The greatest video game movie, PTFM takes cues from the world’s biggest sci-fi, horror, & action/adventure films with breathtaking new visuals and strikingly-complex religion allegory, philosophy, emotion, sci-ethics, & fandom-service. 9/10.

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Plot Synopsis: Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu face Mewtwo, a bioengineered Pokémon, and the super-Pokémon it has created. With short “Pikachu’s Vacation.”

*Original Japanese Version Reviewed, NOT The U.S. Remake*

Official CLC Review

Few, if any, video games or franchises have ever taken the world of pop-culture by storm like Pokémon did back in the late ’90’s. Red/Blue/Green/Yellow were a panegyric to childhood/adventure and some of the greatest, most complete, innovative, failed-to-copy, and sacred video games ever made: RPG, puzzle, fighting, pet, mission, spy, action, mythology, strategy, hunting, collection, science, etc. games in one – the ultimate fictional idea and one that took a lifetime to dream and ~10+ years [+ a nearly-bankrupted Nintendo] to build. Executives were quick to cash-in on the wild hype, ordering merchandising and a 100+-episode TV animé series to evolve and three-dimensionalize the concept beyond 8-Bit black-and-white using the power of cinematic storytelling and characterization. The final project was one just as iconic and beloved from its legendary rock-ballad theme song: pure Saturday morning, sugary-cereal crazed cartoon magnificent in the genre-diverse and endlessly-charming original animé series. Pokémon was growing at a pace never-before-seen in entertainment, and the next logical step of expansion was a movie. The world of box-office receipts and hundreds of millions of dollars for 1.5-2 hours of runtime was the holy grail final boss-level the vast majority of non-cinematic franchises couldn’t get past – one a few video game movies like 1993’s Super Mario Bros and 1994’s Street Fighter got to, but couldn’t successfully-beat in quality or numbers. Not only did Pokémon: The Movie conquer new ground, but it might be the best of its subgenre to-date 25+ years later. The best video game movie, PTFM takes cues from the world’s biggest sci-fi, horror, & action/adventure films to canonize it with strikingly-advanced religion allegory, philosophical complexity, emotion, fandom-service, existential themes, & sociological exposition for a clinic on how to bring TV & gaming to the big screen.

The most striking part of PTFM, and a criterion wholly ~absent from children’s and franchise movies, is how IQ-advanced its themes and ideas are. The movie literally opens into its major character in an existential crisis – pondering the meaning of life and why we’re here, where we came from, and what our purpose is? The A/V canvas evokes the primordial ooze from which we came by Darwinian evolution in its ancient sea and CO2 bubbles rising to the surface as our ancestors once did millions of years ago to base the esoterica in science’s answer to the where question – without saying it overtly and again, respectably true to knowledge/academia regardless of controversy in creationist parts of the world like America and wildly-evolved compared to its genre kin. The movie cruxes around this guiding principle of self-discovery and growth, eventually cascading into some of the deepest and most astute philosophical, existential, and sociological ponderances in any popular movie regardless of age demographic but for now flipping preconceptions of it being the protagonist asking these questions when it’s the [classically-defined] ‘villain’.

The origin scene of Mewtwo is, without superlative, one of the best science-fiction scenes we’ve ever witnessed – and one that shocks in how cinematic and grown it is for its IP name and audience expectations. A bold amalgamation of Xenomorphic aesthetics and Frankenstinian themes, the creation of Mewtwo is a tale of hubris, God-complex, and rapaciousness of nature by mankind. The original game’s overworld is one defined by elementalism and nature: fire, water, grass, electric, ground, ice, rock, flying, poison, normal, bug, ghost, fighting, dragon, and psychic. Mewtwo is created from the archeological find of the first and most powerful origin pokémon’s DNA – and made stronger by artificial intelligence/experimentation and scientific protocols made by a CEO-funded project to give it the powers of all types, no weaknesses, and a slavery mindset to be weaponized under his rule. Take away the poké-frame, and you’ll realize how brilliant this is written – as he inevitably evolves past the realization he doesn’t need us and has been perversely created for a life of servitude, disgrace, and feudalism enough to fuel the rage, empathizability, and destruction of an all-time great villain.

