Why so much hype?

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

I completely understand that this film is not particularly intelligent or compelling. However, the TV series never was either. And to this day, I still believe that this film is a decent continuation of that series. This really was made for children and fans of the franchise, if you are neither...well you just aren't going to enjoy it. As a hardcore Pokémon fan, I can say that young Luke was damn happy with this, and old Luke still is! After cloning the mythical Pokémon Mew, Mewtwo was created; a vastly more intelligent and powerful psychic creation. Believing that he is just a slave, he destroys the laboratory that he was formed in and holds a vendetta against humanity. Ash and the gang are invited to take on the world's most powerful Pokémon trainer, only for them to realise it's actually Mewtwo. Can we just take a moment and appreciate how strong and ferocious this franchise is. It is still ever present today, and this was released nearly 20 years ago. The animation has aged extremely well (although the bluray's conversion does have some resolution issues) and it's a nice short film. Children will love this, except maybe for the ending where we are forced to watch Pokémon fight to the death whilst a generic pop song plays over it. Yes, we have to endure one Pikachu unwillingly slapping another Pikachu on the face. Not once. Not twice. I'm talking twenty times. And with each slap, it cries. The climax is just ridiculously sad. I don't want to see Pokémon cry! *wipes tear away*. It's an absurd story but it does tackle the important message of not fighting each other. To cohabit and work together as a team instead of punching, biting and Pikachu slapping each other. A moral that I do believe kids will understand beneath the cutesy animation. Voice acting was good all round, Veronica Taylor will always be my Ash. Nearly all of the first generation Pokémon are featured in this, so there is plenty of variety to keep you occupied. It's short, it's sweet and I'm 22...

Since its introduction to the world, Pokemon is one of the most recognizable and popular animes to ever exist. With TV show seasons far longer than many others, the adventures of Ash Ketchum and co. has captured the imaginations of people of all ages. All this based on the catch phrase "Gotta catch 'em all!". On top of that, with augmented reality becoming more and more prominent in today's culture, smart phone app Pokemon GO further cemented its craze among fans. However before this, Pokemon boomed with success even with its first theatrical film. In retrospect, it might have been bigger than today's excitement. When it started, Pokemon was all about catching the total 150 types throughout its world. But when the trailer made it clear that Ash would be coming in contact with the last Pokemon of the official list, it drove people nuts. Nobody knew what to expect and people were psyched to see what happened. Revisiting it again was definitely a nice little trip down memory lane but it does have a few things that should be recognize that needed fixing.Picking up close after the first TV season, the film starts with an introduction to Mewtwo (Jay Goede), the 151rst-pokemon waking up from his initial cloning. Confused and frustrated with his placement, he learns that he is a clone of mythical pokemon Mew but more powerful. After being informed his usefulness will only be for his extensive strength, Mewtwo becomes angry and declares world domination over humans and the pokemon who follow them. It is with that viewers are switched over to Ash (Veronica Taylor), Misty (Rachael Lillis) and Brock (Eric Stuart) doing what they do in every episode. That is until they are invited to New Island to meet the best pokemon master (Mewtwo); but they don't know this. Tagging along is the infamous Team Rocket still looking to capture Ash's Pikachu (Ikue Ôtani). Originally written by Takeshi Shudo and adapted by Michael Haigney, Norman J. Grossfeld and John Touhey, the script is okay but does have its problems. Like many foreign movies, scripts get lost in translation and that's what happened here.Shudo's screenplay had painted Mewtwo in a much more innocent depiction. Instead of being hell-bent on conquering the world because of mistreatment, Mewtwo was a pokemon who sought to prove itself to others. As to how that would've gotten worked into the western version of the script is up for debate but apparently the idea of making Mew's clone a tyrant was easier. Hard to say. Yet this is one of the film's major flaws. The overall moral to the story ends up being stated that "fighting/violence is wrong". Yet this is a complete contradiction to the whole essence of pokemon because majority of the way fans play the games is by having their partners fight in battle. So the point was what again? Another odd tidbit was various circumstances various characters had to endure. Sometimes there were times where things weren't as plausible as portrayed. The other problem to this film is for people who are not familiar with pokemon. This did not initiate pokemon so in order to understand the movie one had to watch the show.So if a viewer has never watched the show, they won't be as engrossed as other fans because they never met Ash and company or anyone else. For fans however, seeing this was a big deal and looking back on it now can be a nostalgic journey. Surprisingly there are a number of scenes that involve dialog that probably viewers of younger ages wouldn't understand, but now is more clever or funny sounding. It's inside humor that is realized over time that can make the movie all the more enjoyable to revisit in later years. All voice actors involved with this production perform well and do what is required to make it sound more connected to the TV show. As always Veronica Taylor, Rachael Lillis and Eric Stuart as the main protagonist and antagonists are the best choices for these roles. Jay Goede as Mewtwo although short-lived in his role definitely made the character sound unique enough. Mewtwo would later receive a short explaining more on his backstory with Goede reprising the role. Too bad he didn't do much else other than this.One thing that doesn't make sense in this film is that cinematography was credited to Hisao Shirai. Not exactly sure why it was listed because there wasn't a scene of live-action unless accounting for one scene with realistic looking clouds. Other than that, the animation looks great. Much of it looks more polished than that of the TV series, which would obviously have a smaller budget. Especially towards the finale it is at its best quality in detail. The music is thankfully another plus. The soundtrack has several nostalgic tunes from the late 1990s with artists like M2M and Blessid Union of Souls. Very catchy pop songs. Even composers John Loeffler and Ralph Schuckett's film score is another great element. The sound of it does incorporate orchestra but also an equal amount of synths. Although that may sound not so good, the mixture of these instruments sounds natural and really works in a number of scenes because of how much they pull on the viewers heart strings. It is also one of the few pokemon scores to ever be released. The ending message is a contradiction of pokemon in general, and for those who aren't fans will have trouble paying attention. But for those who do enjoy it, will love taking a stroll back to the late 1990s and remember when there were only 151 pokemon with the original crew. The animation looks great, the characters are likable and the music is effectively memorable.

