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The Best and Worst Pokemon Movies Of All Time


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Codeanime93



Joined: 28 Jul 2017
Posts: 599
PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 7:59 pm Reply with quote
I remember not liking the Black/White- Victini and Reshiram movies, considering the really stupid spoiler[well intentional extremist] Dread/Damon character in either version. Honestly I think he might take the cake for dumbest antagonist to a Pokemon anything.

Giratina on the other hand I actually liked better than this article did. The bad guy actually has a mecha looking thing he battles Ash/Satoshi in at one point that can jump between dimensions or something. A lot of dimension hopping in Giratina, and no the dimension isn't anything special it's just a weird inverse world that has no people.


Last edited by Codeanime93 on Wed Aug 16, 2017 10:08 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Melicans



Joined: 01 Feb 2012
Posts: 620
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 8:57 pm Reply with quote
Heroes was always my favourite, and the Manaphy one a close second. I stopped watching the films after Giratina, and the last one I purchased was Darkrai. I always felt Lucario and the Mystery of Mew was overrated by fans, but I still preferred it over half of the others.

Lord Oink wrote:
No real excuse not to watch the Japanese version, though.


Of course there are. The prevailing ones being availability of the source material outside Japan, and the illegality of watching it with subtitles for those who are not speakers of the language.
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AnimeLordLuis



Joined: 27 Jan 2015
Posts: 1626
Location: The Borderlands of Pandora
PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 10:28 pm Reply with quote
There will NEVER be a better Pokémon movie than 2000 that movie went so far past the awesome level that no Pokémon movie will ever be able to surprise it even if they make a million more Pokémon movies. Cool
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jr240483



Joined: 24 Dec 2005
Posts: 4369
Location: New York City,New York,USA
PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 10:35 pm Reply with quote
Codeanime93 wrote:
I would add that most need to hunt down the original Japanese versions of the earlier movies because 4Kids got change happy with the content especially in the first and second ones.


good luck with that.

there is zero chance in hades that nintendo will ever release an official japaneese version with english subtitles in the US. your only chance is to see the inaccurate fansub versions which they have constantly had taken down and fansub groups given the whole DCMA cease and desist lawsuit. that or your pretty much going to have to go to japan and purchase a movie that was mean for english speaking audiences in that region.

also there are some inaccurate listings for this list. most pokemon fans who were fans in the 90's more or less agree that the 2nd ,3rd , 4th , 9th & especially the genesect movie (for being so damn misleading with their trailers) were downright the worst movies of the franchise and are definitely skipable while the first is a definite must see. same with number 8 for many reasons. one of them was of course being the final movie for that specific dub cast. its also the reasons why they have a disdain for the 9th movie. hell, after that movie there were petitions to bring back the old dub since it was the only series that 4kids did right.

as for keldeo, its got its flaws, but its definitely not perishable in my opinion. most people dont like it especially its english version cause they made the casting into a PR stunt when they got vic mignona (still cant figure out how they were able to do that considering that back then he was only an funi / adv union VA) as keldeo.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:08 pm Reply with quote
Maybe it's misplaced nostalgia, but I'm all about Mewtwo Strikes Back. The English dub butchered the dialogue, leading to a different message altogether, and the Western songs spread out over it instead of the glorious JP OST kind of spoiled the mood of the original version, too. The same basic story is still there, of course, so it's not like the Japanese version lacks all the flaws the dub presented, but it had this very atmospheric quality to it and the production value was so unlike the TV anime in its vast difference in quality that it was a real experience and still remains fresh in my memory.

Now, granted, I haven't seen all of the movies, just a handful of them, but maybe someday I'll get to watching each again.
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_Dog



Joined: 30 Jul 2017
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:52 pm Reply with quote
Honestly, the Pokémon movies are all bad IMO. They all suffer from shoddy writing and production. A typical animated film from Disney, Pixar or Studio Ghibli SLAMS a typical Pokémon movie in terms of quality.

