Pokemon The First Movie Mewtwo Strikes back
Japan/USA 1999
Reviewed by Ken Hollings
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Japan, the present. Cloned from the remains of Mew, an ancient forebear, Mewtwo is the most powerful of the species of creatures know as the Pokémon. Refusing to obey his human creators, he destroys their island laboratory and vows to use his psychic abilities to conquer the world. Shortly afterwards Ash, a young Pokémon trainer, receives an invitation to a Pokémon championship on New Island, where selected trainers can challenge the World's Greatest Pokémon Master.
On arrival, Ash discovers the competition is a trap set by Mewtwo, who separates the Pokémon from their human trainers, then uses their DNA to create clones with which to rule the planet. Unable to withstand Mewtwo's powers, the Pokémon are soon fighting with their clones. Ash attempts to intervene, assisted by Mew, who has been restored to life. Accidentally killed while trying to stop Mew and Mewtwo from destroying each other, Ash is revived by the tears of the mourning Pokémon. Moved by such devotion, Mewtwo leaves New Island, taking his clones with him, to seek his true purpose in life.
Review
To the adult mind, which in this case probably constitutes anyone above the age of 12, a mass-media marketing phenomenon such as Nintendo's Pokémon appears as a dark conspiracy to foster confusion and dread among grown-ups. Suddenly children are speaking in strange tongues and worshipping graven images. Unfortunately, the first feature-length animated film to star the Pocket Monsters makes very few concessions to the uninitiated. Plot strands and background stories from both the games and the television series are shuffled on and off the big screen without explanation. This leaves the conflict between Mewtwo and Ash centre stage as the sole narrative focus. Brooding, articulate and vengeful where the other Pokémon remain bright blobs of wordless energy, Mewtwo alone justifies the film's enhanced production values and grandiose score. Like a troubled elder brother, Mewtwo represents an older order of experience. It is perhaps no accident scenes depicting his creation and early life contain strong echoes of such anime classics as Ghost in the Shell, Akira and Evangelion, all of which are geared to teen and adult audiences.
At the same time there's something very affecting about the ferocious loyalty Ash and Pikachu, his Pokémon companion, display for each other. The movie may have been designed to shift Pokémon product but it also comes down hard on the side of friendship, mutual respect and resourcefulness. Similarly, the sight of an arena filled with Pokémon mindlessly bludgeoning their cloned doubles to a standstill offers a strong message about the futility of violence for its own sake - especially after Pikachu's Vacation, the short film packaged with Pokémon, has revealed that Pokémon do not usually battle without their trainers.
At its best, this is pure gothic eye candy. Mewtwo's refuge resembles an evil amusement park, complete with rotating windmills, steeply angled slides and glittering towers, while his underground laboratory boasts an equally imposing array of mechanical arms, conveyor belts and chemical vats. The arena itself, setting for the film's final conflict, has a shadowy three-dimensional grandeur that only serves to highlight the sparkling web of tears cast over it by the grieving Pokémon. Not surprisingly, with Ash restored to life, the story ends with the happy promise of further adventures to come. Whether parents and teachers alike will find the Pocket Monsters as menacing the next time around still remains to be seen.
