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The Power Of One (M02)

Leonhart

Imagineer
although why didn't Ash think of giving Professor Oak the GS Ball?

Presumably because Satoshi just didn't give the GS Ball any thought after having had such a big day saving the world here. It probably skipped his mind entirely.
 

Alloutℯ

Banned
This movie's whole theme of only one person being able to save the world is a bit cliche, but I liked this movie anyway. There was a good sense of humor here, and I liked the Ash and Misty comments. The action was great also. I like seeing Ash and TR team up.
 

Wednesdayz

Meowth fanatic
This movie's whole theme of only one person being able to save the world is a bit cliche, but I liked this movie anyway.

I'm pretty sure that that tagline was dub-added though, and that it wasn't in the original movie. I mean, Ash had TR's help, so he wasn't the "one" person who made all the difference.
 

RedJirachi

Veteran member
It's sort of amusing that the movie itself suggests being "the chosen one" isn't that big a deal as it usually is, yet it's sowed the seeds for a million "Ash is the Poke-messiah" fanfics
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
Fire, Thunder, and Freezer were threats, though they became tiresome fast, not to mention bullies when Fire and Thunder turned on Freezer.

I didn't like that part cuz Zapdos and Moltres seemed petty just cuz Articuno attacked Moltres, which seemed like an accident any ways. It felt unfair since it was two against one and both birds had an advantage against Articuno. :[
 

Wednesdayz

Meowth fanatic
I didn't like that part cuz Zapdos and Moltres seemed petty just cuz Articuno attacked Moltres, which seemed like an accident any ways. It felt unfair since it was two against one and both birds had an advantage against Articuno. :[

I vaguely remember their fight happening when Articuno attacked Moltres first, so if anything, I felt bad for Moltres more than I did for Articuno lol.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
I vaguely remember their fight happening when Articuno attacked Moltres first, so if anything, I felt bad for Moltres more than I did for Articuno lol.

Articuno did attack first cuz Moltres had attacked part of Articuno's domain at the shrine, but even so I didn't think Zapdos should've taken Moltres' side. He seemed kind of rude in general however since he was also shown taking over Moltres' island.
 

Wednesdayz

Meowth fanatic
He seemed kind of rude in general however since he was also shown taking over Moltres' island.

He was a jerk lol, but I liked how Zapdos was communicating with Pikachu using electricity. Out of the three Kanto Legendary Birds here, I liked Moltres the most since it's screeches made me cackle.
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
I somewhat remember watching this movie during the 20th anniversary celebrations and I've enjoyed seeing the legendary birds and Lugia in this movie. I've particularly enjoyed Lugia's song, Zapdos communicating to Pikachu, the gang's treacherous quest to obtain orbs from different islands and Lawrence III picking up an Ancient Mew card at the end but surprised that Lawrence III's name wasn't revealed at all in this movie.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
Out of the three Kanto Legendary Birds here, I liked Moltres the most since it's screeches made me cackle.

I didn't like Moltres' voice in this film cuz it sounded grating hee hee, tho Articuno's voice sounded cool and even kind of cute like during the scene where he regained consciousness. Lugia's voice was kind of odd tho. He sounded very unremarkable.
 

zdbz_sn

Well-Known Member
When I was a kid, this and Mewtwo Strikes Back were the only films I saw, and I preferred this one. Years later, it's still my favorite, and after going through all the movies, I'd argue that this is also the best one.

Exhibit A for that argument: it has the best script IMO. Films like Mewtwo Strikes Back or Spell of the Unown may have been more ambitious and gutsy in the themes they tried to tackle, and Lucario dared to have a bittersweet ending; while Revelation Lugia's theme of balance between nature and humanity is a good one, it's fairly common in animation, and the "imbalance threatens the whole world" plot is rather basic and oft-used. But it's very well-done here, a great example of a simple idea done right in a way that doesn't condescend or fail to try just because it's "for kids." It's extremely well-paced, the only one of these movies I can say that about, and devoid of any unwelcome padding or waffling.

There is one serious weakness in the story: the lack of consequences for for Lawrence III. But that's less glaring than it might have been. If you take Lawrence III as the primary antagonist, then this movie stands as a huge exception to the “a story is only as good as its villain” rule, ‘cause there isn’t a whole lot to Lawrence. Hes a cliche rich snob - too much money, too much leisure time, not enough regard for nature. And he decides to just go and trek it to the Orange Islands in his gaudy, glorified blimp, pick him up some trophies of Legendaries, and all the while stay completely oblivious to the consequences of his actions. He’s barely in the movie, too - really, outside his brief chat with the gang, he’s only on-screen when bagging or trying to bag a bird. He’s is so chill that he has hardly any reaction to his plans failing, and suffers no repercussions for almost ending the world. All and all, I’d say that adds up to a pretty weak antagonist.

