Pikachu and the Pokémon Music Squad

[Serebii]

Pikachu and the Pokémon Music Squad

Pikachu and the Pokémon Music Squad

It's time for Pikachu and the gang to create some special music, but as rehearsals soon begin, they learn that Hawlucha is unable to sing so the gang tries to help it learn with various wild Pokémon. Will they be able to get the performance of a lifetime?

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[Mega Altaria]

Just watched this and found it mediocre.

Spoiler: may contain spoilers

At least there was a Hoopa appearance and for most of it, a random Torchic appeared (May's Torchic?). Saw Chimchar and Aipom as well, Pokémon Ash once had. Snorlax was nice but I wished that Vivillon appeared in different patterns. What didn't appear but I wanted for to appear most was Meloetta.

 

[kmyeakel]

Just watched this and found it mediocre. QUOTE]

Mediocre? I know its anyone's opinion, for me, I like shorts, but this is shorter than the other ones in the past.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Mediocre? I know its anyone's opinion, for me, I like shorts, but this is shorter than the other ones in the past.

Maybe it's because I feel like I'm not in the age group to watch Pokémon shorts, which are generally targeted at kids. I remember this one lasted for about 18 minutes, including title and credits.

Spoiler: may contain spoilers again

I've also noticed that Piplup appeared (possibly Dawn's) and all of the Hoenn starters appeared, including the random Torchic I just talked about.

 

[Kutie Pie]

Dear God that narrator, I don't know if she's worse than the one from Eevee and Friends or not (far as I know, it's not the same voice actress, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was still her because both voices are grating). I seriously hate how the narrator had to have a sickingly-sweet, but obvious script-reading tone of voice complete with a plastic smile to go with it. This goes for all kids' entertainment, not just here in Pokémon. Just... ugh...

Gotta Dance had a better presentation of its musical theme, if only because at the very least, all of the Pokémon weren't singing, or at least weren't trying to, and there was a reason for why they all broke into dance. I don't get why singing and dancing was required here, like is it tradition? A festival in the forest? I don't know what it's like in the original Japanese where they clearly put more thought and effort into presenting their Pikachu shorts, but I don't think it worked here. I feel there were two different rhythms going on, or there were too many... uh... tone-deaf Pokémon trying to join in but not knowing how to make it tolerable to listen to, and even catchy. It was just too cacophonous that it seriously felt like something you'd hear from Disney Junior and was nearly awkward to watch and listen to for the same reason--except I think the shows on that block have a better grip on their music.

I enjoyed the last Pikachu short, but this just returned to cuteness I didn't like nor cared for (although not like with Eevee and Friends, thank God). At least it was shorter than usual, and the Snorlax scene was the best part if only because something happened, as dumb as it was.

 

[Vipsoccermaster]

This was a fine Pikachu short, but it wasn't much. Liked seeing all the Pokemon from various past friends that Ash had. Hoopa was a nice appearance.

I feel like Meloetta could have made an appearance, too, since this short was about singing and Meloetta is a singing expert.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Gotta Dance had a better presentation of its musical theme, if only because at the very least, all of the Pokémon weren't singing, or at least weren't trying to, and there was a reason for why they all broke into dance. I don't get why singing and dancing was required here, like is it tradition? A festival in the forest? I don't know what it's like in the original Japanese where they clearly put more thought and effort into presenting their Pikachu shorts, but I don't think it worked here. I feel there were two different rhythms going on, or there were too many... uh... tone-deaf Pokémon trying to join in but not knowing how to make it tolerable to listen to, and even catchy. It was just too cacophonous that it seriously felt like something you'd hear from Disney Junior and was nearly awkward to watch and listen to for the same reason--except I think the shows on that block have a better grip on their music.

To be very honest and in my opinion, I didn't really like Hawlucha's voice in this short (dub version), it just sound like a groaning man , and it sounded very broken and tone-deaf. Torchic was a lot better imo because it sounded fairly close to its usual voice.

 

[Bguy7]

That was...awkward...