I am also really bitter about Ho-Oh from the first episode being reduced to an arguably non-canon role in the latest movie.
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Codeanime93



Joined: 28 Jul 2017
Posts: 599
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 1:26 am Reply with quote
_Dog wrote:
Honestly, the Pokémon movies are all bad IMO. They all suffer from shoddy writing and production. A typical animated film from Disney, Pixar or Studio Ghibli SLAMS a typical Pokémon movie in terms of quality.

I am also really bitter about Ho-Oh from the first episode being reduced to an arguably non-canon role in the latest movie.


I think I see someone even more cynical than Penguintruth.
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MajinAkuma



Joined: 15 Aug 2014
Posts: 1199
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:07 am Reply with quote
Everyone here points out how apparently different the Japanese version is from the dub version of the first movie, but nobody has actually elaborated on that. It should be.

In the original, Mewtwo wasn't fighting for freedom of Pokémon, but for the life of clones. It had a severe identity crisis because it was a clone, not a true Pokémon and not a human either. It didn't know who he is and why it was born, but it was not happy about the circumstances of its creation and and it didn't liked by used by humans as a weapon, thus it striked back at humanity and prove that it was real.

It and its clone army were fighting against their originals to prove which ones were more worthy to live, which was not helped by the fact that Mew looked down at the clones and saw them as inferior. And here comes the message difference: in the dub it was "violence is wrong", but in the originals it's about both lives being equal. Clones were equally alive as their original counterparts and killing each other would be unneccessarily painful. Mewtwo and Mew realized that both sides were worthy of being alive and that they could live peacefully and the clones were Pokémon in their own rights. To prevent such a tradeggy again and to protect its kind, Mewtwo wiped out the memories of most of the cast and they found later a place which they can call "home". Also, those memories were kinda painful.
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Stuart Smith



Joined: 13 Jan 2013
Posts: 1298
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:50 am Reply with quote
jr240483 wrote:
there is zero chance in hades that nintendo will ever release an official japaneese version with english subtitles in the US. your only chance is to see the inaccurate fansub versions which they have constantly had taken down and fansub groups given the whole DCMA cease and desist lawsuit. that or your pretty much going to have to go to japan and purchase a movie that was mean for english speaking audiences in that region.
.
Many anime series don't have official releases in America and plenty of people still watch them. I assume by "taken down" you mean streaming sites, since they are easily available on file sharing sites, torrents, and IRC. They're out there if people want to see the original uncut versions.

My favorite movies are Guardian Gods of the Capital of Water, Mew and the Wave Guiding Hero, and Mewtwo Strikes Back. I've never been a huge fan of the movies though, I'm more into the television series.

-Stuart Smith
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Tenbyakugon



Joined: 11 Jan 2012
Posts: 788
Location: Ohio, United States
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:29 am Reply with quote
I would have preferred a representation from the original production's perspective, not one of the many localized dubs.
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TsukasaElkKite



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 3945
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 11:02 am Reply with quote
Mewtwo Strikes Back will always be my favorite simply based on nostalgia alone, although Jirachi and the Wishing Star of Seven Nights is a close second.
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Codeanime93



Joined: 28 Jul 2017
Posts: 599
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 1:26 pm Reply with quote
jr240483 wrote:
Codeanime93 wrote:
I would add that most need to hunt down the original Japanese versions of the earlier movies because 4Kids got change happy with the content especially in the first and second ones.


good luck with that.

there is zero chance in hades that nintendo will ever release an official japaneese version with english subtitles in the US. your only chance is to see the inaccurate fansub versions which they have constantly had taken down and fansub groups given the whole DCMA cease and desist lawsuit. that or your pretty much going to have to go to japan and purchase a movie that was mean for english speaking audiences in that region.

also there are some inaccurate listings for this list. most pokemon fans who were fans in the 90's more or less agree that the 2nd ,3rd , 4th , 9th & especially the genesect movie (for being so damn misleading with their trailers) were downright the worst movies of the franchise and are definitely skipable while the first is a definite must see. same with number 8 for many reasons. one of them was of course being the final movie for that specific dub cast. its also the reasons why they have a disdain for the 9th movie. hell, after that movie there were petitions to bring back the old dub since it was the only series that 4kids did right.

as for keldeo, its got its flaws, but its definitely not perishable in my opinion. most people dont like it especially its english version cause they made the casting into a PR stunt when they got vic mignona (still cant figure out how they were able to do that considering that back then he was only an funi / adv union VA) as keldeo.