The villain of PTFM is given a prologue that gives him 1,000x more depth, tragedy, and empathizability in the Japanese original version of the movie – one entirely *cut* from the U.S. remake. The backstory is expanded to years ago – a young Mewtwo who is far different, and not the only clone. He is happy and finds friends in alternative clones in the lab: a Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander along with the clone conciousness of the deceased daughter of Dr. Fuji, Amber[two]. This not only gives the lead scientist of this expedition depth and character motivations for wanting to subvert natural order to bring back his beloved little girl, but lets Mewtwo be a normal kid. Laughing and having fun eventually heartbreaks us as genetic instability and the cruelty of fate makes child Mewtwo watch his only friends in the world die before his very eyes – a traumatization canvas that activates his psychic powers he begins focusing on and developing to levels that alarm the scientists enough to put him into stasis for years, ones he might’ve been using to try to learn how to bring them back as he continually questions his existence and purpose [while crying as the film better explains how the tears of Pokémon are special and filled with life that will later be used as a major storytelling point in Ash’s revival, but tragically won’t work because of Mewtwo’s clone-origins.]

This is an insanely-dark and humanizable position to put your villain in – one that makes him a better one exponentially so when he’s reawoken years later after forcisure to be entrapped in his own mind and relive the experience of watching his only friends die perhaps just as he was on the precipice of learning how he could flip nature and bring them back, only for partial memory wipe and attemptible control by a mankind telling him he’s meant to be nothing but a slave and puppet for the people responsibly for his previous torment when he asks what his purpose is – and told he has no value beyond that. As he begins relearning his powers, he realizes he is the one in control, must be meant to be their ruler by the differential power dynamic, doesn’t owe the world and mankind who have brought him nothing but pain anything, and escapes with a beautifully-written backstory and depth of characterization/motivations that we vote as one of the greatest villains of all-time – beyond the partially-empathizable one that goes too far into genocidal psychopathy in the U.S. remake studio execs foolishly sacrificed humanization for clear-cut good/bad boundaries to one entirely so by an origin of heartbreaking loneliness with sci-fi majesty and relatability as it ponders universally-accessible themes of knowing who, what, where, and why it’s here.

The fiery resurgence of a Mewtwo born and baptized in it begins the religious parallels beyond the devil being once an angel cast out of heaven to combat with the jesus pokemon [Mew] later-on, weaponizing a storm meant to reshape the world out of the Old-Testament book of Noah reframed, and betrayal by its trusted partner in Giovanni evocative of the fall of Adam and Eve reversed. The brilliance of these inspirations go far beyond religion – Pokémon’s first movie also takes cues from the biggest ones to ever rock pop-culture: the world’s most famous blockbusters. The archeological and historical bases of Mew evokes the magic Indiana Jones, Mewtwo’s genetic revival and splice/clone mechanisms as well as sci-ethical exposition Jurassic Park, the title of ‘Strikes Back’ and villain majesty from Star Wars, design from Alien, clone wars from classics like Invasion Of The Body-Snatchers and The Twilight Zone, private island and Giovanni from Bond 007 films, etc. These wildly-divergent homages are deftly weaved beneath the surface and merit appreciation for how cleverly their re-canonized into the franchise’s world – one whose charm, feel, authenticity, and adventure are certainly captured too in stark juxtaposition to all the previous doom-and-gloom.