Except that I don’t consider Lawrence III the real antagonist of the story - he’s the catalyst. The real antagonists are the discord between the Bird Trio and resulting imbalance of nature. Lawrence’s only real function is to set these forces in motion, which he does. The lack of consequences is still one of the biggest flaws in the plot, but for what he was, I think Lawrence was used effectively, and his limited personality and actions don’t take away from the film save for that one point on consequences.

The aesthetic qualities of Lugia are superb as well. The art direction is crisp, with a well-controlled color palette emphasizing the icy conditions of the islands. The staging of action is on a scale beyond a run-of-the-mill episode and gives the movie an epic quality and appropriately cinematic scope. But of all the creative elements, the score is the real star. Lugia is the only one of these movies where I felt that the music not only did a wonderful job supporting the story, but was worth listening to as a soundtrack in its own right. I have to say that I prefer the American score and its theme for Lugia, but the original is fantastic too, and it's quite the disappointment that the music in later films never measured up to this high standard.

But the thing that really does it for me in Lugia is the character work. Let's start with the CotDs. So many of these movies have thinly-drawn CotDs that leave no lasting imprint even as they serve as de facto protagonists, undermining any credible role for Ash and friends; or else, they're just there to consume oxygen. Melody avoids all those pitfalls. She's an entertaining and colorful personality who has a key role in the plot, but she doesn't dominate the plot, or take away the protagonist's role from Ash. The talking Slowking is a memorable face as well, and delightfully off-beat in the way he handles all the chaos around him. Lugia as the featured Legendary, and the three birds, are handled in a way that plays up their mythic qualities and gives them a power and a scale that later films often failed to match. Including Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum was an excellent touch, not because they had a lot to do, but because they served to illustrate how the events of the movie impacted the world outside the immediate location of Ash and his friends.

I've said before that I think the staff erred in keeping the TRio past Johto, and this movie is one of the reasons why. It's their finest hour, and I don't mean that in a condescending way. A few of the later films gave them a role in the plot, but never as big as they got here, and never as well-integrated with the rest of the cast or the theme of the movie. It's the one time that Takeshi Shudo came close to telling the story of the TRio realizing they really were good people, and it's wonderfully handled. I say that this helps underline why they should've been the ones to leave after the OS because, when their finest hour is them stepping up as true allies to Ash, it goes a long way toward showing how inadequate they are as permanent series antagonists.

And now we come to the main cast. I was shocked when I went through all the pokefilms to see just how rare it was for the travelling companions to get anything meaningful to do. After this film, only two of them ever gave a proper story arc to a companion, and only a handful more gave them something significant to do. So in a way, it's as disappointing as their failure to ever top Lugia's score that Misty's arc in this film remains the best any of Ash's friends have gotten. True, that arc concerns how she feels about Ash, a rather cliche plot to give a female character. But, as with the larger plot, it's well-written. Misty's chemistry with Melody as a pseudo-rival, which could easily have been grating (and probably would have been in a Western cartoon from that time), is restrained and charming. And I would argue that this film sees Misty grow as a character. She goes from (unconvincingly) claiming that she doesn't like Ash at the beginning to (indirectly) acknowledging that they do have a close relationship at the end. That makes this the only movie I can say advanced a travelling companion's character, and it's extremely irritating that the show proper never followed up on this.

Lugia also sees Ash grow as a character, something I can only honestly say about one other. To have ever-optimistic, supremely confident Ash be saddled with the fate of the world and not feel capable of meeting the task was great, as was seeing him rise to the occasion on a more mature and somber manner than might be expected out of OS Ash. Though I will say that I prefer the wording of the prophecy in the original Japanese, where things were more open and it was something of a coincidence that it referred to Ash at all.

The one character who doesn't get the star treatment this time around is Tracey. Like Brock so many times after this, poor Tracey basically stands on the sidelines and watches other people do things. Unlike Brock, Tracey was never a well-fleshed-out character, so I don't feel so irked by it. (And to those who've complained that 4Kids cut Tracey's "big scene..." the guy gave an unneeded explanation for why an explosion went off. Frankly, I don't blame 4Kids for cutting it; it was the closest thing to padding in the movie, and taking it out picked up the pace of the scene.)