I've been able to find a lot of fansubbed versions of the Japanese versions online and have watched them before they got taken down. I think the Black and White movie was the worst one I watched, it's antagonist is really stupid in either version.
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Codeanime93



Joined: 28 Jul 2017
Posts: 599
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 1:28 pm Reply with quote
Stuart Smith wrote:
jr240483 wrote:
there is zero chance in hades that nintendo will ever release an official japaneese version with english subtitles in the US. your only chance is to see the inaccurate fansub versions which they have constantly had taken down and fansub groups given the whole DCMA cease and desist lawsuit. that or your pretty much going to have to go to japan and purchase a movie that was mean for english speaking audiences in that region.
.
Many anime series don't have official releases in America and plenty of people still watch them. I assume by "taken down" you mean streaming sites, since they are easily available on file sharing sites, torrents, and IRC. They're out there if people want to see the original uncut versions.

My favorite movies are Guardian Gods of the Capital of Water, Mew and the Wave Guiding Hero, and Mewtwo Strikes Back. I've never been a huge fan of the movies though, I'm more into the television series.

-Stuart Smith


It's also worth mentioning that Malaysian bootlegs sold on Ebay have the Japanese version, now yes, clearly illegal bootlegging but still it's uncut versions are getting out there through them.
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Stuart Smith



Joined: 13 Jan 2013
Posts: 1298
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 4:34 pm Reply with quote
Tenbyakugon wrote:
I would have preferred a representation from the original production's perspective, not one of the many localized dubs.


I don't think I've ever seen a good article, video, or blog about differences between the two versions. Dogasu's Backpack is the closest, but the days of sites like Sailor Moon Uncensored and Dragonball Uncensored where people meticulously went over every line of dialog and second of footage are gone, and every comparison I've seen on YouTube is so basic and missess tons of content they are essentially worthless. I suppose in this day and age it's easy enough for those interested in the original they. an easily watch it, unlike back in the 90s with dial-up.

As interesting as articles about the original version would be, I imagine TPCI would object to the original version being promoted on ANN over their own version of the product.

-Stuart Smith
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MadHi



Joined: 10 Mar 2014
Posts: 188
PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 5:13 pm Reply with quote
Mewtwo Strikes Back will always be the best and it's not just because of nostalgia alone. Almost all the other Pokemon movies became too repetitive and the legendaries that featured had no character to them whatsoever. Mewtwo on the other hand wasn't just a badass legendary. It had a more definitive personality, motive, and it carried the whole movie's storyline on its own.

Sure, we have Meowth and other legendaries who could display personalities but they were all flat or for gimmicky purposes (comedy relief for Meowth). They favored flat personalities (if any in some cases) for the sake of simply being giant spectacles. Mewtwo is just more interesting as a Pokemon and character. Even the games give it more detailed backstories than other Legendaries. Yes, Arceus is a God, so people say, but making something a God is just so cliche now it doesn't mean anything and the Super Saiyan God thing isn't keeping it fresh and despite that supposed status, Arceus gets just as much attention as Golem, it's just another Pokemon.

Unlike the other movies, M01 was ABOUT Mewtwo, not Ash saving the world from a disaster of some kind or Legendaries duking it out for no real reason. What was Rayquaza so PO'd about? And it's kind of silly that a giant beast like Kyurem would be so obsessed with finding a pithy little Keldeo just because it challenged it.

We could say Mewtwo's motives didn't make a lot of sense either but at least it was clearer and that's going by the US version. the Japanese version being much better, plot-wise, kind of supersedes the American.
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