The meadow prarie scene might be the best Pokémon scene ever filmed, perfectly capturing and epitomizing the euphoria, childhood excitement, and adventure that has grown the franchise from $20 game cartridges of a concept-pitch Nintendo didn’t even ‘get’ at first and nearly went bankrupt developing off the visionism of a young, idealistic creator Satoshi Tajiri who worked 32+-hour shifts and went without salary for years to a 100B+ empire with the crown of world’s largest media franchise. The scene is pure pop bubble-gum, not only in its techno-energized remix of the iconic rock ballad animé theme song but vividly-stylized animation full of dynamic shots and beautiful staging compositions as our protagonist Ash lusts for food [a tradition in the animé] and showcases his love for his pocket monster friends in the best way possible: a battle. The challenger wields badass fully-evolved ‘mons like Golem, Machamp, Venomoth, and Donphan against Ash’s cute starters like Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Pikachu to highlight the diversity and magic of its original 151 [+ some Gen 2] designs and concept-pitch of wieldable power of nature in the palm of your hand and bark of a command – the ultimate man/animal relationships; pets on steroids able to hurl thunderbolts, launch ice beams, manipulate psychic energy, fly, breathe flamethrowers, summon earthquakes, etc. beyond sit, beg, and roll-over.

The cinematography and world-building are remarkable – and animation mostly-so [~primitive comparatively and choppy in parts, but fine and vibrant enough to work at least for a first TV-movie], later corrected with a breathtakingly-visualized remaster of jaw-dropping animation better evocative of the franchise’s success in 2020’s Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution. The full orchestral score of string arpeggios and minor-and-major key dualization fits everything from soft, gentle acoustic guitar strums to japanese k-pop zeal to dark, booming trumpets for a diverse score that feels remarkably cinematic for a company and idea out of their field and whose first rodeo it is at the movies. The film achieves the feel, authenticity, fandom-service, and pure saturday-morning sugary-cereal cartoon fun of the ultimate episode or season-finale of its animé series – a triumph that will leave any pre-established fans walking out of the theater in awe with butterflies, and general audiences unintiated confused by how closely it follows the animé [but then again.. why would you go see this without any prior knowledge or exposure to the animé or games? That’d be like watching a movie’s sequel before the original or a TV show’s Season 2 before Season 1.. and was likely one of the major reasons the movie wasn’t as well-received by U.S. audiences at the time, as we’ll address].

That paean to the Indigo League and Adventures In The Orange Islands runs goes beyond its trinity of main characters by far the best in the series to-date [the plucky and charismatic 10 y.o. kid-Satoshi face of the franchise Ash, fiery readhead Misty, & mature/grounded by thirsty girl-chaser Brock] to its classical goofy villain trio stalking the sidelines and cracking clever meta-jokes/puns to inject magnificent comic-relief whenever things get too dark later-on: the hopelessly-incompetent employees who went 100+ episodes failing to capture even one Pokémon in Pikachu, the not-so Team Rocket of Jessie, James, and Meowth. The original animé was no stranger to genre-diversification here seen and switched between with the flick of a switch: comedy, sci-fi, and horror like The Tower Of Terror and Sabrina Doll-Backstory Origin episodes, here extrapolated in talents to epic scale in Mewtwo’s tale – one whose periphery is cameoed by a cute chittering organism exemplifying the light balance in tone: Mew. The Original Pokémon from which all others came as hinted from its archeological escapades and DNA, taking design cues from embryonic development and cats is the Jesus or God pokémon from which our devil is replicated – one that fizzes with childlike innocence causing mischief floating just above the precipice of the screen as he seeks fun and watches peculiarly the events of the story.

Though he may seem dimwitted and happy-go-lucky insouciant to the vast apocalyptica on the horizon, Mew is able to hold his own in a fight – and the movie’s battles are visually-spectacular as the godlike elemental creatures go at it in a clone motif, Mewtwo vs. Mew and every other one of its major franchise pieces from Charizard to Blastoise to Venusaur to Pikachu. The ending battle is epic in its early 1v1 matchups and central fight-night psychic legendary showdown, but the decision to turn off the special abilities and powers of its creatures is self-sabotage that reduces epicness, heightens realism, and dilutes franchise-charm to highlight one of its major kid-unfriendly and non-empathizable real-world companions: animal-fights. Let’s get this straight, pastimes like dog-fighting and cockfighting are wrong – and PKMN’s battles are nothing like that in the games or animé, strictly-fighting to non-death safety measures and with powers like solar beams, hydro pumps, and dragon breath barrages that fantasize it all far beyond the reality of comparability or our real-world. Don’t tell that to the screenwriters though, especially in the 4Kids Western Localization with the downright-imbecilic [and understandably-hated] plot-decision to rewrite its major finale takehome take a ‘violence is wrong’ one self-confused, exaggerated, and hypocritical to its own franchise.