Credits
- Directors
- Kunihiko Yuyama
- Michael Haigney
- Producers
- Norman J. Grossfeld
- Choji Yoshikawa
- Tomoyuki Igarashi
- Takemoto Mori
- Screenplay
- Takeshi Shudo
- Based on characters created by
- Satoshi Tajiri
- English Adaptation
- Norman J. Grossfeld
- Michael Haigney
- John Touhey
- Director of Photography
- Hisao Shirai
- Editors
- Toshio Henmi
- Jay Film
- Yutaka Ito
- Art Director
- Katsuyoshi Kanemura
- Music
- Ralph Schuckett
- John Loeffler
- ©Pikachû Project '98
- Production Companies
- Warner Bros. presents a Pikachû Project '98-Shogakukan Inc. production in association with 4Kids Entertainment production
- Executive Producers
- Alfred R. Kahn
- Masakazu Kubo
- Takashi Kawaguchi
- Executive Production, Japan
- Shogakukan Production Co Ltd
- Associate Producers
- Kathy Borland
- Japan:
- Takashi Miura
- Hiroshi Ishikawa
- Katsuhito Yamauchi
- Tetsu Kayama
- Takaaki Kii
- Noriyuki Yoshida
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Hideki Sonoda
- Production Executives
- Tsuneyoshi Kawai
- Kantaro Tomiyama
- Ken Sakamoto
- Koichi Miyagawa
- Toshihide Fukuda
- Hidefumi Kawamura
- Production Supervisor
- Tsunekazu Ishihara
- Project Supervision
- Gail Tilden
- Project Co-ordination
- Kenji Okubo
- Japan Co-ordinator
- Kaori Harima
- Production Management
- Larry Juris
- Taj Productions
- Japan Production Managers
- Shoji Ota
- Tsukasa Koitabashi
- Post-production Supervisor
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Paul C. Arianas
- Assistant Directors
- Japan:
- Masamitsu Hidaka
- Kiyotaka Isako
- Kazuya Murata
- Yatsushi Yano
- Noriaki Saito
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Yuji Asada
- 4Kids Casting Co-ordinator
- Jim Malone
- Animation Camera Shooting Staff
- Studio Cosmos
- Digital Effects
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Betelgeuse Productions
- Digital Scans
- Cinesite, Inc
- Mac Designer
- Lorraine Campo
- Animation Production
- Shogakukan Production Co Ltd
- Japan Animation Production
- OLM Inc
- In Association with
- Pikachû Project '98
- Shogakukan Inc
- TV Tokyo
- Media Factory Inc
- Nintendo Co Ltd
- Tomy Company Ltd
- Creatures Inc
- Game Freak
- East Japan Marketing & Communications Inc
- OLM Inc
- Shogakukan Production Co Ltd
- Chief Animator
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Akihiro Tamagawa
- Animation Producers
- Toshiaki Okuno
- Shukichi Kanda
- Chief Animator
- Sayuri Ichiishi
- Animation Supervisor
- Yoichi Kotabe
- Conceptual Character Artists
- Ken Sugimori
- Shigeki Morimoto
- Motofumi Fujiwara
- Atsuko Nishida
- Animation Directors
- Tokuhiro Matsubara
- Fumiaki Asano
- Masaya Fujimori
- Masaru Fukumoto
- Toshiya Yamada
- Yoshiaki Yanagida
- Eikichi Takahashi
- Izumi Shimura
- Key Animators
- Masaaki Iwane
- Katsuichi Nakayama
- Toshiharu Kumaoka
- Masaru Fukumoto
- Mamiko Nakanishi
- Yuzo Sato
- Satoru Iriyoshi
- Kazumi Sato
- Eiko Saito
- Etsuhito Mori
- Tadaaki Miyata
- Yukihiro Makino
- Hideaki Maniwa
- Satomi Kitahara
- Masao Nakata
- Hiromi Niioka
- Hiroko Kazui
- Taiei Maruyama
