, which is one of the biggest factors in how 4Kids got away with cutting this part without issue.
Now that we’re back to where the dub movie started I will change it up a bit. I’m going to gloss over stuff if it’s exactly the same in the dubbed movie. It’s a bit redundant to repeat the same things. Unless there’s a major change or just something of note, I’ll just be going along at a CliffNotes rate.
No narrator on this scene. Instead we hear Myuutwo asking where he is and we see the scene underwater. He says he keeps having dreams of a strange world but has no memories of it. As he sees a Myuu swim by, he asks who it is, but Myuu won’t acknowledge him and just flies away. As we fade out, we hear Myuutwo saying he’ll never forget that dream world with the strange flying creature.
Back in the lab and citrus Crystal Light, we see Myuutwo as he’s waking up. He asks where he is and who brought him there before losing consciousness again.
He starts to awaken once more and asks the same questions. He states that he is just there, that he wasn’t born into the world. He asks who he is again before using his psychic powers to break the tube.
The scientists explain what he is and who he is as well as his origins, like the original, but it skews from the original after that. Myuutwo asks if Myuu is his father or mother, but the researcher says it’s neither yet both. He was created from Myuu and made even stronger.
Myuutwo asks if he wasn’t born then was he created by God? The researcher says only God and humans can create new life (…..I’m assuming he means new life out of essentially nothing, because breeding is creating new life and basically every living thing can breed.)
Myuutwo is outraged by this. As the scientists congratulate one another, he stews in anger. He starts activating his psychic powers and getting out of control.
Myuutwo blows up the island and we see Sakaki arrive. Myuutwo asks if what he has done is a show of his true power and if he truly is, as the researcher stated, the strongest Pokemon in the world, even stronger than the legendary Myuu from which he was created. Sakaki says basically the same thing about how Myuutwo needs to control his powers, but he also says that Myuutwo may be the world’s strongest Pokemon but humans are powerful still, and combining the powers of humans with Myuutwo will give them the power to take over the world.
Myuutwo agrees and gets outfitted with the focusing armor. Sakaki gives him the orders to simply fight and take care of anyone who gets in their way.
We cut to the montage of ass-kicking where Myuutwo fights Foodin (Alakazam), a herd of Kentauros (Tauros), Rarecoil (Magneton) and of course, Shigeru (Gary)’s Nidoking and Windie (Arcanine). All the while he continuously asks “Who am I? Why am I here? For what am I fighting for?”
Cut back to Myuutwo in his little storage area where he’s wondering why he lives. Sakaki arrives and gives the same speech about how, since he’s a Pokemon, his purpose is to serve humans and nothing else. Oh good, for a second I thought Sakaki was smarter than his dub counterpart. *phew*
As he destroys the place, Myuutwo states that, despite the fact that he was made by humans, he’s not a human, but he’s not a Pokemon either.
He blows up the place and escapes, landing on the island on which he was created. He asks himself the same questions about his existence before stating that, and this part’s important, ‘not as an attack or a proclamation of war, against those responsible for his existence (he)’ll strike back.’
We get our title screen, which is arguably cooler than the dubbed version’s, but it’s a tossup kinda.
And we all know what the title screen means! It’s time to see everyone’s slightly better versions of the characters that annoy me usually, Satoshi, Kasumi and Takeshi! They’re preparing their lunch in a meadow when the bandana’d Trainer shows up.
Oh goood…..ahahahahahaha! He’s American. I knew this going in, because I saw a very short clip online before, but every line he says clearly has a thick American accent and he sprinkles English words into almost every sentence. What’s really great is that it actually sounds like the VA is a native English speaker and this isn’t one of those times when a Japanese person is just speaking broken English to act like an American.
He states he’s looking for some Trainer around who supposedly has eight Badges. Ahah! So it is before the Indigo League. I’d relish this victory of solidifying when the movie takes place, which is more or less a mystery in most of the movies, but I keep forgetting that several hints are given in the anime….Pbbt.
The battle commences and we get the Japanese theme song over the battle, of course. I’ve always been kinda ambivalent towards the Japanese theme, ‘Mazase Pokemon Master.’ It’s alright, but I much prefer the dub’s. Plus the original’s is kinda annoying at times.
The scene with Kairiki (Machamp) and Zenigame is perfectly fine, as expected. And wouldn’t ya know it, the scene’s a lot better and doesn’t look like it was edited by a blind hamster.
The scene that I watched of this, by the way, is the very ending after Pikachu’s attack. The opponent yells out “OH MY GOD!” and it is just hilarious.
Cut to the Rocket-dan (Team Rocket), and even though I’m using the Japanese names for mostly everyone else in the Japanese movie reviews, I’ll just say ‘Team Rocket’ when referring to them. It just seems more natural. They’re talking about getting Pikachu and how hungry they are, big surprise.