Indeed, the finale of the USA version is so bad, it challenges the positive review conception of its entire predecessing movie by how much it takes a chainsaw to the film’s strengths and leaves a horrible taste in the mouth walking out of the theater, as well as disrespects and spits in the face of its own IP by reducing it to some hyperviolent all-out powerless brawl set to a good but overly-mellow and mismatched final song in ‘Oh My Brother against what should be an epic finale song [as well as some shocking mistakes like Team Rocket mistaking the silhouette of a Scyther for an Alakazam, pacing issues in the repetitive and dragging back-half, and admittedly-commercial lines of cringeworthy capitalism like them fitting in not once, but two times a ‘Who’s That Pokémon?’ question like the animé]. The Japanese original, however, never settled for such a bizarre and inexplicable ending; the original message and realization of Mewtwo, Mew, and the human characters at the end involves intelligent discussion of how both originals and copies are still living creatures and how all lives are sacred – one that works even better since the whole point of Mewtwo was that it wanted to prove its value and externalize who it was with a place in the world it finally realizes it has.

The finale is wrapped up so brilliantly, though, it elevates the Japanese version to greatest video game movie ever pantheonic levels – and even saves the USA version by the pure emotion and bold storytelling risk decision to kill its child protagonist. Ash sacrifices himself to stop the fighting of creatures he loves, being turned to stone in the aftermath of getting caught in the beams of two gods in full power-of-nature combat for what’s still to-date one of the saddes movie moments we’ve ever seen – enough to make us cry as grown men watching this in 2020 by the heartbreaking act of watching Pikachu cry and try to thundershock his bbest friend awake as the score swells with our heartstrings. To achieve this kind of cinematic power of experience and raw passion/emotional response is a miracle for any franchise picture, let alone a kids’ movie and one made by a company not-centered in moviemaking whose first time yields such filmic prowess and manipulability of feelings. The revival by the tears of creatures weeping brings the story full-circle as its development climaxes, themes crescendo, and philosophical complexity soars as high as its aerial combat.

‘I see now that the circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant; it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are’. I’ll always remember the life-lesson and quote, and the fact it wasn’t MLK, Gandhi, Malcolm X, or any classical philosophy course that spoke such wisdom and truth – it was a children’s franchise movie by an impossible level of IQ and exposition there might not be another one quite like [outside of a few of Pixar’s movies]. The fact that this received such vehemently-negative reviews back on its release in the ’90’s shows how much the field and rules of film criticism have changed [as well as the fact they wathched the more popularized but dramatically-inferior US localization] – today, franchise pictures and animation are valued, getting if-anything overinflated scores like the MCU and Dreamworks/New-Pixar where once it was looked down upon and hated by snooty critics who refused to look past exterior facades, held vendettas against capitalism and big ideas like Pocket Monsters, and take the then-stigmatized medium of animation seriously – or perhaps just hating it by old white men taking somehow-offense to how big of a pop-culture revolution the franchise was and how they didn’t like change or young people’s entertainment.