- Shoichi Masuo
- Yusaku Takeda
- Takuya Matsumoto
- Mami Imamura
- Katsuyuki Tamura
- Koji Fukasawa
- Fumiyo Kimura
- Hiroshi Kawaguchi
- Nobuhiro Osugi
- Yugi Mukoyama
- Tetsuya Koshizaki
- Kazuaki Mouri
- Kaori Kunii
- Naoya Horikawa
- Masaya Fujimori
- Go Ichiki
- Hajime Nakamura
- Yumi Chiba
- Tetsuro Kaku
- Yoshitaka Nagamori
- Masao Suwa
- Masahiro Sekiguchi
- Akiko Nakamura
- Tomoko Takei
- Masami Takebuchi
- Doga Kobo
- Midori Yamakubo
- Hironaka Nozaki
- Satoshi Kubo
- Yuko Watanabe
- Midori Nagaoka
- Neiko Hino
- Junko Isaka
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Masaaki Iwane
- Yoshihiko Umakoshi
- Tatsufumi Tamagawa
- Keisuke Masunaga
- Isao Sugimoto
- Masahiko Nakata
- Yoshikawa
- Kiminori Nishio
- Toshiya Yamada
- Minako Ito
- Mizuho Segawa
- Rika Mishima
- Kyoko Taketani
- Yuko Kami
- Animators
- Fujika Enomoto
- Yukio Maekawa
- Ayako Misono
- Noriaki Saito
- Yoko Kasama
- Shuji Hirano
- Takako Uetake
- Junko Watanabe
- Jun Kiguchi
- Hiromi Funatsu
- Nozumi Koro
- Mitsuharu Yoshida
- Eriko Iida
- Konosuke Yoshihara
- Miki Kuribayashi
- Yurie Sudo
- Yasumi Tanaka
- Minako Nagasawa
- Kahori Hashimura
- Yoji Egawa
- Masashi Yamamoto
- Yasumasa Kamei
- Shoichi Kurokawa
- Kazuharu Tumafuji
- Kazuo Harada
- Takuji Mogi
- Hiromi Yoshida
- Toshio Sakai
- Yasuo Nakatsuka
- Emi Koyama
- Miyuki Nishimura
- Hideo Takahashi
- Naohisa Fukuoka
- Yasutaka Yamamoto
- Hisako Tanabe
- Samtac
- Oh Production
- Doga Kobo
- Kyoto Animation
- Studio Deen
- Zero
- Wonbat
- Studio
- Ajiado
- Junglegym
- Jec.E
- Kyongkang Doga
- Nakamura Production
- Studio Musashi
- Light Box
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Yukio Maekawa
- Tokuaki Saito
- Shuji Hirano
- Yoko Kasama
- Ayako Misono
- Takako Uetake
- Miki Kuribayashi
- Junko Watanabe
- Akiko Suzuki
- Kayo Oshima
- Kyoko Sugimoto
- Hiromi Suzuki
- Chinatsu Ueno
- Studio Cockpit
- Last House Production
- Doga Kobo
- Magic Bus
- Oh Production
- Studio Musashi
- Kino Production
- Shaft
- Anime House
- Animation Design Support
- Japan:
- Tatsuya Soma
- Special Effects Animators
- Noriyuki Ota
- Masayuki Nakajima
- Visual Effects Animators
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Masayuki Nakajima
- Maki Production
- Digital Animation
- Olm Digital Inc
- Akio Kazumi
- Hiroya Yamamoto
- Tsutomu Ishiki
- Naoya Shigematsu
- Akira Mizubata
- Megumi Kondo
- Masashi Kobayashi
- Background
- Studio Jack
- Sanae Miyauchi
- Yasutoshi Kawai
- Norihiro Yoshikawa
- Toshio Kobayashi
- Yasuyuki Inaba
- Masatoshi Muto
- Kiyomi Kobara
- Kobayashi Production
- Studio Aqua
- Bunsei Doga
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Studio Pinewood
- Sadahiko Tanaka
- Fumie Nuibe
- Ikue Kokubun
- Saori Iwatani
- Storyboard Artists
- Japan:
- Kunihiko Yuyama
- Kazu Yokota
- Main Title Animation
- Mewtwo Strikes Back:
- Beirne Lowry
- Dani Portillo
- Main Title Animation/Film Retouching
- Pokémon's Vacation:
- Miguel Oldenburg
- Optical Effects
- Cineric Inc
- Masao Shibata
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Masao Shibata
