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The Best and Worst Pokemon Movies Of All Time


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crazieanimefan1



Joined: 18 Feb 2015
Posts: 409
Location: Auburn, AL
PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2017 2:14 am Reply with quote
The first movie I EVER cried to was Pokemon the Movie. I mean, God, when Pikachu sobs, you just have to sob with him.

That being said, I stopped watching the movies after the one with Latias in it...they started coming out way too fast for me to catch up. Yet I did get to see Lucario and the one about Darkrai. But beyond that, I'm behind.
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LaytonPuzzle27



Joined: 05 Sep 2017
Posts: 121
PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 3:04 pm Reply with quote
Kirben wrote:
Was the first movie based on the English dub? the uncut version of the first movie is well worth watching, the 4Kids version is missing the Birth of MewTwo and completely altered the main plot.


True around the time of the English release of the first Pokemon movie. But at least 4kids managed to redeemed themselves by releasing the uncut dub version of Birth of MewTwo story as a bonus feature in the MewTwo Returns DVD release. Very Happy


Last edited by LaytonPuzzle27 on Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:32 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Taifood



Joined: 13 Jun 2017
Posts: 44
PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 10:34 am Reply with quote
Good list, well in terms of the better movies. Heroes will always be my favorite, and 2000 / 3 are also fantastic. How I'd put it in movie #:

Elder God Tier: 5
God Tier: 2, 3, 7, 8
Mid Tier: 1, 10, 12, 13, 16
Meh Tier: 6, 9, 11, 14, 15, 19
Trash Tier: 4, 17, 18
I have not seen 20 yet.

There is one choice I disagree with though, and that's putting Hoopa Clash of Ages outside of skippable. The movie may be full of fan service, but mindless fan service. The plot is absolute garbage, Hoopa itself is extremely annoying, and the trailer lied about Arceus having a more prominent role in the movie, which would have made it WAY better. Honestly, this would have been a perfect time to establish Arceus as the god of the Pokemon Universe (which was squandered in his own movie) and they missed the opportunity. It harkens back to Arceus' own movie and how much that one pisses me off. However, it's still worth seeing to get a glimpse of the Alpha Pokemon. While not a good display of how Arceus is the creator, the movie does make it more powerful than the other three deities combined so that was cool.

A quick point that I'd like to add is that I believe your ranking changes depending on which movie you've seen first. If you're old enough to see M01 and then the others consecutively, you'll likely find Mewtwo Strikes Back the best because of how repetitive the movies end up becoming. I don't agree that they're all really repetitive. The later ones definitely are, but I'd argue that the first five are pretty different from each other (though M04 is bad for other reasons).
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Stevangelion



Joined: 08 Feb 2017
Posts: 48
PostPosted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:24 pm Reply with quote
Good list, but "The First Movie" is hands down the best.

No questions, no debate. All awesome.
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Eri94



Joined: 14 Feb 2011
Posts: 220
PostPosted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:25 pm Reply with quote
Lucario and Mew is defacto the best Pokemon movie that has come out. Fact. Ask any anime fan and they will say the same. How it didn't even make it in the top 3 is mind boggling.
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Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 4438
PostPosted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 6:34 pm Reply with quote
Now, granted, I haven't seen all of the movies, but here's an interesting thought for you...

Best: Revelation Lugia
Worst: The Power of One

Yes, I went there. I fell in love with Revelation Lugia while watching a bootleg VHS fansub, and was really excited to watch the dub when it came out. And it was horrible. They changed basically everything that made me love it so much. And even changed the Aesop, from "true peace/harmony comes from working together" to "one person can make a difference;" basically, the exact opposite.
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Lord Oink



Joined: 06 Jul 2016
Posts: 876
PostPosted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 7:26 pm Reply with quote
Dessa wrote:
Now, granted, I haven't seen all of the movies, but here's an interesting thought for you...

Best: Revelation Lugia
Worst: The Power of One

Yes, I went there. I fell in love with Revelation Lugia while watching a bootleg VHS fansub, and was really excited to watch the dub when it came out. And it was horrible. They changed basically everything that made me love it so much. And even changed the Aesop, from "true peace/harmony comes from working together" to "one person can make a difference;" basically, the exact opposite.


You're not wrong.. but saying the uncut original is better is a given and kind of a jokey/cop out answer.