Cue the Onidrill (Fearow) and the first shots of Myuutwo’s island where Nurse Joy (That is her Japanese name as well) sends out Kairyuu (Dragonite) out to give the invitation to Satoshi.
Still no ‘Wow, A Kairyuu!’ but whatever. It delivers the message and, here’s something odd – it actually is inviting all of them as ‘promising Pokemon Trainers’, which is weird because Kasumi and Takeshi didn’t battle so how does Myuutwo know this?
Kairyuu starts to leave, Team Rocket sees the reply card and we cut back to Myuutwo making his storm.
Back at the wharf, the storm has started and the ferry to New Island has been canceled.
The wharf manager, named Voyager, which has to be one of the coolest names I’ve ever heard, says that this is the worst hurricane that she’s ever seen and she cannot risk the lives of these people. Thus the ferry is shut down.
….Wait, that’s it? No long practically unprompted story about how most every Pokemon was killed by a storm and brought back to life by the surviving Pokemon’s tears? Oh I get it, that was probably shoehorned in to give a reason for the connection with the tears later in the movie since they removed the beginning ten minutes. Lovely.
However, I’m still not certain how the scene with Satoshi later will work. They didn’t say anything about Pokemon tears being magic or anything. Ai just said ‘Living beings shed tears when they are in pain. Humans shed tears when they are sad.’ That doesn’t really explain how that ends up curing Satoshi’s rock-ness. It just basically states that Pokemon have human emotions, but I guess we’ll get to that later.
The trainers want to go anyway, Junsa (Jenny) says that the local Nurse Joy is missing and the Trainers go off into the storm.
I should mention that the Trainer with the blue shirt only says his Pokemon are strong in water, not that all of his Pokemon are Water types, which means this doesn’t cause a mistake later.
Though you don’t see many Trainers leaving (despite the fact that there were many at the wharf and supposedly many that left), there is someone on a Onidrill who doesn’t show up at New Island. Guess that one person died. 😦
Satoshi and the others want to leave, but can’t because they don’t have strong enough Water Pokemon, which is slightly ironic in the case of Kasumi now that I think about it. You really need to get hoppin’ on that ‘greatest Water Pokemon Trainer’ thing if your Pokemon, even combined, can’t go through this storm when plenty of others apparently can.
Hell, not only is that guy in the blue shirt a way better Water Pokemon Trainer than Kasumi at this point, but the girl Trainer can also make it through on a Water type without issue. Also, Satoshi could’ve gone perfectly fine if his Zenigame was a Kamex (Blastoise) right now, but oh well!
They see Team Rocket, Musashi (Jessie), Kojirou (James) and Nyarth (Meowth) arrive in disguise as vikings and offer them a ride. A huge wave crashes into the boat and reveals Team Rocket and another wave follows, destroying the boat. Satoshi and Kasumi use Zenigame and Hitodeman (Staryu) to rescue Takeshi and ride out the storm.
How Satoshi is managing to keep his hat on during all of this is beyond me.
They arrive at New Island and are greeted by Joy. Takeshi realizes who she is, but she claims she’s not Joy. They make their way into the castle and we see that Team Rocket survived the ordeal as well on their Matadogas (Weezing).
YAY IT’S MYUU’S WINDMILL SCENE!……IT’S STILL ADORABLE!!! ❤
They enter the castle and see the Trainers who have arrived. We’re still not told why they all have to let out their Pokemon, but whatever. Cut to Team Rocket who are preparing to go through the sewer to get in the castle.
We’re ‘introduced’ to the three Trainers – again they’re not given names so I guess it’s TO WIKIPEDIA!
The first guy with the cool orange clothes is named Corey in the English version and Sorao in the Japanese version. And hey, he identifies his Pokemon correctly! Wow, that must’ve been difficult to pull off!
The guy in the blue shirt is named Umio (fitting of his love of Water types) in the Japanese version and….Fergus in the English dub. Yeesh, he got screwed there.
Finally, the completely bland girl is named Sweet in the Japanese version and Neesha in the dub. I’m not sure if I like ‘Sweet’ as a name. It’s kinda cute, but really makes you think she’s a stripper with a stripper sister named Candy.
Myuutwo arrives and announces his presence through Joy as the world’s strongest Pokemon Trainer as well as the world’s strongest Pokemon. Umio won’t accept that a Pokemon can be a Pokemon Trainer, let alone the strongest Pokemon Trainer, but Myuutwo quickly shuts him up by psychically tossing him into the pool.
Umio sends out Gyarados to Hyper Beam Myuutwo, but he swats it back at Gyarados.
Myuutwo releases Joy from his psychic control and explains that he used her for her knowledge of treating Pokemon for his experiments.
