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What Makes a Pokemon Movie Good?
- Thread starter U.N. Owen
- Start date
Leonhart
Imagineer
Ignition said:
Unlike most fans, I didn't necessarily enjoy the Shinou movie trilogy. I just didn't think it was handled well, and I feel like each Shinou movie was stronger as a stand-alone feature than as a combined set.
That being said, I'm also saddened that at this rate the SM saga won't get a proper movie that showcases the current cast.
Lord Starfish
Fond of owls
I'm not entirely sure what the rules are for this kind of thing (I did read them, but it didn't seem entirely clear on whether feelings on movies not released outside of Japan count as a spoiler) so to be safe I'm going to spoiler-tag this...
[Minna no Monogatari is fantastic. It's a proper ensemble piece which manages to balance a much larger cast than usual while still making all of them relevant and properly fleshed out, and despite how much is going on with there essentially being seven character arcs going at once, it rarely feels rushed (though I thought one of said arcs resolved itself a bit too abruptly) and there's pretty much never a dull moment. It easily blows I Choose You and all the XY movies out of the water. Mind you, it is comparatively light on spectacle for a Pokémon movie and the featured legendaries and mythicals don't get as much screentime as they would in other movies... but I personally would say that's honestly a good thing.]
AuraChannelerChris
Easygoing Luxray.
A Pokemon movie is good when...
1) the plot makes sense (they do not most often) and it's engaging.
2) Ash doesn't ***damn hog most of the entire spotlight away from the companions (which happens too much).
3) doesn't reuse the same ideas from previous movies too similarly (which they do, especially the baby Mythical being a weapon of mass destruction / serious Legendary having a grudge on all humans because of ONE person/group).
4) the companions are actually meaningful and aren't reduced to comic relief.
5) DEM is never used.
I'd like to see a movie where a companion is the star, but alas. Last time that happened, Ash stuffed them inside a tank while the setting flooded.
If you want to see a bad movie to see how you can really make a good movie, just look at the stupidity that was the Genesect's movie; the movie where Ash feels like a companion!
1) the plot makes sense (they do not most often) and it's engaging.
2) Ash doesn't ***damn hog most of the entire spotlight away from the companions (which happens too much).
3) doesn't reuse the same ideas from previous movies too similarly (which they do, especially the baby Mythical being a weapon of mass destruction / serious Legendary having a grudge on all humans because of ONE person/group).
4) the companions are actually meaningful and aren't reduced to comic relief.
5) DEM is never used.
I'd like to see a movie where a companion is the star, but alas. Last time that happened, Ash stuffed them inside a tank while the setting flooded.
If you want to see a bad movie to see how you can really make a good movie, just look at the stupidity that was the Genesect's movie; the movie where Ash feels like a companion!
4Ever was the first movie released after Takeshi Shudo started to retire due to illness. A lot of the anime's soul died with him.
I'm not saying that every movie without him was awful. Or even that a few of Shudo's episodes and parts of him movies weren't bad. But I am saying that if he was involved, we wouldn't have gotten anything as souless or such blatant cash grabs as the AG movies. His movies were more sincerely true to the game's morals of co-operation, forgiveness and environmentalism.
LilligantLewis
Bonnie stan
soulless?? blatant cash grabs? I truly feel that Movies 8 and 9 are two of the best movies that both feel the opposite of this sentiment to me. Very emotional and powerful, moving, exciting, stories. I also feel they both showed cooperation, forgiveness, and environmentalism.
Apslup
Feelin' Fine.
I haven't actually watched a lot of the Pokemon movies, but the ones I have watched have been pretty decent.
I watched MewTwo Strikes Back on VHS in the Early 2000's when I was just a little kid which i thought was ok, not the best but I'll always remember it was my introduction to Pokemon
Power of One was great, good villain, good animation and was enjoyable the whole way through.
Spell of the Unown is one of my favorite Anime movies ever, mostly because the animation is Godly, the battles are amazing (particularly Misty vs Molly), I really love the soundtrack, the Villain and premise is interesting and the ending is really satisfying.
The XY movies were ok, some good battles and some good animation, but to me they felt like extended episodes of XY/XYZ, which isn't bad but I was expecting more from all of them (though I do love the scene in the Diancie movie were Serena and Bonnie are dressing up with Diancie).
Movie 20 was ok, but I was expecting more from it and the scene when Pikachu spoke to Ash how we stayed out of his Pokeball so he can be with Ash made me facepalm.
Movie 21 is pretty decent according to my friend who lives in Japan and saw it in the Cinema there. I'm going to see it myself when it gets subbed (I'm also excited since Masako Nozawa is playing one of the characters and I'm a big fan of her work as Goku, Gohan and Goten in Dragon Ball)
I watched MewTwo Strikes Back on VHS in the Early 2000's when I was just a little kid which i thought was ok, not the best but I'll always remember it was my introduction to Pokemon
Power of One was great, good villain, good animation and was enjoyable the whole way through.
Spell of the Unown is one of my favorite Anime movies ever, mostly because the animation is Godly, the battles are amazing (particularly Misty vs Molly), I really love the soundtrack, the Villain and premise is interesting and the ending is really satisfying.
The XY movies were ok, some good battles and some good animation, but to me they felt like extended episodes of XY/XYZ, which isn't bad but I was expecting more from all of them (though I do love the scene in the Diancie movie were Serena and Bonnie are dressing up with Diancie).
Movie 20 was ok, but I was expecting more from it and the scene when Pikachu spoke to Ash how we stayed out of his Pokeball so he can be with Ash made me facepalm.