A part of me is a bit saddened that this remains the best of these movies; they have had eighteen tries to top it, after all. On the other hand, this is a pretty sweet flick, and one of two pokefilms I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to someone who wasn't a fan. I love it!
 
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Leonhart

Imagineer
I somewhat remember watching this movie during the 20th anniversary celebrations and I've enjoyed seeing the legendary birds and Lugia in this movie. I've particularly enjoyed Lugia's song, Zapdos communicating to Pikachu, the gang's treacherous quest to obtain orbs from different islands and Lawrence III picking up an Ancient Mew card at the end but surprised that Lawrence III's name wasn't revealed at all in this movie.

Speaking of the three treasure's subplot, it would've been great if each member of the cast had been responsible for collecting one of the treasures, but instead Satoshi did all the work with slight help from the Rocket-dan.
 

Blackjack Gabbiani

Clearly we're great!
Wait, how were there a "lack of consequences" for Lawrence? He lost his home and everything he had ever built! That's a pretty big consequence.

His image song shows a lot about him. He's completely delusional and is both master and slave to his collection.

One thing I do wonder about him, or rather his goals, is why he wanted Lugia. It doesn't seem to be for status since he acts like the three birds are just a means to an end, and he doesn't let people in his gallery to begin with. And let's be honest, it's not an especially attractive creature either.
 

Steven of Venus

From Another Planet
Lugia was the real Fissure in the ocean tides that brought a calm weather to the otherwise stormy outburst of the liftoff into danger and forbidden regions.

Much of life is mysterious, and Lugia is truly an enigma; it shadows the melody of fire, ice, and lightning, brings balance to the shoreline, and Slowking truly is a marvel of paradise, and he's like, "guess again, lots of people saw you, and they're watching you right now"!

Slowking could be the ultimate Pokemon, because articulation could be referenced in really high level people, like Nietzsche or Spinoza for instance; it's just that Slowking's capturing of a Super Genius Scientist really opens the doorway for him with that big rock on his head, a Pupitar to capture glorious inventions from the future and implant them into the jurrassic age.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
Wait, how were there a "lack of consequences" for Lawrence? He lost his home and everything he had ever built! That's a pretty big consequence.

I suppose that some viewers just felt that Jirarudan deserved imprisonment at the very least since he disturbed the world's natural balance by abducting two Legendary Birds. Him losing his Hikoukyuu airship and prized collection of artifacts certainly set him back to square one, yet he still got off pretty easy for such a dangerous person.
 

Cíconne

Banned
I heard Lugia's song in Japanese recently and I think the English version is so much better. The scene where Melody played the song on her ocarina still gives me shivers.
 

Blackjack Gabbiani

Clearly we're great!
I suppose that some viewers just felt that Jirarudan deserved imprisonment at the very least since he disturbed the world's natural balance by abducting two Legendary Birds. Him losing his Hikoukyuu airship and prized collection of artifacts certainly set him back to square one, yet he still got off pretty easy for such a dangerous person.

I don't think he's really dangerous, just rather...dim. He didn't consider the consequences, and depending on how literal his image song is meant to be, he may not have even NOTICED what was going on around him. I think he would have stopped if he had realized that his actions were doing this--not out of any altruism, because I don't think that necessarily exists in him (for living things anyway), but because the world is where he keeps his stuff, to say nothing of the impact it would have on his reputation. He's essentially Chaotic Neutral, neither evil nor good.

And I still don't know why what happened to him is considered "getting off pretty easy". If you owned what was essentially a flying art museum, filled with works spanning the whole of human history, works that are literally priceless because they can't be measured in strictly money, and it got destroyed, that's a loss not just to you (and a staggering one at that) but to the entire world.

But then, I love him and I work at an art museum (actually BECAUSE of him) so I may be biased, but think of if a museum by you was wiped out. It would be an absolute tragedy.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
After seeing the newest movie, I've gained more appreciation for this one since Lugia received a good chunk of screen-time here, and it was allowed to do more than its Movie 21 counterpart.
 

Pikachu Fan Number Nine

Don't Mess wit Texas
This is my favorite Pokemon movie, being a key highlight of Pokeshipping

A notable moment that is unconnected to the ship occurs when Meowth makes a reference to Pokemon manure, in particular that of the Legendary Birds. This may be dub only.
 
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