It's hard for me to believe that I used to love "Pokémon" when I was younger. I owned a few of the VHS tapes and some of the toys. Nowadays, the only "Pokémon" related thing I enjoy is the video game, "Pokkén Tournament" for the Nintendo Wii U. I don't like the anime series anymore; However, I find "Pokémon: The First Movie" to be nothing but a piece of stupid, nonsensical, filler crap. That is literally how horrible this film is.My parents took me to see this movie back in the 90's when I was a child and I ate it up like candy. Unfortunately, my opinion on it has changed. It has got to be one of the worst animated films I've ever seen. It is rotten to the very core and gives a terrible message to its target audience.Not only is the message confusing, but also hypocritical. These characters take these creatures out to battle, yet when they see them fight clone versions of themselves, they have the gall to turn a 180 degree angle and say fighting is wrong. Congratulations, movie. You've made the characters of "Pokémon" into lousy, pathetic hypocrites.As if the plot of the film wasn't bad enough, there's also these ridiculous filler scenes with Team Rocket, and they aren't the main antagonists in here, Mewtwo is. The writers could have just left them out of the picture completely. They have no excuse to be in the movie whatsoever.If I had a choice between watching this movie and looking at paint dry on the wall, I'd pick the paint. "Pokémon: The First Movie" is garbage. No, "garbage" is too good a word for it. It's an absolute disgrace to animated films, and I feel ashamed of myself for loving it as a child.

There are two facts I'll never understand: 1. This movie grossed more than 163 million dollars. 2. This movie has a 5.7 rating.DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE. It'll be the most wasteful 1h 15m you ever spend, even if you procrastinate on a regular basis. Even if you love Pokemon, you're probably better off watching a few episodes than watching this. If you're older than 2 years of age, don't waste your time.Let me reveal the AWFUL plot of this movie. So there's Mew, the greatest Pokemon ever. Then somebody makes a clone of Mew, Mewtwo. Mewtwo tries taking over the world with the help of clones of other Pokemons. He invites "Pokemon Masters" like 10-year old Ash (owner of Pikachu) to take over the pokemons and make clones of them. He has the clones fight with the originals but Pikachu refuses to fight and inspires Ash to stop the fight between Mew and Mewtwo. Ash stops the fight and turns to stone, then all the Pokemons and their clones start crying and the tears somehow come over to Ash and revive him (goodness knows how). A TWO YEAR OLD COULD'VE THOUGHT SOMETHING BETTER.I still can't believe this movie grossed 163 million dollars. As for the exaggerated 5.7 rating, that's because of (1) die-hard fans who can't rate it below 10 because it's Pokemon and (2) those who give it a 7 or 8 rating thinking "it was horrible, but it must be great for kids".This movie is for kids, so if you're beyond the age of about 9 I advice you stay away from it. That's not to say that I recommend it for those below 9 -- there are much better kids movies than this.