Movie 21 is pretty decent according to my friend who lives in Japan and saw it in the Cinema there. I'm going to see it myself when it gets subbed (I'm also excited since Masako Nozawa is playing one of the characters and I'm a big fan of her work as Goku, Gohan and Goten in Dragon Ball)
Leonhart
Imagineer
On the subject of the movies supposedly being "cash grabs", I don't know where I stand on that. While the fact that they all premiere in the summer months in Japan when most children are out of school and the fact that each movie has several promotional tie-ins such as event Pokemon distributions show that the movies are meant to rake in tons of cash, it's unfair to blame the studio for being a business and making a profit.
LilligantLewis
Bonnie stan
I agree and I also think that there are two ways to look at the phrase cash grab. By denotation, sure, almost anything ever is a cash grab because it's meant to make money, except for nonprofits. But by connotation, the word cash grab has a negative tone that I believe is really the crux of the matter being debated.
ash&charizardfan
Humans are tools
That's a big load of baloney, in mewtwo movie, pokemon heroes, lucario and the mystery of mew and i choose you the companions didn't do anything and those movies are still considered some of the best so companions must do somethingto make a good movie is just plain BS.
As for genesect, it was a horrible movie they hyped it by showing the original mewtwo but it go down the drain when it was revealed that it was different mewtwo.
AuraChannelerChris
Easygoing Luxray.
I still liked Mewtwo's and Lucario's movies, though. I didn't say those were bad.
Lately, the latest movies have been bad, though. (I can't say anything about Power of One 2.0.)
ash&charizardfan
Humans are tools
Movie 20 I choose you was good as well. My point is companions doing nothing won't affect any movie, we have seen that before.
Lord Starfish
Fond of owls
Having every character in the movie actually contribute is absolutely a plus, however. Like, I'm actually okay with the new companions in I Choose You... The bigger problem for me in that movie was Team Rocket being the biggest waste of screentime in the history of ever. Like, seriously, why were they even there. They never contributed anything to the story.
Captain Jigglypuff
*On Vacation. Go Away!*
A good Pokémon movie has to have a good sensible plot, interesting villain motive and backstory, natural progression of the plot, interesting Pokémon with either a unique personality or characteristic (e.g. Spiky Ear Pichu or Douse Drive Genesect being more docile than her friends), and good use of showing off the main Legendary/Pokemon Powers and abilities. The trailers for the movies also need to be very accurate as to what we will see and get.
Pokémon I Choose You was flawed in my opinion because what should have been a soft reboot retelling of the first few episodes of the anime that focused on Ho-oh as the movie’s central Legendary was overtaken by Marshadow. We’ve literally waited decades to see Ho-oh get its moment in the spotlight that isn’t a cameo appearance or Mew transformed and the trailers even makes it seem like its Ho-oh’s big moment but then we get the movie and it barely gets ten minutes to show off its impressive abilities and power. We don’t even see the battle between it and Pikachu in its entirety! With Mewtwo, we saw the showdown between the clones and originals. Lugia had the action sequence where it is calming the Elemental Birds. Entei had the Charizard battle. Heck even the Hoopa movie as chaotic and randomly put together it seemed to be showed us its true strength and better battle scene than I Choose You did with Marshadow. I like Marshadow as a Pokémon but it really stole what should have belonged to Ho-oh to begin with. We waited 20 years to finally see Ho-oh in full glory and we barely got a thing from it that didn’t involve Marshadow. Why promise te the movie by saying Ho-oh will finally meet a version of Ash and barely give it any actual screen time and shove Marshadow into the main Legendary/Mythical role instead? That is like filming the Harry Potter movies and marketing Harry as the obvious central character in all advertising and then you go to see the films and find out the movies are really about Neville Longbottom and Harry is in less than 5% of the films’ screen time. That is how you make a bad Pokémon movie.
Pokémon I Choose You was flawed in my opinion because what should have been a soft reboot retelling of the first few episodes of the anime that focused on Ho-oh as the movie’s central Legendary was overtaken by Marshadow. We’ve literally waited decades to see Ho-oh get its moment in the spotlight that isn’t a cameo appearance or Mew transformed and the trailers even makes it seem like its Ho-oh’s big moment but then we get the movie and it barely gets ten minutes to show off its impressive abilities and power. We don’t even see the battle between it and Pikachu in its entirety! With Mewtwo, we saw the showdown between the clones and originals. Lugia had the action sequence where it is calming the Elemental Birds. Entei had the Charizard battle. Heck even the Hoopa movie as chaotic and randomly put together it seemed to be showed us its true strength and better battle scene than I Choose You did with Marshadow. I like Marshadow as a Pokémon but it really stole what should have belonged to Ho-oh to begin with. We waited 20 years to finally see Ho-oh in full glory and we barely got a thing from it that didn’t involve Marshadow. Why promise te the movie by saying Ho-oh will finally meet a version of Ash and barely give it any actual screen time and shove Marshadow into the main Legendary/Mythical role instead? That is like filming the Harry Potter movies and marketing Harry as the obvious central character in all advertising and then you go to see the films and find out the movies are really about Neville Longbottom and Harry is in less than 5% of the films’ screen time. That is how you make a bad Pokémon movie.
I think a defining factor for me, is the way Ash interacts with the Pokemon or characters from the movies. Good examples (in my opinion) are the Entei and Lucario movies. Both movies feature personal stakes for Ash, and he is allowed to have more depth than in an usual episode.
AznKei
Dawn & Chloe by ddangbi
When all the cast and their Pokemons got their spotlights and contribute more or less evenly, regardless of their experiences, power levels, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't watch all the movies for the perfect reference, but for those I did, they were decent for me to watch them only once. I'll say the Hoopa movie is the worst movie for me, I can't stand the Ash glorification on it.
D
Deleted member 384931
Guest
An actually plot, where no pokémon dies and magically revived again. Oh yeah and no Legendary Pokémon with telepathy.