Nitpick: The Power of One was the just tagline, the actual title was the imaginative "Pokemon 2000" . Then again people call the first movie by it's Japanese title of Mewtwo Strikes Back when its English title is "The First Movie" and they are clearly talking about the English version. At least the post 4Kids era movies have roughly similar titles as they do in Japan so there's less confusion
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MidoriHime77



Joined: 11 May 2017
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:50 pm Reply with quote
I agree with all of the must haves (bar Deoxys. Haven't seen that for some reason?). 20 killed me. Beautiful movie. Nice graphics and story, good villains, and when I saw it in theatres, on one side I had a kid crying and on the other hand I had a chick crying, partly due to nostalgia and partly due to the plot. Not gonna lie, I cried too. I don't really see why we didn't get Misty and Brock back tho - that probably would have made it the movie, in terms of iconicness, perhaps even more so than the first. I personally think the first movie should be in this category as well.

Personally I thought Volcanion was skippable. I might need to rewatch it. I saw it in theatres (I live in Japan) and my Japanese wasn't as good as it is now, so perhaps I missed a few things. Also slightly miffed that I drove an hour to get to the nearest cinema only to be told the air con had broken.
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Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 4438
PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:50 am Reply with quote
Lord Oink wrote:
Dessa wrote:
Now, granted, I haven't seen all of the movies, but here's an interesting thought for you...

Best: Revelation Lugia
Worst: The Power of One

Yes, I went there. I fell in love with Revelation Lugia while watching a bootleg VHS fansub, and was really excited to watch the dub when it came out. And it was horrible. They changed basically everything that made me love it so much. And even changed the Aesop, from "true peace/harmony comes from working together" to "one person can make a difference;" basically, the exact opposite.


You're not wrong.. but saying the uncut original is better is a given and kind of a jokey/cop out answer.


You underestimate the power of dialogue in a film.

Besides 4kids throwing in blatant and obvious "Misty is infatuated with Ash" crap (they shipped them so hard, especially on the 2BA Master CD), the key dialogue they changed completely changed the film.

It even starts with the legend. Mostly the same, but the Japanese version just said that a "superior trainer" would appear, when the US version explicitly says "the world will turn to [A]sh."

But the big thing, overall, is the change in the Aesop, if you will. In the Japanese one, a lot was made of the idea that everyone lives in their own world. True peace can only come when you learn to let your world live in harmony with another's. That was echoed in the treasures and the Legendary birds. Lugia couldn't stop them, but by playing the song (the harmony, if you will) with the treasures in place, it allowed for the birds to be calmed and return to their own islands. It's also echoed in Satoshi's mother's final scene, saying that Satoshi was her world, and if anything happened to him, her world would be destroyed.

Contrast this with the US version. Since the legend clearly states Ash, he's obviously our chosen one, and has to do everything himself. With little to no help from anyone else. And this brings up an interesting point. I can't stand Ash as a character. He annoys me. But, in the Japanese one, I respect Satoshi. When he's bringing back the third treasure, and Lugia falls, there's a very different scene that plays out in the two versions, after Misty/Kasumi pulls him out of the water. In both versions, she offers to take the treasure for him. In the US version, he says that, as the chosen one, he's the only one who can do it, and pushes his way up. In the Japanese one, though, since there's no chosen one involved, anyone could have placed the last treasure. But Satoshi says that he started it, so he wants to finish it. I still don't like him, but I'll give him respect for that. He didn't have to finish it, but he wanted to see it through.

And then, of course, there's Ash's mother's last scene, in which she asks him to save the world closer to home next time. Completely destroying the original intent.

I am completely serious about my feelings for the two versions of this movie.
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MesousaGaby



Joined: 16 Oct 2018
Posts: 71
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:10 pm Reply with quote
Temple Of The Sea is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Not just animated, just overall. It basically goes all "Hey, you like May? After the fact that we make her a major joke in the movies? Well, we don't even trust her to save the day, so instead have Ashy Stu here despite having no role in the movie."

The fact that it focuses on May almost the whole movie, seemingly like she was gonna be the main focus, only for Ash to take over for absolutely no reason. When I first saw the CN airing of this, I recall yelling a big "f you!" when Ash puts May in some sort of casket-like thing just so he can take her spotlight, and just makes the rest of the movie freaking moot. All that bonding May had with Manaphy is no longer important. And it's a pretty long movie, too, like, one of the more longer ones...and they sh*t the bed that badly.

It honestly baffles me how anyone would think the movie is fine when it just sidesteps her just like that, it's still one of the most infuriating movies out of anything I've seen.
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