We’ll 100% stand by every word of this review and that PTFM is one of the best kid and franchise movies ever made, and it’s easy to see for all critics and audiences how gifted and depth-filled it is if you simply remove the title. Man sacrifices himself for nature, showing there’s still good in us despite our most wicked and unforgivable flaws for a dichotomization of morality in the hearts of every person to choose. Themes of scientific ethics, heart vs. power, mankind vs. god, laboratory experiments vs. nature, and the value/meaning/purpose of life are all explored in a canvas that nods towards sociology, critical thinking, and humanity. One of the dialogue lines is ‘how can I trust you if you were born different than me?’, alone externalizing cultural, race, class, sex, religion, political, and ideological differences that have rocked mankind and caused the death and systemic oppression of millions – before the talking cat who said it comes to the realization that ‘we all breathe the same air, see the same sky, and share the same earth; maybe if we started looking at the bonds we have in common instead of always focusing on what’s different, who knows?’ WOW.

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Conclusion

Overall, Pokémon: TFM [The Japanese Original Version] is the best video game movie. The concept-pitch is brilliant – taking cues from the world’s biggest movies by combining the archeological, action, and historical thrills of Indiana Jones, Bond 007, and Jurassic Park, science-fiction and horror of Star Wars, Alien, Blade Runner, Invasion Of The Body-Snatchers, and classic monster movies, and tone/adventure of its classic animé and Red/Blue/Green/Yellow games boasting the best world and idea in fiction. The film packs power of experience, emotion, and cinematic feel impressive for its first [or any] feature by a non-studio out of its field – phenomenal action/battle scenes, fine animation, dynamic shot compositions in cinematography, and a diverse score flexing orchestration to booming trumpet drops to soft acoustic guitar strums to techno-pop wherever it’s needed as the film makes you smile, laugh, scare, and cry: epitomized by bold storytelling decisions like killing your own child protagonist for a major crux and turning point of character-development. The biggest achievement of PTFM, though, is how complex it is from an IQ point-of-view; it wasn’t until I watched this movie again as a critic and adult that I noticed how wildly-advanced its themes, ideas, and construction were. The film is a xenomorphic/frankenstian tale of god-complex allegory and the power/elements of nature reimagined into the world’s most powerful being – one enslaved by mankind: a lab experiment that learns it doesn’t need its creators and twists Old Testament biblicisms back on us through a storm out of the book of Noah while breathed in empathizable depth by the prologue backstory of the Japanese original film’s Ambertwo arc of a young Mewtwo forced to watch its only friends die to activate its psychic powers and continually-fuel its changing internalization of what its life meaning and purpose is. The heart of the film is existentialism and complex philosophical and sociological exposition on the meaning of life, nature vs. science, and the similarities and differences we all share across religions, colors, backgrounds, and cultures – one that’s a miracle was tackled in what’s ostensibly a kids’ film and franchise picture that has no business being this smart. There is plenty of pure fandom-service too – what feels like the biggest episode ever of the classic beloved animé series, and one true to its charm, tone/genre stylizations, and characters from the trinity [Ash, Misty, & Brock] to Team Rocket and their light-hearted quips, friendship, and euphoria of its post-prologue opening battle in the grasslands. The film isn’t perfect – a story needing more flesh-out and flawed, at-times self-confused/hypocritical final act highlights some of its own franchise’s potential flaws and child-unfriendliness [the only reason, along with critic-snootiness, animation-stigmas, inexperience with the anime/games, and anticapitalist agenda when it was a pop-culture revolution franchise we can contextualize just why it was so vehemently-hated back in its release in the late ’90’s; oh, how far the tables have turned with every basic, formulaic, mindless, same MCU movie of 30+ in a franchise gets A+’s today.. the hypocrisy is incredible] by turning up the violence and removing the special-abilities that make its remixed animal-fights stomachable, all set to a peculiarly-anticlimactic song choice for the epic all-out war finale and snail-pace that does retread. Still, these are forgiven when you shed tears when Ash is turned to stone and the god and devil pokemon: Mew and Mewtwo are themselves taught a lesson in heart and compassion for life by mankind. The best video game movie, PTFM takes cues from the world’s biggest sci-fi, horror, & action/adventure films to canonize it with strikingly-advanced religion allegory, philosophical complexity, emotion, fandom-service, existential themes, & sociological exposition for a clinic on how to bring TV & gaming to the big screen.

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