If someone asked me to summarize the plot of that, I wouldn't be sure what to say it was. The old Pikachu shorts actually felt like episodes. That one just felt like...like a random...I don't even know what to call it.

 

[MegaMaster#1]

This was truly a short.. The only thing I liked were the singing of Braixen,Bunnelby and Pikachu...oh and Luxray.

 

[matt0044]

"Join The Band" seems to have hints of Gao Gao All Stars melody.

 

[Perfect Zygarde]

I liked the look on Hoopa's face. It was like "what in the world is going on here?". It's a bit of a shame it was limited to only a cameo appearance.

 

[Dephender]

...the dub completely ruined this. They shouldn't even have bothered.

The entire performance, which is roughly a third of the entire thing and the absolute main attraction, is just... noise. You hear Ikue Ohtani's Pikachu singing his part against a curtain of random mumbling that doesn't even seem to TRY singing along, and the removal of Mizuki Yamamoto's vocals just turns the entire thing into some weird mess that has no rhyme or reason to it. Why would you dub a movie about singing if you're going to remove nearly all the actual singing from it?

 

[Lord Trollbias]

...the dub completely ruined this. They shouldn't even have bothered.

The entire performance, which is roughly a third of the entire thing and the absolute main attraction, is just... noise. You hear Ikue Ohtani's Pikachu singing his part against a curtain of random mumbling that doesn't even seem to TRY singing along, and the removal of Mizuki Yamamoto's vocals just turns the entire thing into some weird mess that has no rhyme or reason to it. Why would you dub a movie about singing if you're going to remove nearly all the actual singing from it?

That's usually how things goes with it nowadays

 

[Citronic Gear On]

...the dub completely ruined this. They shouldn't even have bothered.

The entire performance, which is roughly a third of the entire thing and the absolute main attraction, is just... noise. You hear Ikue Ohtani's Pikachu singing his part against a curtain of random mumbling that doesn't even seem to TRY singing along, and the removal of Mizuki Yamamoto's vocals just turns the entire thing into some weird mess that has no rhyme or reason to it. Why would you dub a movie about singing if you're going to remove nearly all the actual singing from it?

That's usually how things goes with it nowadays

I'm not even going to bother watching the dub version. From the descriptions I'm reading here, it doesn't sound pleasant at all. Yamamoto isn't a great singer and her narration lacks energy at times, but at least the original Japanese version doesn't sound all that bad as a whole. I realize dubbing into a different language isn't the easiest thing to do, but I mean come on.

The last Pokemon anime episode/movie I watched dubbed was XY044, which I felt had a combination of lazy, wooden voice acting and really questionable music substitutions. Some great music tracks from recent Pokemon movies that were used in that episode in the Japanese version were removed in the English dub and replaced with muted, reserved-sounding songs, many of which mostly or entirely lack the rhythm/percussion components that are really good at conveying intensity or urgency. Seeing that episode's dub version was basically the last straw for me.

Anyhow, to me Hawlucha and Meowth were the standouts in this short. The slapstick humor involving them pretty much stole the show. Also nice that they offered some continuity by showing Clemont's Chespin and Serena's Pancham fighting, just like they do in the anime proper.

 

[Mrs. Oreo]

Wow this Pikachu short was the cutest one in recent memory ha ha, especially when Hawlucha got all embarrassed about not being good at singing. I liked when Chespin and Pancham were racing too.

 

[Gillachu]

The dubbed version of this was awkward as hell with the mumbling singing sounds and terrible voice acting as usual...

 

[Alloutℯ]

I found the dub of this short to be pretty harmless. Like many, I'm surprised that TPCi decided to dub this in the first place. It was actually nice to watch the dub with actual background silence for a change. The ending theme "Join the Band" is quite catchy.

 

[Wednesdayz]

Eh, this short wasn't that bad. I mean with the whole cast being involved, it certainly juggled a lot of Pokemon well without snubbing anyone.

 

[Leonhart]

Luchabull's dilemma was endearing and refreshing since thus far he was good at everything, so his struggles with singing were a nice change. The fact that Pikachu and the others helped him learn to sing was adorable.