Cut back to Team Rocket where they discover Myuutwo’s cloning lab. I find it weird that Nyarth calls the cloned Lizardon (Charizard), Fushigibana (Venusaur) and Kamex ‘cute.’ Musashi activates the computer and we hear the researcher from before explaining the project. Nyarth gets grabbed when the researcher says they need to gather a DNA sample from the Pokemon to start the process.
They get Nyarth out and–
Kojirou: “Who’s that Pokemon?”
Musashi: “Nyarth!”
………..Oh so 4Kids just mirrored that…………You win this round, 4Kids.
The tape continues, and I still don’t really understand how the researcher had the time to record this, but okay. Now that I think of it, why is it activating a demonstration based on the tape? Now that I really think about it, Myuutwo was probably using these tapes to base his own cloning process on it, but the rest of the questions about the existence or playing of these tapes is still confusing.
He also never says that Sakaki funded the project. Team Rocket doesn’t even seem to be related to this from all I’ve seen. The researchers just wanted to clone Myuu and make the world’s strongest Pokemon. Sakaki may have just caught wind of the project and wanted to get Myuutwo for himself.
Speaking of Sakaki, cut back to Myuutwo where he’s mentioning how he thought he and Sakaki shared the same ambitions, but he ended up betraying him. He claims that humans are the worst existence on the planet and Pokemon aren’t much better since many of them serve as slaves under humans.
Pikachu combats this by ‘saying’ he’s not a slave of Satoshi’s, he’s with him because he likes him. Myuutwo says that doesn’t matter because simply being with him is his main mistake and sends him flying.
Sorao sends out his Saihorn (Rhyhorn) to attack Myuutwo, but of course he easily swats him away.
Myuutwo says it’s pointless to battle him since he was born specifically to be the strongest Pokemon in existence. Satoshi says he hasn’t proven that, and Myuutwo asks if he wants to test him. Satoshi says yes, and he prepares for a legit battle.
The clones wake up and emerge while Myuutwo reveals his stadium. Sorao prepares for battle with his Fushigibana, Benard. Sweet prepares for battle with her Kamex, Kusukusu. And Satoshi prepares for battle with his….*sigh* Lizardon.
Lizardon attacks Myuutwo as soon as it’s released, but this obviously doesn’t affect Myuutwo. Myuutwo also doesn’t say that Lizardon is ‘poorly trained’ like the dub. He just says he’s an ill-tempered Lizardon. I’ll admit, I like the dub’s line better, even if both accurate.
The battle begins and we know how this goes. Fushigibana gets its ass kicked, Kamex gets its ass kicked. And Lizardon gets his ass kicked.
Myuutwo takes their Pokemon with his weird black monster balls to make clones, and everyone tries to get their Pokemon away to no avail.
Pikachu makes a run for it up that weird ramp thing while Satoshi follows. Pikachu falls, Satoshi dives after him, but Pikachu gets captured by the monster balls…..Oh but falling in calm waters causes his hat to come off. Who is in charge of his hat physics? I want to file a complaint!
Before the monster ball can get away, Satoshi follows it down the tube. Also, Satoshi just yells “Pikachu!” not “You’re not gonna get Pikachu!” I know that’s not a big change, but it shifts the message of that shot from “Pikachu’s the only one I care about!” to “Pikachu’s the only one I can save at this point!”
Back in the lab, Musashi and Kojirou do more ‘Who’s that Pokemon?’ and wouldn’t ya know it, they get the Pokemon identifications right! So does Nyarth as the Pokemon come down the tubes.
Satoshi saves Pikachu from the machines, causing it to malfunction. The clones emerge and the machine explodes sending out the real versions. Satoshi reunites with his Pokemon before heading back out.
Here’s another change – Myuutwo says he has no intentions of going so far as to kill the humans. In fact, he’s letting them go. The only hitch is they have to survive his storm again….Which is basically a death sentence without returning their Pokemon to them, but still.
The clones emerge, and Myuutwo wonders what the hell is going on when Satoshi emerges from the smoke with the real Pokemon proclaiming that he’ll never forgive him.
He says he’ll protect his friends and the Pokemon and tries to punch Myuutwo, but Myuutwo just launches him into—I still don’t know what that is. He’s caught by Myuu’s bubble and Myuutwo attacks him.
YAY THE SCENE WHERE MYUU REACTS TO HIS NAME IS NEXT!……IT’S STILL ADORABLE!! ❤
Myuutwo seems to be more about proving which one of them is truly the real one so Myuutwo starts attacking Myuu. He seems to have won after knocking Myuu into the sky, but Myuu returns the favor by knocking him into the ground.
Myuutwo wants to pit the copies against the originals and Myuu gives a speech, translated by Nyarth in which he basically says the real ones are real no matter what. No matter how much they may beat them down, the real ones will always be real.