- Digital Film Printing/Opticals
- Hideo Tsuji
- Pokémon Theme
- John Siegler
- John Loeffler
- Additional Music
- John Lissauer
- Manny Corallo
- Mewtwo Strikes Back:
- Benoit Grey
- Kevin Kliesch
- John Angier
- Deniz Hughes
- Wayne Sharpe
- Louis J. Cortelezzi
- Christian Montalbano
- Kenneth Lampl
- Greg Kalember
- MIDI Programming
- Mewtwo Strikes Back:
- Benoit Grey
- Kevin Kliesch
- John Lissauer
- Music Conductor/Orchestrators
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- John Lissauer
- Manny Corallo
- Orchestration
- Mewtwo Strikes Back:
- Ralph Schuckett
- Benoit Grey
- Kevin Kliesch
- John Lissauer
- Bobby Ramirez
- Additional Orchestration
- Pikachû's Vacation :
- John Angier
- Music Producer
- 4Kids:
- John Loeffler
- Music Production Co-ordinator
- Mewtwo Strikes Back:
- Eleanor Matera
- Supervising Music Editor
- Mewtwo SB:
- Julian Schwartz
- Music Editor
- Mewtwo Strikes Back:
- Susan Shufro
- Score Recorder
- Mewtwo Strikes Back:
- Talley Sherwood
- Music Mixer
- Mewtwo Strikes Back:
- Martin Kloiber
- Recorder/Mixer
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Gary Chester
- Soundtrack
- "Pokémon Theme" by Billy Crawford; "Catch Me If You Can" by Angela; "Vacation" by Vitamin C; "We're a Miracle" by Christina Aguilera; "Free Up Your Mind" by Baby Spice [Emma Bunton]; "If Only Tears Could Bring You Back" by Midnight Sons; "Brother My Brother" by Blessed Union of Souls; "Don't Say You Love Me" by M2M
- Sound Recording Producers
- Michiyoshi Minamisawa
- Akiko Nakamura
- Sound Recording Director
- Masafumi Mima
- Sound Mixer
- Nobuhira Hirano
- Sound Mixing Adviser
- Toru Kadokura
- Sound Recording Mixers
- Shinji Takano
- Mitsukuni Ozeki
- Japan:
- Jyuji Nakamura
- Dolby Digital Recording Artist
- Mikio Mori
- Digital Film Recording/Opticals
- Noboru Nishino
- Sound Re-recording Mixer
- Koji Fukushima
- Re-recording Mixer
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Peter Waggoner
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Richard Q. King
- Dialogue Editor
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Rick Freeman
- Sound Effects Supervisor
- Daisuke Jinbo
- ADR
- 4Kids Co-ordinator:
- Jason Bergenfeld
- Pikachû's Vacation Engineer:
- David Novack
- Pikachû's Vacation Recordist:
- Matthew Fleece
- Editor:
- Ryoko Nashimoto
- Foley Artists
- Eiko Morikawa
- Satoshi Furukawa
- Tetsuya Satake
- Pikachû's Vacation:
- Eiko Morikawa
- Satoshi Furukawa
- Voice Cast
- Veronica Taylor
- Ash Ketchum
- Philip Bartlett
- Mewtwo
- Rachael Lillis
- MistyWilliams/
Jessie of Team Rocket/
Togepei/others - Eric Stuart
- Brock Harrison/James Morgan of Team Rocket/others
- Addie Blaustein
- Meowth of Team Rocket
- Ikue Otani
- Pikachû
- Ed Paul
- Jimmy Zoppi
- Michael Haigney
- Kayzie Rogers
- Ken Gates
- Lee Quick
- Lisa Ortiz
- Amy Birnbaum
- Megan Hollingshead
- Eric Grossfeld
- Tara Jayne
- Certificate
- PG
- Distributor
- Warner Bros Distributors (UK)
- 6,746 feet
- 74 minutes 57 seconds
- Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS
- Colour by
- DeLuxe