Myuutwo is outraged by this and sends the Pokemon off to fight each other to prove once and for all which ones are truly real. Two things should be noted here; No ‘Brother My Brother’ (Yay! In fact, it’s very basic Pokemon battle music, just rescored a little.) and no echo effect on Pikachu’s voice at the very end of this scene to make the scene more corny.
The Pokemon fight as Satoshi climbs down from wherever he is, and dammit it is so much better to watch this scene without that song in here. It’s far more emotionally impacting.
Oh great, we’re getting to the really preachy parts. Don’t let me down original version!
As we see the Pokemon start to tire from battle, we cut to Joy and the others talking about it. Joy asks why they would fight over such a thing as whether they’re real or copies. They’re both living creatures.
Kasumi and Takeshi chime in and say no matter how they were born or created, they were created as living beings. They’re both equal living beings, so no one will win in the end. Cool. We got past that part without being too preachy.
Team Rocket, don’t screw this up!
Team Rocket basically says this situation is pitiful. It’s like bullying yourself. Okay, that was also good…..Nyaaaaaarth….I’m watching you.
Nyarth comes face to face with his clone as well. They bear their claws, but quickly put them away. Nyarth says the claws must hurt, and that with all the other Pokemon fighting each other, he’s unfair.
Clone-Nyarth says Nyarth’s the one who’s unfair. Why does he have to fight him? Don’t those claws hurt? Nyarth asks if his claws would hurt even more.
Clone-Nyarth talks about how round the moon looks and Nyarth agrees. He’s says it’s poetic that they’re talking about the moon at such a time and asks how everything ended up this way….I also have to say regular Nyarth’s voice, the one you hear the clone speak in the dub, is really adorable.
Wow, we got through most of the preachy stuff without being very preachy. I am flabbergasted.
As Myuu and Myuutwo continue fighting, Satoshi keeps climbing down to help *sigh* just his Pikachu. I know he’s, of course, worried about all of the Pokemon, even ones that aren’t his, but the only one he calls out for is Pikachu.
The next dialogue’s a bit weird, but Joy’s talking about how Pokemon defend their territory and they won’t stop until the other is driven out of it. They’re both fighting for their territory, which is the same land, and thus they’ll never stop. Okay they’re getting a little preachy with the ‘they’re all living beings’ thing but it’s not nearly as bad as the dub is.
Myuu and Myuutwo slam into the ground and go Super Saiyan. Satoshi, seeing the PG carnage around him, rushes to stop the two and gets caught between their blasts, turning him into stone and….for the love of God, what is up with this scene!? Why I can’t I watch it without feeling like crying?
*sigh* …..*sniff* Pikachu tries in vain in wake up Satoshi, and when he finds that it’s to no avail, he starts to cry as do the other Pokemon. Their tears turn into magical flying tears that collect on Satoshi with Pikachu’s tear being the final one. A beam of light shines on Satoshi and he’s reverted back to normal while reuniting with his Pikachu.
……So, uh……No one’s ever going to address how that works or what just happened? The dub may be cheesy and a bit stupid, but at least they made it a point to explain why such a thing would be possible…Okay, no they didn’t, but they did establish that such a thing has happened before. The original gives no reason. They mentioned how only humans cry when they are sad, but human tears aren’t magic.
Myuutwo also doesn’t get preachy, yay! He just says that it’s really true – they are both alive. He decides to take the clones away and wipe everyone’s memories. As Satoshi asks where they’re going, Myuutwo responds that they have been born, they are alive and thus they’ll go on living in this world, somewhere.
Satoshi and the others get encompassed in light and we cut back to the wharf where all that stuff that I said makes no sense makes no more sense here.
They go outside to see that the storm has cleared, and Satoshi sees Myuu in the sky. I would say he doesn’t act like Myuu’s the Ho-oh he saw in the first episode, but it’s somewhat unclear in the wording.
Cut back to Team Rocket being on the island also with amnesia but also not caring because they’re on a great island. I still don’t understand why Myuutwo left them there instead of teleporting them back to the wharf, but whatever.
And that’s the movie! But wait, we still have the end credits songs!
Oh hey ‘Raymond Johnson’ as the pirate trainer guy. So he was an American/Native English speaker (I assume anyway).
There’s only one ending theme song and it’s pretty okay. Not one of my absolute favorites, but it’s pretty nice.
And we see our final shot of Myuu flying away before we actually end.
Bottom Line: Well, that certainly was a lot better than the dubbed version…..but I can’t say I still love the movie. I like it, sure, but I wish the thing with Ai was brought up again, I wish some other aspects were tightened up and I wish the damn tears thing was explained in any way shape or form. Plus, the original still gets a little preachy with the ‘living beings’ stuff. Still, it’s a somewhat original concept, and Myuutwo’s fairly easy to empathize with.
Recommended Audience: E for everyone!
If you enjoy my work and would like to help support my blog, please consider donating at my Ko-Fi page. Thank you! ♥
The Anime Madhouse 